Nickel and Dimed

The most recent book I just read was Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. I choose this particular book because I had a sudden urge to read nonfiction so I picked up several nonfiction one that was about Ku Klux Klan another about homosexual in Nazi Germany and a memoir about minimum wage which is this book I am blogging about, Nickel and Dimed.  I first heard of this book back in my sophomore year it was part of the reading list we were supposed to choose from to read for our nonfiction reading choice. I am glad that I choose this book because it gave me an insight look on minimum wage and how it affects the lower middle class.

When I first started reading the book I thought the author was a young and ambitious journalist who jumped into an adventure with such courage to write great stories. But instead I find myself with an educated woman who planned this assignment so she is able to this carefully and she didn’t set out write great stories she discovered people and hardships they endure and the ignoring of the upper class of how not everyone is enjoying that American prosperity we so fully enjoy. In these book I discover all the people she meets and gets to know and how they struggle to make end meets and the judgment that is given to them as well as the fact they are invisible to society. Also from reading these it made me think how much we humans crave to be noticed and that we really wanted to be congratulated for the effort we put into things. Maybe that is why many don’t quit such awful jobs because the craving to be thanked is just to strong. It also made me thing that were very dependent on our sociability towards others because we truly don’t want to be alone and that might be another reason why many don’t move on to a higher paying jobs because we don’t like being alone and friendless.

Reading these book just made me want to be better in school because I want to end up in a job that I enjoy doing and really good at. Because I don’t want to be one of those who are just working to survive I want to live life and make some kind of contribution to the world even its just something as small as positively influencing just one person its proof I did something that helpful through something I enjoy.