Ehrenreich's novel Nickel and Dimed: On Getting By In America - Essay Example

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America Yes I completely think that Barbra’s novel nickel and dimed shaped discrimination because her comment that if she were of an different skin color or if she was a single parent things would have been different, Now in its ninth printing, Barbara Ehrenreichs Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America became a New York Times bestseller within weeks of its release, receiving wide media attention and a great deal of acclaim, the books popularity is at least partially a result of its unique angle on the low-income working world. "In the spirit of science," Ehrenreich decided to become a low-wage worker herself, to see whether she "could match income to expenses, as the truly poor attempt to do everyday." As with any scientific experiment, there were a few rules: She refused to fall back on skills derived from her education or professional experience (claiming only a partial college education) and promised to accept both the highest paid job and the cheapest accommodations available. Over the course of a year, Ehrenreich worked her way through a number of minimum-wage and low-paying jobs in three different locales: as a waitress in Florida, a housecleaner and nursing-home aide in Maine, and as a Wal-Mart employee in Minnesota., but here is where she fell of her skills she missed out about how the single parents and how the African American population made their way in lower wages, then she gave that discriminating comment which further gave the novel discriminative touch The working poor neglect their own children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that other homes will be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high.... Guilt ... isnt that what were supposed to feel? But guilt doesnt go anywhere near far enough; the appropriate emotion is shame--shame at our own dependency, in this case, on the underpaid labor of others. While Nickel and Dimed was not primarily intended as an exposé of the service industry, some of Ehrenreichs best writing is reflected in her accounts of the trials and tribulations of working in this sector. It is a world of psychological questionnaires, employee drug tests, industrial-strength cleansers, bus pans, bedpans, bathroom breaks, side work, busy work, and the self-celebrating kitsch of corporate retail America. The jobs were physically exhausting, dangerous to her health (she developed a mysterious rash while cleaning Maine McMansions), mind-numbingly boring, degrading and stressful (the supervisors of low-wage workers are a particularly officious and nasty lot). In her eternal quest to find an affordable place to live, she had to settle for dank motel rooms and, in one instance, a one-person trailer--all wildly expensive, considering her weekly pay. But what she missed out was that the blacks who have low wages have to live in neighborhoods where they have to fear their live sand even their wife and children she only drew picture of what she want through and what the white population whoa re not single parents go through The after the comment it seemed that even t hose who had read the book before thought that the whole book was shaped on discrimination specially where Her experiences and observations shed needed light on this important yet neglected segment of the workforce. They also make it difficult not to be sympathetic to the struggle and supportive of efforts to improve the life of the working poor. Here it is quite clear she only restricted her findings to what she observed and not of the other class of people, she may have written about the low wage classes as if she was writing it with general point of view but it was very clear that all she id was highlight he won experiences and not the experiences of the workers of other races who worked with her. Based on Ehrenreichs observations, it appears that the concept of economic man can be a cruel fiction for the working poor. They have to surmount major obstacles in order to obtain better paying jobs. One is insufficient information about alternative employment opportunities and prevailing wages. Help wanted advertisements for low level positions are not very informative. They rarely provide wage information and, because of the high turnover of unskilled workers, often are run when employers dont have job openings. Their lack of savings creates another obstacle, because changing employers can mean a week or more without a paycheck. When higher paying positions are available they often are located in or near affluent neighborhoods, which can create a further difficulty. As public transportation is inconvenient or nonexistent in many areas of the United States, a better job may require a long and costly commute or a move to more expensive housing. As a large proportion of the working poor are single parents, childcare problems can be another impediment to obtaining and holding many positions... but these observations were made keeping the white working class in mind and not the black working class in fact with reference to the authors’ comment the whole study was meant to highlight the white working class. What we do is an outcasts work, invisible and even disgusting. Janitors, cleaning ladies, ditch diggers, changers of adult diapers--these are the untouchables of a supposedly caste-free and democratic society. Despite the more pragmatic intentions of the author, Nickel and Dimed rapidly degenerates into unrestrained social commentary and what often seems like an endless tirade against the indignities of the low-wage working world. There is the "lowly and servile" nature of its positions, the "co-optative power of management," and, of course, the insatiable "greed" of corporate America. Masters and slaves--the rich and the poor--these are the two poles of Ehrenreichs world. Yet, in her attempts to portray American society in terms of caste and class distinctions, Ehrenreich glosses over several important factors. The inflexible work schedules of some employers pose a final obstacle by making it difficult, if not impossible, for workers to improve their lot by obtaining a second job. But the black population and the single parent population of America do turn to second jobs as they are in mote need of money so here also the author showed a whole lot of discrimination. (Casson p78) Ehrenreich ends her book with the expectation that at some point the working poor will no longer be willing to tolerate their lot and will begin demanding better pay and working conditions. Recent union successes in organizing unskilled workers suggest that her expectation may not be far fetched. (Curran p141) There have been few studies to determine how welfare recipients fared after being forced into the labor market. Nonetheless, many advocates of welfare reform argue that fulltime employment provides recipients with a way out of poverty. But all those studies were not based on the researcher’s own observations but on questioners and other such scales as these scales is not limited to just one class or kind of people while Ehrenreich vehemently disagrees. Based on her and her coworker’s experiences, she concludes that unskilled work at current wage rates offers most poor people little opportunity to achieve a higher standard of living and avoid sinking deeper into debt. A major barrier to improving the lot of the working poor, according to Ehrenreich, is their high cost of housing. Very few can afford the two month rent needed to secure an apartment. As a result, they end up paying much more for rooms in rundown boarding houses and motels. Not having a stove and a refrigerator precludes their cooking and storing the nutritious low cost meals that can be prepared at home. Instead of paying less for food by shopping at supermarkets, they turn to fast food outlets and convenience stores as the principal sources of their more costly and less healthy meals. (Jones, p5) here also she seems to be only expressing her own experiences that all. The only indiscriminative part of this absorbing book is the story of her stints as a waitress and motel housekeeper in Florida, a cleaning woman and nursing home aide in Maine and a Wal-Mart sales clerk in Minnesota. By turns hilarious, hair-raising and heartbreaking, Nickel and Dimed reveals the daily struggles of ordinary working women. Ehrenreich would be the first to admit that, despite her ground rules, she retained considerable advantages. She had a car, and enough cash to pay a deposit on a place to live. Her daycare problems revolved around what to do with her laptop computer while she was at work. She also benefited from the knowledge that she could opt out of any particular job at any moment, and return to her normal life, a life that included a comfortable place to live and financial security. Conclusion To conclude we can say that although Ehrenreich paints a bleak and discriminatory, often disturbing picture of what it is like to be an unskilled worker, Nickel and Dimed is recommended reading. Her experiences and observations shed needed light on this important yet neglected segment of the workforce. They also make it difficult not to be sympathetic to the struggle and supportive of efforts to improve the life of the working poor. Her comment that her view point would be different if she were as ingle parent or if she was a black makes Barbra’s novel nickel and dimed shaped discrimination because her comment that if she were of an different skin color or if she was a single parent things would have been different, Works Cited Casson, John J. ,Nickel And Dimed , American Economist, Spring2002, Vol. 46 Issue 1, p78, 2p. Curran, Christine, Trading places, Public Interest, 00333557, Winter2002, Issue 146, p141. Jones, Jacqueline Underpaid and Undercover, Womens Review of Books, 07381433, Jul2001, Vol. 18, Issue 10/11, p Read More