Book Club Discussion Questions
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
About this Guide
No matter which tax bracket you're in, you have a stake in the issues raised by
Barbara Ehrenreich. A book that has changed assumptions about American
prosperity and hardship,
Nickel and Dimed makes an especially compelling
selection for reading groups. The questions that follow are designed to enhance
your personal understanding or group discussion of this provocative, heartfelt
-- and funny -- account of life in the low-wage trenches.
About the Book
The New York Times bestseller, and one of the most talked about books of the
year,
Nickel and Dimed has already become a classic of undercover reportage.
Millions of Americans work for poverty-level wages, and one day Barbara
Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric
surrounding welfare reform, which promised that any job equals a better life.
But how can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 to $7 an hour? To find out,
Ehrenreich moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking the cheapest
lodgings available and accepting work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner,
nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. She soon discovered that even the
"lowliest" occupations require exhausting mental and physical efforts. And one
job is not enough; you need at least two if you intend to live indoors.
Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety,
and surprising generosity -- a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand
desperate strategies for survival. Instantly acclaimed for its insight, humor,
and passion, this book is changing the way America perceives its working poor.
Discussion Questions
- In the wake of recent welfare reform measures, millions of women entering the
workforce can expect to face struggles like the ones Ehrenreich confronted in
Nickel and Dimed.
- Have you ever been homeless, unemployed, without health insurance, or held
down two jobs? What is the lowest-paying job you ever held and what kind of help
-- if any -- did you need to improve your situation?
- Were your perceptions of blue-collar Americans transformed or reinforced
by Nickel and Dimed? Have your notions of poverty and prosperity changed since
reading the book? What about your own treatment of waiters, maids, and
sales-people?
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- How does the author develop themes of identity and belonging throughout the narrative?
- What role does the setting play in shaping the characters' decisions and relationships?
- Discuss how the ending reframes the events of the story. Were you surprised?
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Henry Holt and Company.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
