Analysis Of Dumpster Diving By Lars Eichner

Lars Eighner represents the thousands of homeless people that have simply fallen victim of financial struggles, holding strongly onto his respect for others, his community, and himself, despite the difficulties he faces. According to Eighner’s website, he spent time at the University of Austin, Texas studying creative writing, which is clear through his writing techniques and narrative style. However after falling on hard times, Eighner ended up homeless. While homeless in the late 80’s Eighner composed the essay “On Dumpster Diving.” It need not take long for one to find his purpose in writing the essay. Dumpster diving and homelessness are deeply connected to a notion of poor life choices, mental illness, and substance abuse. And while Eighner doesn’t deny that many people he encounters are “winos,” Eighner’s purpose is to represent dumpster diving, in sense, as an art; reclaiming homelessness as “a modern form of self reliance.”

In Lars Eighner’s short essay “On Dumpster Diving”, he describes his experience of being homeless and the art of dumpster driving. Eighner prefers being referred to as a scavenger rather than a dumpster driver. Eighner stated “I like the frankness of the word scavenging. I live from refuse of others. I am a scavenger.” (383) He describes scavenging as a full time job, that requires a lot of effort. He believes that if one follows certain guidelines and rules, with doing so this could possibly help one to become efficient. One rule is knowing good place and time to look for food and other items, that could be useful. Another rule is knowing how to eat safely from a dumpster . Eighner said

In today’s society, there is an abundance of waste. This is clear in observing how people live, we often throw out items because we want something better. Lars Eighner, author of "On Dumpster Diving," writes about his experiences being homeless and how he survived on the waste of others. This provides insight on how the phrase "one man's trash is another man's treasure," is true. Jeremy Seifert, who directed the documentary Dive!, also talks about how he survives off of other people's waste, but this was a decision he made. As they tell of their experiences, Seifert and Eighner both come to the conclusion that society is wasteful. While both individuals provided good information, I believe Seifert presented the better argument. Both of

Yesterday I threw out an old jar of peanut butter with only about an inch left. It no longer served a purpose, as I had purchased a new and improved jar. As I began to toss the jar towards the garbage, I was reminded of an essay I had just read. In his essay Dumpster Diving, Lars Eighner suggests that when we throw away items, homeless people can find a way to make use out of whatever it is. Therefore, if we don't want there to be bums on the street, it is inferred that we shouldn't throw anything extra out. I myself was not supporting the homeless community, or being wasteful, I was just trying to make room in the cabinet. If I would have kept that inch of peanut butter, it wouldn't have made the world's population of homeless people try

In the essay “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner, Eighner talks about materialism and wealth. He explains his process of dumpster diving and the best places to go to dumpster dive. Eighner incorporates tone, detail, irony, observation, and ethos throughout his essay.

Currently, the rates of homelessness in America continue to drastically increase. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2012) depicted how many people are homeless in a single night in America. The findings revealed that there were approximately 633,782 people who are homeless in America or 20 out of every 10,000. Approximately 394,379 are single individuals and 239,403 are people in families with 77,157 homeless families in a single night, and approximately 162, 246 are children. Veterans are more likely to be homeless than those who are non-veterans, approximately 29 out of every 10,000 veterans are homeless. Unfortunately, 38 percent of those who are homeless are unsheltered, either living on the streets or in places that are not suitable for human inhabitation. Most states account of for less than 1% of homeless population, whereas Texas contains approximately 5.4% of America’s homeless population. In San Antonio, there are approximately 2,981 people who are homeless each day, and 1,243 are unsheltered. Through a sociological perspective, the social problems of homelessness can be analyzed through the concept of sociological imagination, the comparison of the person-blame approach and the system-blame approach, and through the analysis of one’s own community’s effort in helping those who are homeless.

Many people throughout the world look at homeless people negatively, and that is some thing they do not deserve. People automatically assume homeless people are dirty, uneducated, and dangerous, but this is not always true. Many homeless people are war veterans and need help to get their life back on track, but they are too scared and hated to seek it. The stereotypes associated with homeless people make many people shy away from helping them and that is one of the reasons why they are really suffering. I chose homelessness as my topic because it is an issue that should be addressed and examined more carefully. People treat homeless people unfairly because of the stereotypes associated with them and choose to ignore them instead of helping them.

