Nickel And Dimed: Rhetorical Analysis

In her unforgettable memoir, Barbara Ehrenreich sets out to explore the lives of the working poor under the proposed welfare reforms in her hometown, Key West, Florida. Temporarily discarding her middle class status, she resides in a small cheap cabin located in a swampy background that is forty-five minutes from work, dines at fast food restaurants, and searches all over the city for a job. This heart-wrenching yet infuriating account of hers reveals the struggles that the low-income workers have to face just to survive. In the except from Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich uses many rhetorical strategies to illustrate the conditions of the low wage workers including personal anecdotes of humiliation at interviews, lists of restrictions due to limited

financial budget, vivid descriptions of her surrounding places and people, and inferences from direct quotations of acquaintances. Most strikingly is Ehrenreich’s compare and contrast between the thoughtlessness of the overindulged middle class and the dire anxiety that the poor working class have to overcome for marginal existence in society. Through this framework, Barbara Ehrenreich sheds light on the harsh reality that underlies American economy by exposing the dreadful lives of the invisible workforce that serve our needs and satisfy our wants.
By comparing and contrasting, Ehrenreich points out the distinctions between the two classes: the middle class in which the author herself belongs to and the poor working class in which the author wishes to investigate.

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

flow of available workers in case of an unforeseen work strike. With the recent reforms in welfare, it is absurd to see that the lack of acknowledgement for the dutiful working poor is prevalent in the lower socio-economic class today.