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Dumpster Diving Lars Eighner Analysis

Decent Essays

Dumpster Diving Lars Eighner’s book, “Travels with Lizbeth”, was published in 1993. It is a memoir of his experience being homeless. Eighner uses the appeal of ethos the most prominently in his book to prove he is credible, followed by an appeal to logos by applying logic and pathos using stories.
According to the essay, “The Appeals: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos”, the audience is persuaded on, “Our perception of a speaker or writer’s character influences.” Also known as ethos. Eighner’s most noticeable persuasive appeal is ethos. He does not ask for the audience to pity him and his lifestyle because he writes that Dumpster diving is, “a sound and honorable niche.” Eighner truly believes that his lifestyle is a valuable, and he should not …show more content…

He writes, “Although I hope to get off the streets so that Lizabeth can have a long and comfortable old age, I know this hope is not very realistic.” (60) We pity the lack of a home with its warmth and familiarity for both the author and his dog. Even though we can see he does not mind being homeless and Dumpster diving, there is still a sense of emptiness that comes to mind. We pity those who are homeless because there is usually a negative connotation with being homeless. They were laid off, they have an addiction, or they are mentally unstable. Regardless of the fact that the readers’ know this is not the case, there is still the notion that people are deserving of things unless they have truly done something to not deserve it. Eighner continues with, “The things I find in the Dumpsters, the love letters and ragdolls of so many lives, remind me of this lesson.” (75) The full context of the quote, is that nothing is really permanent. The author knows that harboring things while homeless is pointless because he has, “Lost everything but the clothes I was wearing and Lizabeth.” (75) He can not really hold sentiment to objects considering he’s constantly on the move. While Eighner is not asking the audience to feel sad by these stories, the audience is still moved. It might even remind the readers of a time that they threw a treasured possession away. Eighner ends his paper
Padilla 3 with a solid and single line. He writes, “I am sorry for them.” (77) This sole

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