Stephanie Land
Stephanie Land is the first-person narrator and protagonist of the memoir that relates the true story of how at age 28 she discovered the reality of what it means to work hard in America and have nothing to show for it. The American eludes this young unmarried mother for most of this book as she attempts to pick up the pieces of her shattered life following a breakup with an abusive boyfriend. She quickly goes from co-habitation with the father of her daughter to homeless shelters, working as a maid cleaning up homes of wealthy people, and dealing with the bureaucratic morass of government relief while simultaneously dealing with the class snobbery of those considering welfare akin to having their pockets picked by the less fortunate and supremely less privileged.
Stephanie Land is the author of her tale which means, of course, that she was ultimately able to overcome all the hardship, setbacks, and turmoil documented in this slice of her life presented in journalistic non-fiction fashion. Following the events detailed in the book, she became a professional journalist (although, admittedly, almost every published article as of 2022 is related to the events described in the book or the writing of the book itself).
Mia
Mia is Stephanie’s daughter and her position within the economic difficulty the author situates the young girl front and center right from the book’s opening line which asserts that her daughter learned to walk while during the period they called a shelter home. The potential for the domestic abuse already threatening her own safety to become a menace to her daughter is one of the driving forces behind Stephanie’s desire to escape her boyfriend despite the break causing a significant reduction in the standard of living for the both of them.
Mia becomes the focus of how those living in poverty must make constant adjustments to schedules and carefully consider every dime spent in order to secure food, and lodging, and prevent a minor health care situation from becoming a major economic emergency. A centerpiece of the dramatic conflict in the story centers upon the decision to purchase an inexpensive gift for a sickly Mia which winds up becoming both a near-tragedy and a short-term economic disaster.
Travis
Travis is a short-term boyfriend who gains greater significance because he is directly connected to one of the more controversial elements in the book for some readers. This memoir is, after all, presented as a firsthand case study of the impact of a sudden drop in economic status detailing the difficulties for a single mother to live in America on income derived from limited opportunities. Nevertheless, Stephanie manages to find enough disposable income to spend a subscription to one of the most famous dating websites in the world. It is through this dating service that she meets a man named Travis. Just four months later, she and Mia move in with Travis.
It does not turn out to be a match made in heaven. Unfortunately, Travis turns into an object lesson in how such websites only present the absolute best side of users, leaving it up to real-world interaction as the only way to learn literally everything else about them. When Travis gives her and Mia a monthly deadline in which to move out, Stephanie must resort to using a PayPayl donation button to try to raise enough money to afford a deposit for a new apartment.
Jamie
Jamie is Stephanie’s abusive ex-boyfriend and father of Mia. Were it not for Mia, Jamie would be a character appearing in the opening pages and then only briefly resurfacing through memories. Since Jamie is Mia’s father as well as Stephanie’s ex-boyfriend, however, he becomes a character popping in and out of the story irregularly. His most emotionally wrenching return to prominence arrives as a result of Stephanie’s intention to move to another town and she learns that doing so requires going to court and risking Jamie’s legal objection to losing his visitation privileges with his daughter every other weekend.
Christy
Stephanie characterizes the situation involved in moving to a new town as one in which she needs to ask permission from Jamie to live her life. She is informed by a woman named Christy that this is not technically the case since she is only required to file a notice of relocation which then forces Jamie to go to court to legally file an objection. Christy is Stephanie’s advocate who had recently moved from Missoula, Montana which coincidentally happens to be the very same that Stephanie wants to move to with Mia.
