Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

Introduction

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich exposes low-wage America in all its anxiety, tenacity, and surprising generosity (Gallagher, 2001). It portrays the country of fast food, Big Boxes and a thousand frantic stratagems for continued existence. Getting an instantaneous acclamation for its passion, humor, and insight, this book is bringing a change in the way United States sees its lower working class.

Summary

Barbara Ehrenreich in “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America” speculates if single mothers, who owing to the Welfare reform, count exclusively on what they can earn by way of their low-wage jobs, will be capable of surviving financially (Freer, 2006). To come back with this question, Ehrenreich decides to live on low earnings in three cities in the United States of America.

The first city selected for this task was Key West where Ehrenreich found a job in two different restaurants. She also worked as a house keeper in a hotel. In this city, Ehrenreich first discovered that there are many unknown expenses to being deprived. She observed that if one cannot have enough money to pay the security deposit for an apartment, he or she is forced to reside in a hotel or a lodge which is eventually more expensive. If one only has a room, then he or she cannot make savings by cooking cheap, nutritious food. Similarly, if one has no health insurance, then he or she ends up with important and expensive health issues (Freer, 2006). Thus, on a particularly tough day, Barbara Ehrenreich turned her back on the job and never went back.

After that, she moved to Maine on account of the almost all white low income workers. There, she resided in a cottage and worked ...