The Use Of Rhetorical Devices In Nickel And Dimed By Barbara Ehrenreich

In Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, “Nickel and Dimed, ” readers follow the journey of a journalist who takes part in a social experiment. This experiment shows how a woman, who was removed from welfare, would get by on a six- to-seven dollar wage. Ehrenreich’s use of rhetorical devices allows her to get her message across and give readers a new perspective on impoverished people and lifestyle. Ehrenreich constantly appeals to ethos throughout the book’s introduction and this builds up her credibility as she constantly mentions the fact that she has a Ph. D. Ehrenreich also states that she is far too literate and overqualified to be working in a low wage job. Ehrenreich notes that, ” Job application forms also want to know about education, and here I figured the Ph. D. would be no help at all, might even lead employees to suspect that I was an alcoholic washout or worse. This expands the author’s credibility because it shows Ehrenreich’s success as a writer even though this job she is trying to apply to can be easily done by someone illiterate. Later in the book, Ehrenreich starts to sympathize with low wage workers when she ends up realizing the toil and pain that they go through on the daily. Ehrenreich’s compassion towards low wage workers also gives her more credibility because she learns from her experience and grows from it.

Ehrenreich continuously uses pathos in her writing especially when she compares her lifestyle to the more unfortunate living conditions the other employees face and go through every day. Ehrenreich brings up Annette”, a twenty-year old server who is six months pregnant and abandoned by her boyfriend, lives with her mother, a postal clerk”, this reference to another one of the employees might make readers feel that they take many things for granted. Ehrenreich goes into detail when describing the plight of other low wage workers. She mentions how people working in unappealing jobs are sleep deprived and never thanked for their hard work. In addition, Ehrenreich also brings up the fact that many of these people in the lower class tend to struggle when finding decent living spaces since they cannot afford it. She also says that many of the low wage workers cannot even afford to stay in a motel that lacks a microwave, fridge, and standard living space for long because their salary is far too low.

Ehrenreich’s use of footnotes throughout her book adds weight to her argument especially when there are calculations. Her book is not simply an anecdote as it provides evidence that proves her point that working low wage jobs is not an easy thing to do. For instance, Ehrenreich states that, "in 1991 there were forty-seven affordable rental units available to every one hundred low-income families, while by 1997 there were only thirty-six such units for every one hundred families”, this information is very important because it makes her argument about how low income workers struggle to find a decent home stronger. Ehrenreich also makes calculations about her savings and whether or not she will be able to pay off her expenses. Regarding the previous statement, this also appeals to logos because through her calculations she discovers that, ” unless she wants to start using her car as a residence, she has to find a second or an alternative job”. Ehrenreich’s use of metaphors allows her to vividly express the strenuous living conditions of the impoverished workers. Her constant use of metaphors allows her to creatively describe the daily living conditions of the poor. Ehrenreich also embeds irony throughout the book. At first, she was really confident because she was “overeducated” and “overqualified” however once she started working in these low wage jobs she found it very difficult and draining as she failed at unskilled labor.

In conclusion, Ehrenreich’s rhetorical devices throughout her book proved to be very effective in getting her message across. She not only changes the perspectives of the readers at the end but she also gains new insight that she did not have before and she realizes how neglected the poor are.