Thesis For Nickel And Dimed

Living in America is said to provide an opportunity to anyone who works hard and strives for prosperity. Despite this saying, many people still reside in the lower-class after years of working laborious jobs. Indeed, some people have miraculously found their way out of the gutters on the system, but most people happen to not be as lucky. Through experience, author Barbara Ehrenreich finds that the social divide in America makes the American Dream much more difficult than it is perceived to be by the upper class. The truth she finds by living as a person in poverty incited her frustrations and disgust with the system. The attainability of the American Dream is definitely unlikely, but still not impossible.

When I purchased Nickel and Dimed earlier in the semester for the course, I read plenty of reviews saying that this was a must-read for everyone. I assumed that it would be a fairly informative book regarding the reality of poverty in America with bits and pieces of sad, disheartening testimonies thrown in along the way to reinforce our view of poverty; what I did not expect was the amount of honesty and humility that would come packed into those two hundred pages. Ehrenreich uses her experiences in Florida, Maine, and Minnesota to catch a glimpse into the lives of those living below the poverty line in America who struggle to make ends meet working

She encounters, in this job, another problem with the low wage workers, injury. There are instances where one of the maids is hurt, or hurting, but will not get help. She cannot understand why they won't help themselves and seek medical attention. They are afraid of losing their jobs. The slightest

The novel Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich exploits the struggle of getting by with a minimum waged job in America. Throughout the novel Barbara Ehrenreich’s main argument is how the difficulty of living life paycheck-to-paycheck is unreasonable because of the poor conditions the employees must work in. The difficulty with a minimum wage job entails a high cost of living, poor working conditions, and work related injuries. Each of these obstacles makes the job harder.

In Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich proclaims that while on a mission to experience the struggles in the everyday life of the poor, she will never be able to fully understand what it’s like to be in that situation. Throughout her journey, she comes across many different people and job opportunities, making for a different outcome every time. Although there was variation of variables, her response to troubling situations was always the same: giving up.

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich is a well-written novel but, decent grammar cannot mask how horrid this book is. I could have gone my entire life without this book. The experiment in this book was good in theory, and could have made the struggles of the lower classes known. But it did not. It only proved that a wealthy white woman can survive on minimum wage. Nickel and Dimed is supposed to be eye opening, to some it was, but to me it was not. Before reading I was previously aware of the struggles of those working in the lower class. This book does not even begin to describe the actual perils of the lower working class.

There are many varying opinions towards the lower class, some believe they are lazy and others think they are earnest hardworking folk. In her book “Nickel and Dimed”, Barbara Ehrenreich takes a closer look at the lives and hardships of the lower class. Her goal is to bring awareness to the struggles of these people and while attempting to disprove negative misconceptions about these people. The author writes to an audience of privileged upper class people trying to prove just how difficult it is living in the lower class. Although Ehrenreich does achieve these goals, her arguments are weakened because she focuses more on her experiences rather than those around her. Despite living in similar conditions to these people, she isn’t getting the

The Walmart pre employment test that Ehrenreich encounters in Nickel and Dimed can be seen as both applying and undermining justice in the work-place, and during the application process. In the case of applying justice, it provides a quick and clean way to “interview” many applicants to reach a judge of character in a relatively short amount of time. However, the sense of justice it holds is flawed. The test shows just how “wishy-washy” the companies hiring low wage workers are. They want you to be able to work well with others, but not too well that you will hesitate to report a coworker for the slightest rule that is broken. You must be capable of independent decision making, but know better than to let that interfere with your ability to

Do you think women should be labeled on currency? I think women should definitely have the same rights and opportunities as men. I think the twenty-dollar bill shouldn’t be changed while in the process. But, women deserve equal rights, could we rather make a new currency?

Pennies have been part of the US currency for over 200 years. It’s fascinating how long these small coins have been around for. Recently, an argument has been stirred up concerning the penny and if the US should cease its production. Ceasing production would be more beneficial to the economy. It is not cost effective, it wastes taxpayers’ money, and it wastes businesses’ time and money. Therefore, the US should stop minting the penny.

Pennies have been a part of American history for over 200 years. Lately, pennies have costed more and more to produce. Canada has stopped minting pennies and are slowly pulling them out of circulation. Due to pennies costing too much to make, people wasting money with pennies and rounding making counting easier, pennies should be taken out of circulation.

You have probably heard that there has been much haggling over which woman should be pictured on the new ten dollar bill. It certainly is well past high time that one did. We are all accustomed to seeing an array of white male founding father faces on our money, and the lack of feminine images featured there, so commonly seen in other countries.

Moonlight is a film that covers three different acts in a young man’s life. Going from childhood into adulthood while dealing with the hardships of his sexuality, and identity within his community. We see that Chiron struggles to find his place in the harsh landscape of what he calls home. As we watch him navigate his way through life we are reminded that his environment is what ends up shaping him into the man he becomes. Throughout the film in Moonlight, we see many complex problems from bullying, poverty, drug abuse, sexuality and much more. I am going to be looking at the psychological and economic effects on the characters relating to poverty. The reason I chose to focus on poverty is that poverty plays a huge role in shaping these characters identity. The backdrop throughout this film is the environment in which these characters are trying to survive however when you begin to look deeper only then can you truly understand the psychological and economic effects within the community.

     Sometimes life isn’t always as easy as getting a job, making money and paying you bills. In her fascinating book on extended essays Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich poses as an unskilled worker to show the struggles encountered everyday by Americans attempting to live on minimum wage, “matching income to expenses as the truly poor attempting to do everyday.” (6)

Money is typically a neutral, necessary item that makes a big impact on one’s everyday life. To make their points, authors often add a certain connotation to the people that use the money, rather than money itself. Nawal El Saadawi describes a society in which many use money for selfish reasons, often suppressing other groups in the process, which represents a negative connotation toward the people that use it. In her novel, Woman at Point Zero, Nawal El Saadawi frequently mentions the use of physical money through linked scenes to illustrate the theme: although one’s power in society often dictates other people’s perception of him/her, he/she should still attempt to gain respect through hard work and attitude. Both scenes incorporate the main