Analysis Of ' On Dumpster Diving ' Essay

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 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.

I believe that most readers would respond to Eighner’s essay with contempt because Dumpster Diving is seen in society as something you resort to once you've failed life. However, when I read the essay I conjure up a feeling of sympathy because within the essay he basically describes what he goes through on a daily basis which is digging through trash in order to survive.

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

Many individuals are accustomed to waste at least a portion of what they buy, whether it is food, clothes, furniture, supplies, or materials worldwide. According to the article: “On Dumpster Diving” many valuable items were found by the homeless who searched the dumpster for food. Surprisingly, they found useful items that helped them survive throughout each day. In fact, the products were worth for the exchange of money. At certain times, I myself may be considered to be a wasteful person during certain times such as, not finishing my drink and throwing more than half of it away. While rushing at work during break, this is a usual situation for many people Although, it isn't necessarily on purpose it is considered wasteful, valuable and influence advertising.

On a daily basis we walk past several dumpsters – even though we may not see them. In the cities (mostly big and populated states) like the following: Los Angles, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, and New York City, there are over thousands of dumpsters in the alley-ways. As humans we walk by smelling the odor coming from the trash, and continue walking. In Lars Eighner’s “On Dumpster Diving” he will inform us about what he thinks and believes on the subject of dumpster diving.

Because of people’s wasteful habits, a wide variety of items end up in the dumpsters; some are incredibly useful and even in good condition. In his article, “On Dumpster Diving,” formerly homeless author Lars Eighner describes how he became dependent on dumpster diving for survival. Eighner includes a definition of “dumpster diving,” utilizes irony, and makes a comparison between dumpster divers and can scroungers to show that even though dumpster diving is beneficial to a homeless man like himself, society needs to be aware of their wasteful habits. At the beginning of his article, Eighner redefines “dumpster diving” to change people’s negative views on the term.

The consumer culture of America has led to a generation that believes obtaining the latest Iphone or an expensive car is essential for happiness. Eighner, in “On Dumpster Diving,” declares they are wrong. In “On Dumpster Diving,” Eighner describes his unique personal experiences from living on the street, and reflects on the lessons he learned from his experiences. Through meaningful syntax and diction, and a non-critical tone, Eighner challenges the audience to question their futile hunt for meaningless objects and wastefulness, and consider living by the lessons Eighner learned on the streets.

1. Eighner organizes his essay by breaking down how and why scavengers do what they do to survive. He begins his essay with how he became a scavenger and follows that with how to scavenge the best, safest way possible. He communicates how to choose the right dumpsters to dive into, how to determine if food is edible, and whether items are worth holding onto. I believe Eighner chose this type of organization throughout his essay to ease readers into the idea of scavenging through dumpsters. I feel like Eighner is almost trying to convince reader that’s scavenging through dumpster is not that bad, so if he shed the activities in a positive

Barbara Ehrenreich’s, “Serving in Florida” and Lars Eighner, “On Dumpster Diving” are both essays that share common similarities, but one similarity, in particular, is the overall focus on sharing the story of the homeless or poor American in American society today.

According to “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner, food plays a significant role in everyone’s lives. “On Dumpster Diving” is a story of a person who is alone and homeless. He has nothing to eat. The only source of food he got is a dumpster. He picks food from there and makes various suggestions and statements while picking the food up.

As shown to us by Eighner, one does not have to posses everything in the world in order to achieve a pleasant life. As explained by Eighner most dumpster divers go through a hoarding stage in which they want to have everything they see some kind of value in: “All the Dumpster divers I have known come to the point of trying to acquire everything they touch” (145). This is exactly what happens in our consumer world, buying items our friends own just because they are the latest trend or they look cool. We want to have everything in

Compare and Contrast The essay “The Tyranny of Choice” by Berry Schwartz and “Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner talk about being confronted by choices. In the “The Tyranny of Choice” Schwartz says “increased choice means we have more happy people? Not at all.” The essay “Dumpster Diving” Eighner talks about people “scavenge the cable channels looking for they know not what.

In a world full of different people that come from various backgrounds, there are different perspectives on what is found as important. Something that is seen as trash or useless by one may have once meant the world to another person. Each piece of trash carries a memory from its past life, ready to take on its new life to help the next person in one way or another. Howard Nemerov’s poem “The Town Dump”, Lars Eighner’s essay “On Dumpster Diving”, and “The Town Dump” by Wallace Stegner each tell a story about how trash has impacted them. Even though these pieces are written with different messages, each piece of writing uses tone to establish the importance of local trash, as well as establishing the history behind its significance.

In many cases Archaeology is seen as the “science of trash” because we are able to reconstruct human behavior based on someone's garbage. For this assignment we were given a list of garbage items that a household had in a span of a week. This list consists of a wide range of varieties, from food garbage to garbage from electronic items. We decided to construct a table in which the list of household items were divided amongst different categories.