Comparing Fire In The Ashes, By Ehrenreich's Nickel And
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“Being poor is very expensive.” This is a recurring theme that has be discussed throughout the research done on the poverty-stricken community. It is logical to assume that the cost of poverty is most likely understood through the calculation of many concealed and economically based factors that are linked to the lives of impoverished people. However, I believe that the hidden cost of poverty is more than a monetary value. Poverty cost people money, emotional stability, and opportunities in life. Jonathan Kozol’s Fire in the Ashes and Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America are two books that contain evidence that address the hidden cost of poverty. These books both contain an array of situations that display…show more content… This will allow me to apply them efficiently to my discussion of the hidden cost of poverty. Fire in the Ashes by Jonathan Kozol is a book that presents the different facets of poverty found in the lives of families (primarily children) in New York. He writes about their lives based of what he has seen and what they have shared with him during his many visits to the poor neighborhoods. The families that Kozol writes about are very different and the roads the travel throughout poverty are different as well. However, they are all poor, live in the same (or near by) area and are subjected to the many hurdles that the impoverished are force to jump in hopes of having a better life. Some of families succeed in the goals while others are swept into the negative influences of their environment and their inability to overcome the weight of poverty. Similar to Kozol, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich also displays many different aspects of poverty. Ehrenreich joins the poor working-class in an attempt to see if it is truly possible to live off the low wages given to many people of this class. The goal was to make her income match her expenses. She lived in Florida, Maine, and Minnesota. This book describes how she lived, where she worked, and many of the people she encountered along the way. Ehrenreich…show more content… It is expensive to be poor. Things that are easily obtained by the average person can become more expensive for someone who is poor. There is great evidence throughout Barbara Ehrenreich book as she and her co workers had experience a “host of special cost” as they try obtain services that many would find necessary (Ehrenreich, 27). She talks about how many of the people she works with are force to have roommates or stay in motels because they can afford a decent apartment. To be able to get an apartment, you have to be able to afford a down payment. In order to save money on food, people cook. However, you can’t afford proper groceries nor do you have the proper appliances to cook. You have to pay more money for medicine because you can’t afford have insurance. These are the obstacles that people face, such as Ehrenreich co worker Tina, who pays sixty dollars a night at a motel because her and her husband can’t afford an apartment (Ehrenreich, 27). Similar situations to these are also seen in Fire in the Ashes. Many of the homeless people who lived in the Martinique hotel were sent to live in inferior housing. Due to their lack of funds, these people were placed wherever the government saw fit. They were all dumped into the Bronx. This area generally became a place for those with low socio-economic status and because they were poor they received inadequate resources. Even when residence, like Alice Washington, did