Nickel And Dimed: A Textual Anlysis

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| Nickel and Dimed | Textual Analysis | | Taylor | 12/1/2011 | | Nickel and Dimed: Textual Analysis Introduction Nickel and Dimed: on (Not) getting by in America, written by Barbara Ehrenreich, is about her going undercover to experience living a life with a low wage job. She traveled to three different states, which included: Florida, Maine, and Minnesota and found a job and a place to live in each state. Barbara wanted to live in each state for one month, although that didn’t always happen. The overall goal of her going undercover was to see whether or not she could live off the money she earned at her minimum wage job and have earn enough to pay the next month’s rent. This task proved to be far more challenging than she originally anticipated. Text to Self I can relate my life to Nickel and Dimed more so than I would like to be able to. I have never lived in absolute poverty, but definitely in working poverty. Neither one of my parents attended college, so their income is quite limited in today’s economy. They make enough money just to get by and support them, but that is about it. In order to buy new clothes or have fun with my friends, I had to get a job when I turned 15 simply because my parents couldn’t afford it. I know it is not their fault, but I feel that starting work at such a young age it also ended my childhood prematurely. “Gail is sharing a room in a well-known downtown flophouse for $250 a week. Her roommate, a male friend, has begun hitting on her, driving her nuts, but the rent would be impossible alone.” (Ehrenreich, 2001:25). I am going through a similar situation right now. My partner and I are currently looking for an apartment together. We originally were going to share a 2 bedroom with a friend of ours because that would cut the cost of the rent and other expenses dramatically. But out of nowhere, she decided she

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