Analysis Of Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel And Dimed

Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimed has several themes throughout it’s text, but I can’t help but think that Ehrenreich’s main point is that the poor deserve to earn more; She goes on to discuss all throughout the book how it is virtually impossible for someone to provide basic needs for themselves after only working one minimum wage job;.
For instance, If a minimum wage is set, shouldn’t that so called wage be enough for someone to have basic necessities to live their life? Of course it should be, but the U.S government has not done this and is therefore why I stand with Ehrenreich on her views;
Once diving into the book I discovered that Ehrenreich’s most moral dilemma seems to be when she’s employed as a maid with a housekeeping company; She finds herself thinking what makes it okay for one person to have so much that he or she pays another person to clean a toilet; Is this not America? The land of opportunity, where we are all considered equal? It surely doesn’t feel that way and it was very pleasant to see that the author shared views I myself have had about this very topic;

Another moral dilemma I caught while reading on was when Ehrenreich was employed in Maine and suddenly one of her coworkers appears to be totally unhealthy and malnourished; And yet she refuses to seek treatment of any kind; This causes Ehrenreich to feel that she has an obligation to do something about her coworkers quandary because it is not her co workers choice to slog hurt through life.

This reminds me of a scene in the movie Jerry Maguire where Renee Zellweger says, “ It used to be that first class used to mean a better meal, now it means a better life.” This is addressed by the author from a humanistic standpoint to simply doing what’s right at the time and that is for this woman to stop and get help , but she chooses not to and why is this? Simply because of the fact she needs the money and cant afford to stop working and this is clearly wrong on so many

levels;
To conclude the authors argument always is that it is nearly impossible to survive on minimum wage and that the working poor in America are suffering without being seen and I’ll be the first to agree with her conclusion; I’ll admit this topic is one I do not like to talk about because of the fact I myself was living in poverty with my mother and brother and sister and it was very hard on my mother raising us on a minimum wage hourly rate, There was often times me and my brother would have to share clothes because my mother couldn't buy all of us our individual clothes; So I know first hand what this is like and its ridiculous that anyone would argue against this; I ask those same people who believe they can live off of minimum wage to do it for a year and see how they feel, think, and act because of it; I am sure that they will not have the needs they need to live “normal” steady life;