Homelessness is increasing every year and effecting Americans of different age, ethnicity and religion. In Lars Eighner “On Dumpster Diving” he explains what he went through while being homeless. He describes how and what foods someone should be looking for and to always be conscious of what one is eating because there is always a reason why something has been thrown out. He continues to go into detail about other items that can be found in the dumpster like sheets to sleep on and pieces of paper to write on. Things that can keep him busy through the day. Eighner carefully explains to his readers how being a dumpster diver has become a life style for the homeless and this is how they survive. It’s a way of living and they are comfortable

Dumpster Diving is an essay written by Lars Eighner. The Texan and former homeless man who roamed the streets searching for food from unpleasant sites in order to help him survive the harsh times. His loss of income made him to get food from garbage sites, which he refers to as ‘Dumpster’ He wrote this essay to express his experience as a homeless and destitute person. The essay gives a detailed explanation of how people like him struggle to get food from dump sites and the dangers they face. Eighner used basic English to describe the process of scavenging and its consequences in the essay.

“My Daily Dives in the Dumpster” by Lars Eighner is about a homeless person, explaining the strategies of surviving from dumpster. The narrator began “dumpster diving about a year before became a homeless” (114). The author explains how at first he felt ashamed of being through trash. “Everything seems to stink” (115).This stage passes with experience and he realized that most disposed items are valuable and can be reused. Eighner feels bad for all those rich people who waste a lot of items that may be valuable to others.

The tone is portrayed throughout the story by the use of personal examples of Eighner's time having to dumpster dive. Eighner explains the effects dumpster diving made on his life and how it changed him to be the person he has become, “Once I was the sort of person who invests materials objects with sentimental value. Now I no longer have those things, but I have the sentiments” (94). Eighner reflects the tone through this quote by explaining how he used to be the type of person that would “invest” in material objects, but has transfigured to a man who does not care what the price of something is. The tone shown by Eighner clarifying how dumpster diving changed him for the better. Equally as important, Eighner continues to explain how dumpster

A) A contemporary problem raised in “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner Is the amount of wealth spent by consumers, and the effect of that. Consumers spend too much money and waste even more when they throw food and clothing away. In the essay he explains the way of life as an scavenger and how to demonstrate how people are able to live by the minimal resources although most consumers continue to buy things they do not need and continue to waste resources that may be valuable to others. Aside from food, he additionally describes the emotional impact that living out of a dumpster can have on a person. He describes finding sad things such as "abandoned teddy bears, shredded wedding books, and pets lying in state." Seeing the pets makes him think about his dog Lizbeth and how she is likely to end up with a dumpster as her final resting place, as Eighner does not see himself having a place for her before she passes on. Rummaging causes Eighner to consider how much individuals underestimate, including the way that they can purchase something new to replace something old that they have discarded. He feels frustrated because of the individuals who don 't have that extravagance.

Worthless, and a waste of our time, that is what many people think about the homeless. Most people fail to notice certain demographics of the homeless, in particular, the veterans. Little do they know that the people who risked their lives fighting for our country make up a significant portion of the homeless population in the United States. In urban cities such as Los Angeles, California, homeless veterans are consistently ignored, leaving them to fend for themselves. There is a myriad of problems that contributes towards the number of homeless veterans in the United States, and since there are so many factors that contribute towards veteran homelessness, this essay will emphasize on the importance of assisting the homeless and on three primary common traits found among these veterans: untreated mental illnesses, lack of education, and physical disabilities; this report will also focus on homeless war veterans under the age of forty years old and who live in Los Angeles. As such, this problem begins with the consequences of our society 's apathy towards homeless.

In 1998, John Grisham’s reveals his attitudes towards the homeless population in New York City at the time the article was written for Newsweek magazine. There are cities all across America like Baltimore where there are over 16,000 vacant properties. As poverty continues to increase, as the gap between the wealthy and poor continues to widen, the homeless become the invisible, the misunderstood and marginalized and affordable housing may be the answer.

When we arrived at Safe House Outreach, our guide, Garret, led us to Woodruff Park. Our job was to notify and alert homeless veterans that Safe House Outreach was having a dinner for people who served. I talked to seven different people in an hour. I simply told them about the dinner and they said “thank you young man” and proceeded to grasp the slip of paper from my hand. It was not until I talked to that eighth man that I understood homelessness from a deep point of view. He went by James. He was an African-American short averaged-sized 52 year-old man. I could smell the alchohal in his breath. Instead of just taking the slip from my sweaty hand, he told me He wanted to have a conversation with me. Eager to get out of my comfort zone, I agreed. He started with his childhood. He was a star athlete who played football, basketball, and baseball. He grades were subpar and he came from a lower-class family. When it came time for him to go to college, he couldn’t. With not much of a choice, he decided to join the army but then he told me, “Joining the army was the dumbest thing I did”. I was confused. I asked him why that was. He said, “They don’t do anything