A Critique of Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Barbara Ehrenreichs defend, plate and Dimed, was sure enough a wonderful certainise and is verily fitted to open the ratifiers eyes to a macrocosm that is usu eachy set aside by many. The concord was originally a compilation of her researches as she went undercover to write close concourse who had to work multiple notes notwithstanding to make ends go steady. Those the great unwashed whose wages were downstairs the minimum wage and were so brisk with work they were not qualified to survey their own interests and who were in same manner supporting dependents.As a whole, the rootage was able to enter her experiences as she wrote in her journal her free-and- short experiences. Through this, the readers were able to turn out a glimpse into the lives of people she had worked with as a waitress at Florida, a health c argon aide at Maine and a salesperson of Wal-Mart at Minnesota. To be able to do this properly, though, she had to fake her qualifications and disgui se her motives from her fellow workers. As a journalist, she also had to restrain herself from pointing disclose her political views to her colleagues.I think her system of studying the people whitethorn nonplus some flaws, some biases. Below would be several of them. First of all, she wasnt rattling like them. These people has had diffe crosscurrent experiences and lived in a different environment strange hers. Such factors would feel made an doctor on how the subjects would act as people, as workers.The author menti unrivaledd that her co-workers didnt charge fill almost insurance or other(a) possible benefits included on the job they were on and just accepted what their stamp said. If the workers were people who knew about such(prenominal) social occasions, they would likely ask. Then, again, charge if they knew, most(prenominal) of them would not throw away time to think about such benefits as a whole because they would be too busy trying to ake ends meet any way.Then, as one who had to experience the behavior of a poor worker, she was not able to live out the role genuinely well. One, she did not have anyone who depended on her breadno family or siblings, unlike most of the subjects she studied. She did not feed anyone else other than herself nor did she have to consider the medical problems of other people.The author also did not trust unearthly organizations veritable(a) when her coworkers were telling her that it would be a great help. She unceasingly refused to accept cash from charities and other such organizations. People in actual situations would not be refusing such help in fact, they would have been the ones who would be asking for help from such organizations, whether they believed in its cause or not.She also insisted on living alone, thus pay her rent by herself. She always seemed to talk about this issue but was never truly able to solve such an easy problem. Real people would have gone(a) and looked for roommates to shargon the rent of the house. That way, she could have save more money and may even develop a relationship with other people.The last part of the statement was also one of the things she failed to do. Humans are complaisant beings, thats a fact even when thither are a fewer who say they prefer to live alone. completely people need each other and so far, the human race is progressing because of assist each other. The same principle save happens and is certainly one of the most stiff ways to surviveto help one other. The author, unfortunately, was not able to build a proper relationship with her co-workers.She was not able to build a support net profit which most people actually have. I believe that this is one of the most bouncy parts in the lives of the working class. Yeah, they may be feeding more mouths and using up more, but the human companionship, the support, these extra people are bragging(a) to the workers actually cause them to go on fighting and working. in that respect was also this part on the book where she walks out in the middle of her demerit as a worker in a restaurant just 2 weeks after being hired. The truth is, real people would not have through this, simply because they did not have the self-reliance to do so. They just could not expend to lose a job, however unverbalised it is or low paying it is. And public speaking of low-income, hard, stressful jobs, she also irresponsibly argues against corporations giving such junior-grade wages without considering the economic science behind it like insurance and overhead. These things are work requirements and are deducted from the employees salaries. Of course, with those things, and probably special loans, the employees would rattling set a small wage after all the deductions are done.Also, the fact that she seemed to give her own thoughts and comments on the issues that were tackled on the book made it less(prenominal) like professional journalism. Ehrenreich thought that the book was the product of undercover reporting, but it certainly privationed a bit of that sense because of the lack of objectivity of reporting the events. She was not even able to tell or link the lives her subjects were living. She could have picked a person, tried to get to know him and be able to hit in the book more concretely the problems and issues the person was facing. Instead, the book was actually, in another point of view, mostly about her and how she coped up with living the life of such people.Sure, there were the other characters but it almost always seemed like she was the hero since the whole thing revolved around herself. The subjects she was supposed to be studying were like backdrops in her play. She unfeignedly should have focused more on the lives of the people she was studying. She should have delved more on pick outly how these people lived, what are the exact problems they were facing, if possible, what these people wanted, wished, they could d o for themselves and what the government could do for them.Im not aphorism that Ehrenreich was all the way wrong in her methods and because of that, her book was essentially ineffective. The truth is, although it would have been better with the above suggestion, it has, in effect, unfeignedly opened the eyes of its readers of the many people who have jobs but still really are poor. The book certainly disproved the expectation that if one has a job, then everythings going to be alright. It also expertness have made people see their thoughts about the poor, saying that they are like that because they are lazy. The book shows that there are hardworking people, but unfortunately, even with all the jobs they are balancing, they are still not able to get out of the sticking web called poverty.Works CitedEhrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting By In America. crude York Metropolitan Books, 2001.