Nickel and Dimed Book Review - 1182 Words

Can someone really live and prosper in American receiving minimal income? Can someone create a good lifestyle for themselves on just six to seven dollars an hour? In Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich goes undercover to find out if it is indeed possible. Giving herself only $1,000 she leaves the lifestyle that she has come accustomed too and goes to join all the people living the low class way of life. Before setting out, she gave herself a list of rules she had to follow so that her experience would be as real as it could be. Her first rule was when looking for a job she couldn t mention the skills she had learned from her education. Second, she had to take the highest paying job that was being offered to her. Third, she had to live†¦show more content†¦Days go by and she s getting tired form the physical labor that comes with the house cleaning service. She explains what she was doing with her co-workers at the cleaning service and calls in sick after her last day at the nursing home. In Chapter 3 she starts over again in Minnesota. She finds herself lucky here because she gets to stay at a friends while there out of town, saving her the trouble of finding housing right away. Although, after her friends return, here she ends up having the most trouble finding a place to live. She lives in a hotel throughout her experience in Minnesota. This really messes up her money situation. Ehrenreich applies for many different jobs and ends up choosing between Wal-Mart and Menards. She picks Wal-Mart and find herself working in the women s department organizing and hanging up clothes. She realizes that she must became friendly with the dressing room attendants in order to make her job easier. Again her supervisors constantly get on her about wasting time. She uses her break times to talk to her fellow workers about a union but quits before really getting anything started. In the end Barbara ended up breaking all of the rules she had set for herself but she feel s that she did a good job at her project. She was alarmed by the way that some of her co-workers lived and felt that she learned a lot from her experiences. I really enjoyed reading this book. It truly gives you aShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Christopher Doob s The First Edition Of Social Inequality And Social Stratification 1119 Words   |  5 Pagesstratification in US Society. The author structures this book in the direction towards a theoretical concept that attracts the reality of social inequality and stratification as a whole. Doob dissects this books into eleven chapters given that each chapter examines the inequality of stratification. Also during the readings of this book Doob used plenty of data to show the socioeconomic strata revolved around the history of America. In relation to this book the assigned four readings in class â€Å"Class A guideRead MoreBarbara Ehrenreich s Nickel And Dimed2236 Words   |  9 PagesIntroduction Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America was the first book of its type that I’ve ever read, a real life analysis of what its like to â€Å"live in poverty,† working minimum wage jobs trying to make ends meet day in and day out. It was an intriguing story of how a woman with plenty went on to document how she lived without and I found that Ehrenreich’s commentary throughout the book offered a refreshing perspective to the usual conversation that surrounds poverty;Read MoreNickel And Dimed By Barbara Ehrenreich1670 Words   |  7 PagesNickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich is a book about trying to survive while living on a minimum wage salaryWhen first reading this book, I thought it was just going to be another book assigned that I just didn’t want to read After reading the first few pages, I was very intrigued, I began reading way ahead what was assigned for the week I m glad I actually got into this book because it made it so much easier to read She goes and starts her life over in different cities in order to see if itRead MoreNickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich1721 Words   |  7 Pagesplace herself in the position of her subjects, Ehrenreich strived to see if she were able to survive on the minimal income provided by a series of low level and low paying jobs. 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And then there was the middle working class view by journalist and author Barbara Ehreinch and her book Nickel and Dimed, which saw a middle class person look at the low wage lifestyle of Americans, and her failed attempt to live off wagesRead MoreLiving Off Of Minimum Wage1490 Words   |  6 Pages Living off of Minimum Wage in the United States In Barbara Ehrenreich’s documentary novel, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America (2001), she claimed that it is almost impossible to live off of minimum wage in the united states. She supports her claim by writing a documentary novel explaining the details of the life of the American struggles caused by the minimum wage. Through her book, she supports that minimum wage salary is insufficient means of survival and leads to a difficult lifeRead MoreReview : Nickel And Dimed1935 Words   |  8 PagesWill Eifling-Page 1 Book Review: Nickel and Dimed: On (not) Getting by in America What is most interesting about Barbara Ehrenreich?s journalistic venture is that she worked in a white color position as an accomplished journalist, but her immediate family came from a meager financial background. It appears as though she had a grasp on the hardships of poverty in America, which is why she wanted to dig deeper. Ehrenreich?s sister had a series of low paid jobs, her father worked in the coal mineRead MoreNickel and Dimed Essay1819 Words   |  8 PagesBarbara Ehrenreichs intent in the book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America exhibited how minimum wage isnt enough for Americans to get by on and that theres no hope for the lower class. Her main objective was achieved by living out the life of the working poor. During the three cases studies she worked many jobs that are worked by many that are simply striving to live day to day. The jobs she had didnt generate sufficient income to avoid or help her rise out of poverty, in factRead MoreNickel and Dimed o n (Not) Getting By in America1968 Words   |  8 Pages Spotlighting Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Throughout the years, the ability to survive in the American economy without a college education has been diminishing. The employment opportunities now available to many Americans without college degrees are called â€Å"unskilled† jobs. These forms of employment are often unstable and offer low pay without much of a change for advancement within the company . Low income families are often constrained by many hurdles that do not allowRead MoreTaking a Closer Look at Poverty1416 Words   |  6 PagesRelative Poverty is â€Å"a level of economic deprivation that exists when people may be able to afford basic necessities but are still unable to maintain an average Standard of living. A great example of Relative Poverty is located in the article: Nickel and Dimed written by Barbara Ehrenreich. Barbara Ehrenreich performed a brilliant experiment in which she had to experience what life is like only profiting $2.43 an hour including tips. Barbara Ehrenreich decided to work for a family restaurant named