Exposing Our Wasteful Nature in Lars Eighner's On Dumpster Diving
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Lars Eighner “On Dumpster Diving” originally published in The Threepenny review in fall 1990. Eighner’s arranges his essay into 3 main ideas to all tie into his overall theme. He ties it all into the idea that our society is wasteful by nature. Eighner uses his own experiences to show how wasteful people really are. Although he has not always been homeless, it has taught him a way of life he had never dreamed imaginable. If he doesn’t discover the hidden treasure of the dumpster’s then who will.
Although at first he was not homeless, he still dumpster dived to survive. Eighner uses a calm tone throughout the whole essay. With using this tone causes the reader not to feel sympathetic like normal people would feel when they hear about…show more content… Scavengers will leave what they do not need in good conditions while scroungers will ruin things. He use his to show us how much he dislikes wasteful people no matter if you have a lot or if you have nothing. He doesn’t want anyone to waste.
The third main idea is the finds that tell a story. The things he finds can often tell what someone is going through. If he finds a picture of a man and women and it is torn in half you can obviously conclude what has happened. Things he finds in the dumpsters remind him of many lessons he has learned throughout his life. Eighner wants us to realize something’s must be thrown away but be mindful of if it is wasteful thinking.
Eighner wants to confront his audience about how wasteful we actually are. The three main ideas; what is safe to eat, scavengers vs. scroungers, and the stories told by items, all tie into Eighner’s overall theme of trying to open everyone’s eyes to how wasteful we are. Many people do not realize what they are actually throwing away because most of us have more than we need. We don’t have room in our fridge so we just throw good items away that are perfectly good. We also throw away more than just good food. Many people in America throw away practically brand new clothes instead of taking the time to go donate them at a shelter. Even I as a college student do this. You need more room so it just easier to toss it into the trash. Although it may help someone who