Transcript Nickel and Dimed - Allen County Schools

Nickel and Dimed
On (Not) Getting by in America
About the Author
► Barbara
Eherenrich
► Originally from Butte,
MT, but moved all over
the country as she grew
up.
► Father was a coal miner, but later worked in
the engineering aspect of the business.
► Mother was a homemaker.
How Nickel and Dimed changed her
life:
► [This
book] changed my life in important and
unexpected ways. Nickel and Dimed plunged me
into the nascent living wage movement, traveling
to union rallies, picket lines and organizing
meetings around the country. Once terrified of
public speaking, I became comfortable addressing
crowds through a bull horn, with no notes at all. I
got arrested at a protest with Yale workers; I
joined picket lines with hotel workers in Santa
Monica and janitors in Miami; I leafleted for a
living wage in Charlottesville and marched with
ACORN in Michigan.
Undercover journalism
► Undercover
journalism is a form of
journalism in which the writer tries to
infiltrate a social group by posing as
someone friendly to that particular
community.
► Often this takes months and years to do
effectively.
Social Issues in the Book
►
Attacks the following notions:





Low-wage workers are “too lazy to get real
jobs”.
Employment will defeat poverty.
Low-wage jobs require “unskilled labor”.
Help Wanted ads mean an employer is hiring.
Low-wage jobs offer enough income to
support a single person without children or a
spouse.
Who is really being generous?
► “When
someone works for less pay than she can
live on ... she has made a great sacrifice for you ...
The "working poor" ... are in fact the major
philanthropists of our society. They neglect their
own children so that the children of others will be
cared for; they live in substandard housing so that
other homes will be shiny and perfect; they
endure privation so that inflation will be low and
stock prices high. To be a member of the working
poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless
benefactor, to everyone” (p. 221).
Books With Similar Themes
► Bait
and Switch by Barbara Eherenreich
► Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the
American Dream by Adam Shepard.
Arguing to Inquire
► “The
author’s goal is to open up an issue for
careful inquiry, to convince readers that the
issue is worth their attention and to
encourage them to consider the writer’s
perspective on the issue” (The Informed
Argument, p. 14).
Look for use of classical appeals
► How
does the very nature of this book
establish ethos?
► What kinds of facts create logos?
► How does this book use pathos?
► What rhetorical devices does she use?
 Any fallacies?
 Consider her diction, syntax, and other stylistic
features…