AP English: Nickel & Dimed Evidence

There is a sufficient amount of evidence for Ehrenreich’s point in Nickel and Dimed. She describes life when working under minimum wage and how difficult it is to survive. It’s so much easier to spend money than earn it. When Barbara was in Minnesota she ended up only getting a check for $42 and spent $500 that week. She spent so much more than she had ended up earning (through a personal experience to touch the reader). She told of a time where she and her fellow employees were hungry, yet they all together couldn’t sum up even two dollars. Four people couldn’t put two dollars together! Or the time when she worked in Wal-Mart and one of the employees couldn’t even afford a stained, clearanced Wal-Mart shirt, after her employee discount. Barbara is smart and has education background, so through personal stories and backgrounds she touched the reader. Because if she was struggling in a minimum wage job, just imagine those around her who didn’t have an education background like she did, etc. Barbara didn’t look at the other people as bad people; she just saw them as mesmerized by their own goals and money. They had their eye on the prize and didn’t take in account how their employees are doing. She looked at people in higher class sort of oblivious, because they had what they wanted. The more successful have everything because of what the minimum wage workers do. She didn’t diss or negetate them, she just looked at them as oblivious and not as appreciative. But the people on her side won’t take a stand to the low income they have. They are so timid and feel that they can only impress their boss when there is so much more out in the world. (Holly wants to impress Ted so much; she hardly eats because she can’t afford it and will try to work with a broken ankle).

What defines you?

I never sit and think about what defines me in fine detail. I know I have likes and dislikes and I have things that I’m good at and things that I’m not as good at (or just not good at). I don’t necessarily have symbolism in my life like in Speak with the tree symbolizing Melinda as a character. But, I would define myself as a social and driven person who is athletic. I care about others and don’t let myself fall into a stereotypical group (University helps with that). I branch out to people that I wouldn’t necessarily see myself talking to or associating myself with. I have a kind and joking side and get along with most people I come across. The people around me help me define myself, because we have similar personalities and likes.

Some of the characters in Speak define themselves on what’s popular, not their true self. For example, Heather wanted to be with the popular groups, Marthas, and would do anything to have a moment with the group. She didn’t base her status on her true personality or her likes, she did whatever she had to do to join the group. How could she define herself when she was putting on a show the whole time, not necessarily expressing her true self/personality to the popular group? Melinda didn’t really define herself throughout the novel because she had no voice. That was in a way, how she defined herself at all. She was trapped in her own mind because of the incident that occurred to her and took control over her and led her to be so closed in. The incident defined Melinda for a long time, because it changed her to what she was and how she acted during the story. Not only was Melinda’s secret eating her up, but she hardly had a social life, or anyone to call her friend. According to Freud, when one isn’t recognized, they will go crazy. She is hardly noticed in her high school, and you can tell it gets to her in the novel. She hides herself in a closet and hides herself from people she doesn’t want to be noticed by. Speak by Laurie Anderson a is perfect example of Freud’s story The Social Me.

Utilizing Literature

There are many pieces of writing in literature where people express themselves such as books, bills, articles, etc. For example, in the Declaration of Independence, people are expressing how they think government and a country should work and be run. Freedom and freedom of speech is a big part of English and literature. It’s a key point in Little Brother too. Freedom has to do with literature because if one doesn’t have freedom or freedom of speech how will one express their ideas? Security takes a lot of freedom away from the people in San Francisco in Little Brother. This relates to English because with restricted rights, results to not having a way (or having to figure out another way) to voice ideas and thoughts. Literature can be changed if one has limited rights, and it will over years if limitation is continuously put on people.

This century can relate more to this book because of the technology used. We know what it’s like to be servalenced, but not to the extremity in Little Brother. We know the level of uncomfortableness of being searched or if we were searched. This piece of writing teaches me different things in life and goes beyond just learning. It displays what government has control over and even though one might not have something to hide, they have everything to hide at the same time. Can one really trust someone even if they are part of the federal government security or just a student at Chavez High?

The book gives you a lesson in the sense of how not to mess with the government. If one gets involved with the government and doesn’t cooperate, there can be some major consequences. This lesson helped me utilize literature in my life, because now I know if I ever get involved with the government, I know to cooperate. It’s very significant. Although I can find this information in other sources of literature, this one makes it all the more interesting. More details in more entertaining ways are used in Little Brother.

Books like Little Brother can have great significance in one’s life. Certain books are more significant than others, because you can articulate the text and pull things out of it. Many of what happens in books can happen in societies and make one question themselves, their surroundings, and feelings. Things are put into perspective when one reads a book. In Little Brother, this book makes you utilize literature because it has such a point of displaying that what happens in the book can happen in real everyday life. It makes you question how would you feel about being searched, etc.

Overall, I think lessons and books are very significant and can utilize literature in anybody’s life and no one should take advantage of them. Writing is always the way to express ideas and thoughts, so why ever think about limiting it.