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This again shows the connection between Nickel and Dimed and The Grapes of Wrath. Both Steinbeck and Ehrenreich are in favor of evoking the readers passion and having the people try to rise up. By using passion and feelings to motivate the people and display the poor treatment of workers

This man read Nickel and Dimed and decided to more ambitiously test the situation of the poor by living the experience for a full year, with no money or car. He further sacrificed his lifestyle for the sake of journalism, and accomplished much more than Ehrenreich

It is interesting because Ehrenreich admits herself that the way she is conducting her experiment is somewhat inaccurate due to her possession of a car and emergency funds. This man is more dedicated and his findings are less biased.

I hope that this guy didn't whine about trivial bullshit (pardon my French) the whole time. Reading "Nickel and Dimed" was unbearable because of Ehrenreich's inability to cope with even the slightest change of plans. There was seriously a few paragraphs committed to how she can't handle caffeine and flips out when she has it, followed by her profound distress over having to call Menard's to ask about her possible wage.

This article is about the disparity between the social classes. The article references "Nickel and Dimed" to emphasize the horrible jobs the lower class engages to make a linving. The article highlights the inequalities between the classes, and how "Nickel and Dimed" supports the theme of social inequality.

(Click the PDF full document at the top, it downloads the article) "In Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich paints the picture of millions of American workers who serve our tables, clean our houses, restock our stores, and take care of our parents. They are paid salaries with which no person can live in dignity, let alone with the hope of ever moving out of the low-class status in which they find themselves. She points out what many of us sense, but few dare articulate, namely that we are willing to accept a form of labor exploitation in our midst while at the same time decrying it in other parts of the world." Talks about how the lower class are all around us struggling, yet mostly we do not know they're there. Their salaries are exceptionally low, but they must try their best to make ends meet and work through the pain.

"...documents the daily tribulations of retail, housecleaning, and restaurant workers: daily humiliation from management, the inability to take time off for illness without docking pay, recriminations for promoting unions, company health insurance that is still unaffordable, etc"

This quote comes from a personal blog but highlights important points about the hardships she endures while performing the various duties.

"Another aspect of this general problem is "injury of the spirit;" in other words, when the reward to excel is minimal, why bother trying to excel?"

You make a good statement; often workers feel compelled to just give up and surrender to the companies. And honestly, who could blame them? You work 16 hours in a day and sleep the rest. You're tired, sleep deprived, hungry, in constant stress. You live only to work, and you work just to live. What is the point of life? Like honestly the condition these people live in just sucks.

I agree with all of you and the quote depicts why businesses promote the hiring of uneducated workers because they will work for less and perform at the same speed as a normal worker since there is no reward for excelling.

Talks about the dead routine of the workers' lives. They have nothing to enjoy about life, they simply work, eat, and sleep. They spend almost every hour working to stay alive. But their life isn't really worth the trouble. It sucks. And also talks about how the minimum-wage workers work harder than countless other jobs, yet because there is not much academic knowledge or professionalism required, they are disgarded as underclass or dumb. 

This compares Ehrenreich's book to Orwell's (who did a similar thing but took it more seriously) and speculates on possible consequences of the novel, pointing out a lack of a plausible solution.

"Why is an author who slams the "corporate overclass" suddenly so popular with the corporate overclass? The usual masochism of the affluent accounts for some of it. The rich like to be told they're wicked, both because it confirms that they're powerful and because it makes them feel slightly less guilty." This article explains why Nickel and Dimed has popularity, even with the upper class. The rich, while they still may be wicked in some regards, have come to accept this fact rather then shy away from it. By knowing and accepting that they are the fittest in Darwin's "Survival of the Fittest" theory, which has carried over to American Capitalism, they feel "that they're powerful". The article shows interesting perspectives on which types of person read the novel and for what reasons.

The author of this article reviews the the novel and suggests that enrenreich's purpose in writing this novel is to help the people if the middle and upper class to understand what it is like to be a low-wage worker. This is similar to the jungle and the grapes of wrath in the fact that it is an exposé.

I agree with your comparison of N&D to The Jungle and The GOW on the basis that they are all expose. All three of them aim to alter the views of the general american public by generating a sense of sympathy for the underprivileged labor population.

I clicked the link and it took me nowhere

I really like the way this article compared Nickel and Dimed to Grapes of Wrath as well. What gives the opressed worker reason to live besides hope? GOW used hope and anger as a way to brew the long plot, which eventually escalated into unity and seemed to be heading for an revolution of the low class. I feel like our country is now at a point where the workers still have hope in our society and have not realized the importance of unity, but when they do, a revolution could occur.

Despite the fact that Wal-Mart is a "Fortune 1" company (it's at the top of the Fortune 500 list), regions with high concentrations of Wal-Marts also have higher poverty rates than average. Note: Posted on a Union Website

After reading Nickel and Dimed and looking at outside sources, I have realized that Walmart is probably the worst corporation that we could possibly have in our economy today. One of the most successful companies in America and around the world does not give health benefits, pays minimum wage, and regions that have Walmarts have higher poverty rates! Wal- Mart may boast that they have "always low prices", but at what price? I applaud this source Zach, and recommend it for anyone talking about Wal-Mart in their essays.

I can't even imagine not being able to afford a house with a kitchen. This really puts a new perspective on things, and adds to the sympathy felt for all the low wage workers.

That's a good point. They do actually have to do really tough work, just like everyone else, except they can't make ends meet just because their jobs are deemed insignificant and their corporations are full of greedy aristocrats. These people suffer and are just disposed.

"Ehrenreich then examines the general social issues underlying her experiences. The constant problem of housing is caused by the rich competing with the poor for living space, with the rich inevitably coming out on top."

The following article gives a brief summary of the novel. The article tells of Ehrenreich's purpose and method of finding minimum wage jobs to support herself. Ehrenreich comes to the conclusion that the cause of the terrible conditions of the poor class is do to social inequality. Social inequality leds to competition which always ends with one side losing to benefits the other.

People that work tend to actually try to achieve their tasks and goals. They put time and effort into their jobs, no matter how low paying. However, companies don't invest the same care into their workers, and basically leave them to fend for themselves.

"I had kept in touch with "Melissa" over the years, who was still working at Walmart, where her wages had risen from $7 to $10 an hour, but in the meantime her husband had lost his job." Based on this there is no possibility for advancement in low wage jobs no matter how long one stays commited to a company and that in the end the corporate executives only care about how much is in their pockets.

This is a good source because it can be seen in all the books as their is little to no room for advancement

I completely agree, and it also translates to The Jungle where Jurgis is loved by his bosses but only until his strength runs out and he sinks back into the pack and is eventually let go after he is injured and therefore useless to the bosses.

A lawsuit occured involving the trafficing and poor treatment of migrant workers. Many of these workers paid agents to come to the states to get a job, only to find themselves living in crowded, infested conditions. This relates to the Jungle and the struggles and conditions of the migrant workers then.

"...and she examines how corporations often strip employees of their dignity. Random locker searches and drug testing occur despite what she routinely observes to be honest, hard working co-workers"

That's true. But if you don't keep your employees absolutely paranoid and full of stress, it's possible they might rebel or cause insurrections. So of course, you HAVE to oppress them and take away their pride so that they'll have no self esteem or confidence left.

I agree with Evan because this quote displays a business tactic in which companies continuously strip their workers' of their rights, which leave them with very little hope. However, as seen in GOW, this little bit of hope, along with their lack of money, will allow these workers to stick to their jobs in these environments.