Nickel and Dimed analysis Essay

In my opinion, I encounter that the author of Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich, had ethical intentions when fashioning the decision to investigate poverty by uphill herself in the low-wage lifestyle. The ethical concern, however, is with her approach. I belief that the track in which it was conducted could be viewed as degrade to those who do not have an alternative to this fashion of lifespan.True, hopeless poverty does not have those tranquillize limits that Ehrenreich had the ability to utilize when she was in a stick that made her uncomfort sufficient with the consequences of the poverty she was attempting to study. By retention her car, she writes, Yes, I could have walked much or peculiar(a) myself to jobs accessible by public transportation, and I righteous figured that a story about postponement for buses would not be in truth vexing to read. The sole allowance of this access to transportation, although she also fight backed some other things such as her ATM card in instances that subject her to hunger or homelessness, was in the interest of entertainment versus science.I do feel, though, that Ehrenreich was aw atomic number 18 that she was neer going to be able to fully deplume to this endeavor when she writes, With all the real-life assets Ive built up in middle agebank account, IRA, wellness insurance, multiroom homewaiting indulgently in the background, she admits, at that place was no way I was going to carry out poverty or find out how it real feels to be a long-term low-wage run awayer. I hail her efforts to whole-heartedly work the low-wage jobs she acquired and submerge herself in a way of life that was completely foreign to her. In doing so, I feel that the research, in spite of its flaws, succeeded in exploring the plight of the low-wage worker in our party at that time.Her inability to reckon her expenses with the minimal income that she received, in itself, was a testament to the trials and tribulations that those women compositors case on a cyclic basis end-to-end their Many of the life situations that the characters in Nickle and Dimed were dealing with ar not commonly discussed in todays society. Media portrays the poor with stereotypical images. gibe to an article by Bullock et al. (2001), women receiving public assistance are stereotypical as lazy, disinterested in education, and promiscuous. America is pictured as either a classless society or one in which the majority of good deal are middle class citizens.Despite the lose of awareness of this type of poverty, I do feel that their arrangements are, unfortunately, not uncommon at all. Ehrenreichs picture with low-wage work in Florida was signifi bottomlandtly different than her insure in Maine. She reports that in Maine, Even convenience gunstock clerks, who are $6- an-hour gals themselves, seem to look down on us. In the predominantly white Maine, the wet nurseen over traffic is viewed at in an almost servant-like w ay, they are the ones who essential do the dirty work for the wealthy and are not seen as equals. The history of maid work was usually given to minorities, which could explain for this treatment. As for nominate West, Ehrenreich did not have the same issues with regard to degradation, however, she seek with maintaining her low- wage lifestyle.The waitressing job at Hearthside paid very little so she had to pick up a second job to make ends meet. Because both jobs were so emotionally and physically taxing, Ehrenreich was only able to maintain this for 2 weeks versus the 4 weeks that she had been able to endure in Maine. Although her job as a maid in Maine was also strenuous, and despite the fact that she also had a second job, I believe that her experience in Florida was tougher on her because it was her premier(prenominal) attempt at living this lifestyle. By the time she arrived in Maine, I deal she had internalized that much of what she was enduring was the everyday lives of the women who she had gotten to know throughout her experience and relented to the existence of poverty.The drastic increase in affluent households using maid services can be explained by a number of things. According to Ehrenreich, with the influx of women into the workforce, tensions arose over housework. Once women began working and did not solely rely on their husbands wages, women began to expect more from their husbands. When the idea of this equal confederation was not being fulfilled, it caused many disagreements within households. The maid services even saved marriages and took advantage by obtaining contracts from these homes by capitalizing on this idea, to intervene and solve their problems by eliminating the need for an argument over housework. In her statement, For the first time in my life as a maid, I have a purpose more compelling than trying to meet the aesthetic standards of the wise England bourgeoisie, I believe that Ehrenreich was tired of part the people sh e worked for keep up with the Joneses.She had come to the realisation that neither her employer, nor the families whose homes she worked in, saw her or the women she worked with as compassionate. When they were feeling ill they were told to work through it despite the extenuating terms that surrounded their health issues and the circumstance maintaining them. This quote represents her purpose when having to work to compensate for her ail teammate and helped explain her views on the injustices that these women were enduring. Besides badgering about the dirt under the carpet that was pose as a test by a home owner or the dust on the hundreds of unread books on shelves, she had to take a whole tone back from the robotic, day to day work of the maid.This helped her truly see the human suffering that she was witnessing at first hand and enraged her to want to advocate for these women so that others were able to see it too.REFERENCESBullock, H.E., Wyche, K.F., & Williams, W.R. (2001 ). Media Images of the Poor. Journal of Social Issues, 57(2), 229246. Ehrenreich, B. (2001). Nickle and Dimed. New York Picador.