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Summary of dumpster diving
Analysis on dumpster diving
Summary of dumpster diving
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“On Dumpster Diving,” is a descriptive essay written by Lars Eighner in which he describes some aspects of his life rummaging through the dumpsters in a small town, in search of food and basic necessities. Throughout his essay, Eighner constantly reminds the reader that most people view dumpster diving with disgust, and yet his tone indicates that he feels proud of his scavenging skills, how he can get perfectly good things that are thrown out. Furthermore, he goes on to explain in detail this lifestyle, which he refers to as“scavenging” and when doing so he makes it seem as if it were a just profession.
Such a “profession” of dumpster diving is comprised of three types of scavengers. First there is the novice scavenger, the one who is “filled with disgust and self loathing.
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He discusses how people put in long days, and yet are unfulfilled, while he himself is satisfied with all he has. In a ironic moment he states that he feels bad for those people. It seems like a paradox, the homeless man pitying those who are "successful" by society's standards.
Although much of what he says praises his way of life for all its benefits, Eighner makes it clear that his life is not easy, and definitely has bad parts to it. It may seem surprising to the reader that he can be happy and satisfied with his life, while he claims that many people with homes and all they need, are in a worse position than him, and he pities them. Tone: Not ashamed of what he does, he is proud that he can survive, that he can get a lot of good things, all for free. In a paradoxical ending he pities the people who live in homes and can buy anything, but can’t truly find what they want, and be
Although Eighner reveals that his chosen lifestyle was to live on another's refuge, he kept in accordance with his acts of superiority and snobbishness by excluding himself from the term "Dumpster Diving." Instead, he preferred to be called a "scavenger because of its frankness in the term." (Eighner, 1993). Furthermore, Eighner, explains that there are rules to abide by when successfully "scavenging" through dumpsters, "using the senses…knowing the dumpsters of a given area…. [and] Why was this discarded?" It is the explanation of the three guidelines Eighner asserts to be superior to 'can scroungers' (Homeless people who rummage through the dumpsters for money). The author further elaborates his snobbishness by revealing that he has tried the heinous lifestyle of "can scroungers," and deduced that only a few dollars could be obtained. Moreover, Eighner states, "one can extract the necessities of life from the dumpsters directly with far less effort than would be required to accumulate the equivalent of cans." (Eighner, 1993). The author stereoty...
I agree with his assessment about society’s throw away mentality due to the fact that I have seen it myself first hand. Recently I helped my sister move out of her dorm room at NAU and I was horrified to see all the things and edible food she was just dumping and what was worse, she wasn’t the only one. All of the kids were getting rid of perfectly good items in the dumpster, so it’s no wonder that dumpsters near college campuses are one of Eighner’s favorite places to scavenge. In his article on page 3, Eighner elaborates on student’s wasteful habits, “but in the case of discards from student apartments, the answer may be that the item was discarded through carelessness, ignorance or wastefulness.” I believe agree with Eighner that some people have a pack rat mentality while others just throw it away. My parents are a good example of this and I think it has something to do with the way that they were raised. My mom is a pack rat, holding on to everything as long as possible and giving away to charity what she doesn’t want anymore. She squeezes every last drop out of a toothpaste tube or a shampoo bottle, while my dad will throw it away half empty. My mom was raised in a single parent household, where money was tight and you used what you had… my dad however, was raised in a more affluent home and money flowed more freely. In fact, my mom does her own dumpster diving fairly regularly in our garbage can by rescuing stuff out of the garbage that my dad has thrown away, including belts, pants, shirts and hardly worn tennis shoes. She doesn’t keep the goods, but instead gives it to Goodwill or the church clothing drive. My dad is her antithesis and is definitely part of the throw-away society. My dad has little sentiment attached to stuff and like Eichner mentioned on page 6, “knows there is plenty more where what we came from.” After reflecting on
Can you ever imagine yourself being homeless or penniless and having to dumpster dive? In the essay, “On Dumpster Diving”by Lars Eighner, he explains his experience in dumpster diving and what he has gone through, from getting sick to being successful. If I were Lars Eighner the location that I would have chosen to dumpster dive is Pleasanton because of the high percentage of wealthy people, low percentage of homeless people, and a strong chance of finding food.
The author, Lars Eighner explains in his informative narrative, “On Dumpster Diving” the lifestyle of living out of a dumpster. Eighner describes the necessary steps to effectively scavenge through dumpsters based on his own anecdotes as he began dumpster diving a year before he became homeless. The lessons he learned from being a dumpster diver was in being complacent to only grab what he needs and not what he wants, because in the end all those things will go to waste. Eighner shares his ideas mainly towards two direct audiences. One of them is directed to people who are dumpster divers themselves, and the other, to individuals who are unaware of how much trash we throw away and waste. However, the author does more than direct how much trash
Eighner informs us about the time when he began dumpster diving. He notes that he started digging through dumpster an year before he actually became homeless. In the story, he introduces a logical term, 'scavenger', which he describes he was. Eighner tells us about the different terms used for dumpster divers, winos and hobos. Eighner's topics of dumpster diving vary from which food may be worthy to eat to what items are worthy to keep and why they might be there. His life is now spent in these dumpsters, and he finds ways to improve the types of garbage he finds.
