Essays on Barbara Ehrenreich

In the article Too Poor to Make the News that appeared in The New York Times on the 13 of June, the author Barbara Ehrenreich predicts the emergence of a new class called ‘the Nouveau Poor’. Ehrenreich believes that this inequality that can be seen for a couple of decades will be leveled by ‘recession porn’. With this term she refers to a new genre of media that makes peoples’ lives harder and forces to refuse from habitual and beloved things. (Ehrenreich) Barbara Ehrenreich in her article Too Poor to Make the News answers on the question that disturbs ...

The nature of poverty and the reasons for its persistence related to the behavior of the individual and the state of the social system. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich shows poverty as an integral part of the capitalist system and evaluate it as a benefit for the whole community eventually led to the problematization special lifestyle in poverty. This led to a search for a cultural mechanism of depletion (displacement to the periphery) maladjusted individuals, which combine and interact with individual and social factors. However, the author believes that the poor are " ...

In “The Ecstasy of War,” Barbara Ehrenreich uses an urgent tone to persistently persuade the audience to believe that it is not a natural warlike instinct that primarily guides war from the start. The author’s tone also seems more determined as she establishes that individuals undergo a psychological metamorphosis as a result of which they transform into a warrior, leaving their humanity behind and detaching themselves from their self. As means of further persuading the audience, Ehrenreich gives examples of how individuals use drugs or partake in transformative rituals to transition into a warrior. She deduces that a warlike instinct is not in the ...

Summary

In her bestselling book, “Nickel and Dimed,” author Barbara Ehrenreich aims to give the reader a firsthand account of life as a worker on the poverty level. For her story, Ehrenreich, a writer from an upper-class family, decided to live the existence of a minimum wage worker, taking five low-level jobs at various locations around the United States, including positions as a waitress, health care aide, and Wal-Mart associate. To fulfill her objective, the author tried to obtain food, shelter and miscellaneous items solely from the money she earned in these jobs. She found out how hard it is to live when your income ...

In her bestselling book, “Nickel and Dimed,” author Barbara Ehrenreich aims to give the reader a firsthand account of life as a worker on the poverty level. For her story, Ehrenreich, a writer from an upper-class family, decided to live the existence of a minimum wage worker, taking five low-level jobs at various locations around the United States, including positions as a waitress, health care aide, and Wal-Mart associate. To fulfill her objective, the author tried to obtain food, shelter and miscellaneous items solely from the money she earned in these jobs. She found out how hard it is to live when your income ...

After reading the essays by Barbera Ascher, Lars Eighner and Barbara Ehrenreich, I was rather surprised and intrigued by the way of topics representation in them. Even though they are rather short in length, they touch such themes that are always topical, evolving and getting new aspects with time. These topics can be called eternal, while being not very pleasant ones. Still, I find them interesting, as they make me think differently in certain aspects, which is always a valuable experience. The main topic that unites the three authors is the superficial way Americans perceive their life. It can ...