I think the real value in Ehrenreich’s story comes from the lack of realism. I say lack of realism, referring to the advantages she has inherently from being white, having a car, having an education, speaking English, and most noticeably having the ability to stop “the experiment” at any point in time. To imagine being in such a predicament is hard, to be in it must be infinitely harder.
I felt a connection to Key West and areas like it, having been on the other side; a tourist walking by people seemingly in paradise. The truth is we stop to think about the reality and hopelessness of the situation for these people far too little, and when we do I know that it is easily shoved away to ease the dissonance we create in our minds by knowing that such atrocities take place, and not doing anything. It is far easier to simply forget about reality than to deal with it. Even Ehrenreich comes very close to forgetting about the issue, hoping that someone else will come forward and deal with it.
I cannot help but to comment on the point brought up by Jeff at the Friday afternoon presentation – the conditions portrayed in Nickel and Dimed really do parallel those of slavery and indentured servitude. Although Ehrenreich did an excellent job of taking multiple positions and living in conditions similar to those for the workers around her, she had a great advantage in being able to make rules about her safety and expectations that are part of a science experiment and have no place in reality. I am left feeling the reality of what workers put up with in America is even worse than Ehrenreich could portray with this experiment.
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