A Closer Look at Humor: An Analysis of Ehrenreich’s View
In Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, the author frequently focuses on the demeanor and appearance of the people she meets and sees during her research trips. Throughout the book she makes witty, opinionated comments that can easily be taken out of context. Because of this, her wisecracks convey the impression of her being narrow-minded. Also, these comments do not help her with any of her arguments because of how she comes off. Ehrenreich improper use of humor puts across the impression of her being biased.
Ehrenreich’s “biting humor” gives off the sense of her stereotypical views, bluntly stating her biased opinions. Some of these views are understandable, and sometimes even excusable, considering her background of high education and/or lack of personal experience that is like majority of the people she encounters throughout her journey. However, there are points in which her wisecracks go too far. During her time in Florida, there is a point when four of her tables fill up at once. When a customer from a table of British tourists complains, she states, “Princess Di refuses to eat her chicken strips with her pancake and sausage special since, as she now reveals, the strips were meant to be an appetizer.” (p. 47). She also refers to another table of customers as “yuppies” (p. 47). When making these stereotypical judgments of people, she puts herself on a pedestal, almost as if she disregards the fact that she may fall under the same category of those whom she is making the comments about. When she references the food at the location of second job she takes in Florida, she begins describing it with: “Picture a fat person’s hell, and I don’t mean a place with no food.” (p. 29)....
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... in her favor. Alzheimer’s isn’t preventable nor is it something that when someone has it, they can be compared to “wizened toddlers at a tea party.” That statement was uncalled for and unnecessary. It doesn’t work in her favor because it makes her seem ignorant.
Ehrenreich’s views throughout the book do not help her with getting the reader to agree with her. Her use of humor is more offensive than funny. She put herself in a position where she didn’t go into this project open-minded. She kept her own views, which got in the way of seeing people for who they are. She sarcastically makes fun of her place if work, when she didn’t out herself in the place of the people there. She also mocks people to the extent where it isn’t just a little side comment, but a rude, biased statement. Ehrenreich use of humor in Nickel and Dimed contains too much of an opinionated twist.
She blames capitalism for the injustices of the world, slightly more than easy bad management techniques. A company should be shown that would benefit from a union and it will be shown to all around that one that will promote even better from decent, gentle management decisions. Most irritating, she’s constantly negative about the whole lot, even the positive experiences she has. When one of her colleagues offers to allow her move in with her and her family, not only does Ehrenreich turn the proposal down, but she still describes it sneeringly as a "touched by an angel moment." Does she have to dribble with irony when writing about an authentic type deed?
For example, She notes that “ One of the women explains to me that teams do not necessary return to the same houses week after week, nor do you have any guarantee of being on the same team from one day to the next.” What this quote means is it explains the way the company tries to prevent the groups from making social contact. I can relate to Ehrenreich’s argument because while I was working at Jewel as a bagger. I had similar routines and experienced some of the ways that the system tried to work my body more than my mind. For example, while working there I was ordered to do many tasks to keep me busy and from interacting and making friendships with fellow employees. If this was allowed then we would be able to talk about how unfair our job is and how we are treated. The author tries to argue that her job keeps her mind busy and she won't be able to have time to think or react., in other words, this blue collar job is
Like most people whom conduct experiments, Ehrenreich must first establish credibility of her knowledge of this subject. She does this in her introduction in numerous ways. Ehrenreich comes out saying that she has a Ph.D in biology but has a fancy for writing. She starts off with her exposure to low wage paying jobs by using her sister and her husband a companion for over a decade. Her sister, who use to work for the phone company as a sales representative, a factory work and receptionist who described it her experiences as “the hopelessness of being a wage slave”. Her husband use to work for $4.50 an hour in a warehouse before he was fortunate enough to land a good paying job with the union workers the Teamsters.
The biggest appeal that Ehrenreich makes is after she ends up walking out of the housekeeping job/waitress job because she cannot handle it anymore." I have failed I don't cry, but I am in a position to realize, for the first time in many years, that the tear ducts are still there and still capable of doing their job." (Ehrenreich, 48) This is the biggest appeal because Ehrenreich is quitting on the whole project. She is basically telling the readers that it is impossible for her, a "well-off", woman to live the life of a low wage worker.
