Sam W on Tichi

Tichi assesses Ehrenreich's work as being a significant contribution to the modern day world of Muckraking, as it paved the way for television documentaries to be made, giving the general public a view on how such problems are evident in the USA, and also for students to protest in the "Justice for Janitors" scheme, which is an example of how the book has paved the way for young people to become politically active on social issues. Tichi also discusses how Ehrenreich had started her own website whereby regular blue-collar workers can send in their own stories and memoirs, many of which are described as being well-written, suggesting that many people who are stuck in dead end low wage menial jobs such as the ones partaken in by Ehrenreich, maybe educated to a better level than required for low-wage work or are naturally more skilled and could be in better paid, more rewarding jobs but instead are trapped in the cycle of poverty and cannot escape.

I found Tichi's work useful in reminding me of some of the anecdotal moments of the novel, as having not re-read it since the first year, it was not fresh in my mind. If anything, Tichis work has reinforced for me how significant and compelling Nickel and Dimed actually is. I also, along with Jo, found Tichi's point about how the working class are invisible to be of interest; Tichi discusses how they poor can masqurade their poverty behind clothing from "consignement stores and walmart" (Nickel and Dimed, 216) and can fit in with the middle-class; whereas the economic status of the poor of Garland's expose is evident from the way they dress and their appearance. The major point I would draw from this is that although a class divide exists in contmporary America, it is not as apparent as 100 years ago; the working-poor in the USA are, as Tichi describes, "unseen and invisible"