Comparing The American Dream In Nickel And Dimed By Barbara Ehrenreich

The concept of the American Dream has borne change since its conception in 1776, with the Declaration of Independence referencing men’s unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Its definition to the American people and its attainability is conditional upon the period it is prevalent in. In general, the American Dream refers to the idea that every American has the equality, freedom, and opportunity to strive. Many classic pieces of American Literature highlight this concept in a way that is most pertinent to the period they were written in. Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich, specifically highlights a more modern time period, from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. Within this narrative, author Barbara Ehrenreich

In accordance to Nickel and Dimed and more modern statistics, The American Dream was not obtainable then and is still not attainable now because of sectional differences in the United States and how previous education, such as grade school or university education, cannot compensate for those differences, how the more fortunate always find ways to take advantage of the less fortunate through their lives of opportunity such that the success of the less fortunate is rigged, and really how the whole concept of the American Dream and its attainability is based on the context of the time period.

In the bulk of Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich narrates her experiences working in the multiple types of jobs she’s had within the United States. She mentions how within each region, Florida, Maine, and Minnesota, she encountered different types of work , leaving her with a certain amount of money each week or month after tax payments and paying for

One could argue that many changes have occurred since then. The US stock market gradually fell after the early 2000s and end of the Clinton Administration, and an economic crash came in 2008, which in recent years has soared up to levels past ones of the 1990s, under the Obama Administration (Economist’s View). Yet there are still current changes occurring as well, with the Trump Administration having plans to potentially skyrocket national debt. So yes, the economy has changed quite a bit, yet it seems at this point it makes the American Dream even harder to achieve. More low-wage workers will be hired to keep up demands for current national projects, and even more may be cut in order to lower the national debt. Sectional differences are still a problem as well, especially with the hourly wage. Yes, hourly wage has risen from the 1990s; in 1997, the federal minimum for hourly wage was $5.15, which has been changed to and remained the same at $7.25 since 2009 (United States Department of Labor). Yet the state average widely differs, with more rural states like Georgia averaging the bare minimum, while some states in the northeast like Massachusetts averaging $11.00 hourly wage (Doyle). A person cannot truly still obtain the equality needed to prosper in this nation. Yet still, there’s the argument that public schooling has become much more promising, with