Nickel and Dimed

Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Enrenreich, is a novel written about her experiences while living and working among the common poor folk of America. Her adventures bring her from a restaurant in Ohio to the coasts of Maine to a Wal-Mart in Minnesota. Although her living and working locations change, one thing stays constant about Barbara her humorous and witty remarks. These remarks keep the reader entertained. Although her wisecracks are clever, they seem to at many times go too far, and have a tendency to be offensive, but this does not take away from the fact that these remarks greatly increase the validity of her arguments.

During Barbara’s travels she makes very interesting and at the same time very true observations. One of the more interesting things she observes is the Christian Faith. Mrs. Enrenreich decides to make a visit to a “tent revival” because she refuses to spend her last Saturday night at the 6 in her room (66, Enrencreich). Her impression of Christians already is in poor taste because she is an atheist, but when she comes to the service she is even more judgmental. Barbara says, “Jesus makes his appearance here only as a corpse; the living man, the win-guzzling vagrant and precocious socialist, is never once mentioned, nor anything he ever had to say. Christ crucified rules, and it may be that the true business of modern Christianity is to crucify him again and again so that he can never get a word out of his mouth. I would like to stay around for the speaking of tongues, should it occur, but the mosquitoes, worked into a frenzy by all this talk of His blood, are launching a full-scale attack.” (69). The remark made about Christ can be taken very offensive to people of the Christian Faith. This happens to be one...

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...urate tying the whole book together as a whole and once again proving her argument.

“The "discovery" of poverty at the beginning of the 1960s was something like the "discovery" of America almost five hundred years earlier. In the case of each of these exotic terrains, plenty of people were on the site before the discoverers ever arrived.”—Barbra Enrenreich. Barbra’s humor kept all readers on there toes while reading the novel, Nickel and Dimed. Although, at times, her comments were offensive or over-the-top it never took away from her arguments. She was clear in her goal and motive and was able to prove her point in writing the novel. Thanks to Barbara’s novel, she was able to raise awareness of how the poor were looked upon and treated. Through a waitress in Ohio, a maid in Maine, and a Wal-Mart employ in Minnesota Barbara gave great entertainment and great truth.