Paul Krugman’s humorous rhetoric both entertains and informs the reader towards America’s consistent uneducated assumptions of other countries. He opens with a critical approach of the Republican Candidate, Jeb Bush and his comment about French work weeks. Krugman immediately shot down Bush’s argument and referred him as “french toast”, in order to describe the weight of the outcome on his campaign in a joking manner. He inserts an interjection and utilizes common speech to convey straight messages about his possible political standing in the presidential race and elaborates on how groundless his statements were about the French work ethic. Krugman’s sour critique then moves onto yet another Republican, Ben Carson. Although there weren’t any
Ehrenreich accomplishes her goal in explaining why we should have the race of “none” by establishing credibility when she talks about how her own family has not followed the traditions of their ancestors and some of the social
Both pieces attempted to show a certain aspect in life. They tried to inform others and evoke a sense of pathos, to convey pity in hopes of sparking a change in the situation. The difference in Eighner’s piece is that he shows that even though he experienced some of the worst scenarios, he was still satisfied for what he had. On the other hand, Ehrenreich depicts the hardships for those who are not at the complete bottom. Even though the people who were introduced in “Serving in Florida” were better off financially than Lars Eighner, many failed to recognise that the situation could always be worse. She shows how some are not grateful for what they have, but are instead searching for
There are several inconsistencies about the situations that Ehrenreich placed herself in and the real li...
Can someone really live and prosper in American receiving minimal income? Can someone create a good lifestyle for themselves on just six to seven dollars an hour? In Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich goes undercover to find out if it is indeed possible. Giving herself only $1,000 she leaves the lifestyle that she has come accustomed too and goes to join all the people living the low class way of life.
The juxtaposed contrasts that she often uses are seen explicitly in anecdotes or implicitly in conscious thoughts. Such contrasts first appear in the first paragraph. Even before Ehrenreich makes any substantial effort to join the poor working class, she is hit with this sudden unease of being recognized. At that time, it is clear that she has not relinquished her middle class status since she feels ashamed of being identified as a poor worker. In the world that the author originally belongs to, name and reputation are considered important to one’s standing in society yet in the working class realm, as Ehrenreich later finds out, one is often “unnoticed” and names are “unuttered.” Not only are names forgotten but one’s ability and education are also ignored when looking for jobs. Oblivious to the “rule” for hiring for unskilled jobs, Ehrenreich initially worries about her over-qualification but only to be shocked when she realizes the employers are not even interested. Whereas jobs for the middle class often demand higher education and past accomplishments, jobs for the low-wage workforce are simply depended simply on luck or as Ehrenreich claims “ being in the right place at the right time.” One can convey this as part of a corporate scheme to ensure the
In today’s society, the question of minimum wage is a large political topic. Many people argue that it is impossible to live on a minimum wage lifestyle. In her novel Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich looks into this issue. In an experiment in which she mimics the life of a single woman, she moves into the low-wage workforce in three different cities in America. Within these cities, she attempts to make a living off of low-wage work and records her experiences, as well as the experiences of the true low-wage workers around her. Throughout Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich utilizes both vivid imagery and data in order to persuade the audience to agree that the low-wage lifestyle is truly un-livable.
During the middle of the book, Ehrenreich writes, "Maybe, it occurs to me, that I 'm getting a tiny glimpse of what it would be like to be black (p. 100)." I found this interesting because African Americans continuously face inequality due to race, which correlates with the inequalities that lower classes in society face. Throughout Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich emphasizes that there are "hidden costs" to being poor, which includes those in poverty who cannot find a way out. The working poor, who Ehrenreich gets to know through work, live in hotels paying daily. These people in the book describe to Ehrenreich that that would rent an apartment, but they cannot afford the security deposit and starting costs. The working poor in the book also must buy unhealthy meals at fast-food restaurants because they cannot afford kitchen appliances or food to cook with. People suffering in poverty often believe they are stuck there and cannot get out, so they
The article entitled “A rationalist 's Mystical Moment” by Barbara Ehrenreich recants a “mystical” moment endured by the author who, a self-described rationalist descends from a long line of “hardcore atheists”. The author’s background is colorful as described by her biography in Wikipedia “… American writer and political activist who describes herself as "a myth buster by trade", and has been called "a veteran muckraker" by The New Yorker. During the 1980s and early 1990s she was a prominent figure in the Democratic Socialists of America. She is a widely read and award-winning columnist and essayist, and author of 21 books. Ehrenreich is perhaps best known for her 2001 book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Ehrenreich)
In this book, Ehrenreich tries to work in three different places to see what it is like to work as a minimum wage worker. Ehrenreich worked as a server in Florida, housekeeper in Miami, and sales person in Minnesota, and still she didn’t make enough money to live comfortable. As she says, “Something is wrong, very wrong, when a single person in good health, a person who in addition possesses a working car, can barely support herself by the sweat of her brow. You don’t need a degree in economics to see that wages are too low and rent too high”(Ehrereich’s 199). She notices how hard it is for poor people to try to survive when they have to work with a minimum
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books, 2001.