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And Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America By Barbara Ehrenreich

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I chose the above paragraph, because it really dawns on you the daily cost of living and struggles faced by the working-class people. “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich is an eye opener, as it helps you get a glimpse into the lives of the working-class people and the many hardships endured by them on a daily basis. It is appalling to learn that so many people do not even have access to proper nutrition and healthcare, which I think should be a basic necessity and not a luxury. These people work hard and have absolutely nothing to show for. California is an excellent example of the great divide between the rich and poor, with the middle class almost non-existent. With housing cost sky rocketing at this point
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Barbara Ehrenreich wonders how americans can afford to survive financially off of just a minimum wage paying job. Ehrenreich decides to go undercover to find out for herself how these americans are barely making ends meat. The first place Ehrenreich goes to is Key West, Florida; she gets a job at a diner and finds a trailer home to live in but soon realizes that working at the diner alone cannot pay for her rent and put food on the table so Ehrenreich gets a second job working as a hotel maid. Soon the fatigue of working two strenuous jobs catches up to her and she decides to quit her two jobs before her first month of being undercover is up. The second city she visits is Portland, Maine.

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My article deals with the study of society and social interaction of the Middle Class and how they survived on a Nickel and Dimed. In our text (n) 2, (pg. 42, paragraph 2) the journalist Barbara Ehrenreich brought the two stories together by research, that it is, impossible to make it on minimum wage work. The journalist observed in her study the mindset of the working Middle Class people, their persistence to make ends meet, to take care of their household, family and the will to make thing change. The “Middle Class” an aimless expression applied to those who is not on the system of welfare. In the United States certain development changed the past three decades, due to after World War II, the benefits of growth, and money making flow to

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Pathos dominates the article when Ehrenreich allows her nephews mother in law, grandchildren, and daughter to move into her house. The situation focuses on pathos because in Ehrenreich’s personal story she includes that “Peg, was, like several million other Americans, about to lose her home to foreclosure” (338). She is effective in her writing by appealing to the readers’ emotions through visual concepts and personal experiences. When I read the article, I felt emotional because the working poor are not fortunate to know if they will have a house or food the next day. I agree with Ehrenreich in which the poor are as important as the wealthy group who get more recognition.

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The working poor are a class of people that have their own culture that can only be understood through full participation in it; without proper acquaintance with their lifestyle, the working poor cannot be adequately examined or criticized. The author is skilled and effective in delivering her opinion of the working poor in the United States at the time; she includes numerous details and examples as support. The first paragraph of the piece is a long description of the restaurant, Jerry’s, and its conditions. This passage serves as one of the many visuals that she includes to evoke thought from the reader. Ehrenreich uses the passage to support her claims and opinions of the restaurant and the working poor as a whole.

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Jack Nguyen AP English 3 30, July 2015 Nickel and Dimed Rhetorical Strategies and Notes Thesis: Ehrenreich’s personal use of varied rhetorical strategies allowed her to divulge the working conditions and struggles of the poverty-stricken class to the readers in order to provoke them to realize that something has to be done about poverty.. First Body: What: Allusion Pg. 2, Logos Pg. 37. How & Effect: Ehrenreich uses these personal, rhetorical strategies based on her experiences as a low-wage worker in the poor working class. The effect is that Ehrenreich is able to show the readers the conditions in which the impoverished work in and the daily obstacles that they face in life; also there is an appeal to logic and a reference of a poverty idiom. Why: Ehrenreich is deliberately using these rhetorical strategies to incite the readers about the fact that changes need to be done to poverty because it is a detrimental thing to society.

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The article “The Secret Shame of Middle-Class Americans” was featured on The Atlantic website. It was published in the May 2016 print issue of the magazines under the heading Business. The article was written by Neal Gabler. This 6,800-word article was written about the both the personal financial struggles of the author and general financial struggles of the American middle-class that are so often masked. According to the author, the article was inspired by a statistic published by the Federal Reserve Board: “47 percent of respondents said that either they would cover the expense by borrowing or selling something, or they would not be able to come up with the $400 at all.”

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Mantsios’ compares the profiles of different Americans lifestyles in his text and develops the idea that an individual’s class standing can affect their livelihood in detrimental ways, “The lower one’s class standing, the more difficult it is to secure appropriate housing, the more time is spent on routine tasks of everyday life, the greater is the percentage of income that goes to pay for food and other basic necessities, and the greater is the likelihood of crime victimization” (293). Mantsios explains that one’s class standing can affect the chances of survival and success. Ehrenreich describes her own housing experiences as a low income worker. To reduce her overall costs and to obtain a second job, Ehrenreich moves closer to Key West. Ehrenreich has just enough money to pay the rent and deposit on a tiny trailer at the Overseas Trailer Park.

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Argumentative Text Essay In the book Nickel and Dimed, written by Barbara Ehrenreich, the author argues how challenging it is to live in a life of poverty. To prove to herself as well as others that this statement is accurate, she makes the decision to experience this lifestyle firsthand by taking low-wage jobs and recording the results. Ehrenreich took on jobs including a maid service, waitressing, and assisting the nursing home to make enough money for a place to sleep and food to eat. The work’s central argument is the fact that minimum and low wage workers face a myriad of difficulties in getting by in America; they receive very low pay, harsh treatments from their employers, and the inability to have an actual life.

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Work Cited Madland, David. " Growth and the Middle Class." Democracy Journal. 04 Mar. 2011. Web.

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The author wants the reader to continously think about what poverty means to her, such as “Poverty is being tired” in paragraph 3, “Poverty is dirt” in paragraph 4, and “Poverty is looking into a black future.” in paragraph 10. This reminds the audience that not everyone suffers from poverty in the same way. For the author, poverty is having to take care of family when all the odds are against you, and this is what gives the reader a perfect understanding of it. As stated in the passage, “Listen to me.

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