It is my opinion that the main character moves from dislike of social divide, and a dislike of her elevated status, to complacency, and finally gratitude; and that these changes are brought on due to her own experiences of hardship. Throughout this essay I will attempt to demonstrate and rationalize this belief.
Eighner writes, “Long before I began Dumpster diving I was impressed with Dumpsters, enough so that I wrote the Merriam research service to discover what I could about the world “Dumpster”. I learned from them that “Dumpster” is a proprietary word belonging to the Dempsey Dumpster company.” He was so fascinated with Dumpsters, that he learned the definition, which is a fact. A definition can be adjusted; however, it is not completely revised. Definitions are definite. Eighner states, “Eating from the Dumpsters involves three principles: using the senses and common sense to evaluate the condition of the found materials, knowing the Dumpsters of a given area and checking them regularly, and seeking always to answer the question, ‘Why was this discarded?’” He uses his senses to analyze the condition of the things he finds logically. Dumpster diving requires the ability to critically think about what can and can not be eaten. Eighner writes, “Although very rare with modern canning methods, botulism is a possibility. But botulism is almost certainly fatal and often the first symptom is death.” He uses knowledge to understand what the expectations of some foods, especially canned foods, should be. While Eighner uses all three persuasive appeals in his writing, ethos is the most
I couldn’t think of why. He was only my brother and a drop out at that” (117). The author portrays the son to be someone with low self-esteem. Because he is poor and a drop out, he lives a miserable life. His mother tries to provide him with as much, but is unable to do this because of her social status.
...This is a very powerful article taking his readers into the world of being poor and homeless, and what people experience every day that could never be imagined. Eighner says in one of his last paragraphs that, “many times in our travels I have lost everything but the clothes I was wearing and Lizbeth” (Eighner 724). He also states that he and the wealthy have the same attitudes about knowing there is more where what they came from. Eighner is so powerful and doesn’t care what others think of him. He is just trying to survive like everyone else. To have such a carefree attitude is very moving.
This story could be interpreted as though it was trying to convince the reader that being content could have much smaller ties to money than the average person would like to believe. Toward the beginning of the story the young man had been berated with rude remarks by strangers as he walked through a well off side of town.
The novel ‘Trash’ by Andy Mulligan is about three young boys named Raphael, Gardo and Rat. The boys live in a place called Behala dumpsite, they live their life sorting through peoples trash to scrounge up what they can just to get a couple of pesos, But, one day Raphael found something quite different, different to the normal pieces of scrap paper and bits of plastic. He found a bag, now this isn’t just any old bag; this bag changed all their lives quite drastically. From this point on, the police are all over them trying to snatch the secrets hiding in this particular bag.
My mom and I were cleaning up our attic this weekend, and in the process I found all sorts of old junk that I had forgotten about. Of course, I wanted to keep everything I saw; otherwise, I would not have stashed it there in the first place. But after standing over me and prying my hands off of every item that I encountered, my mom finally convinced me to haul all of my broken treasures to the Dump. I wince at the thought of having to brave the ever-present gloom that reigns there. The Dump is a strange and repulsive place, where people tend to bury the human spirit along with their refuse.
I have lived in my neighborhood for almost eight years. Never have I thought about the amount of trash that filled every corner of the dirt road leading down to my house until recently when one of the trash debris slapped me right in the face—literally. What’s more surprising is that there were kids playing alongside these molded cheeseburgers and rotten newspapers.
A variety of reasons people choose to participate in the freegan lifestyle are more diverse than one would think. Uninformed bystanders may initially imagine the homeless scavenging bins to survive, but many members of the subculture dumpster dive with economic, political and environmental condition in mind. The primary purpose for most is to positively impact the environment by minimizing the amount of wasted food (Kurutz 3). By some, this act could be viewed as a symbolic, political act against capitalist overproduction and waste. Acquiring food from dumpsters can be for both individual consumption and the benefit of the surrounding community....
A piece of trash floats by like a tumbleweed in the hot and humid climate of the Philippines. “With small bare hands, they [the children] break light bulbs and pull the coiled copper from the bottoms.” (Lo) If you were a child born in the slums of the Philippines, this is how life would be like. These children have to be scavengers and find materials that they can sell to earn money. In the example above, the children find trash with copper and sell them for around $7. The contemporary industrial phenomenon where this takes place is the Payatas Dump. It is apparent that the Payatas is a hazardous and filthy junkyard; it has both negative and positive impacts on its inhabitants, and it can be compared to industrialization of the past.