On Dumpster Diving By Lars Eighner

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.”

6. Although you are basically satisfied with the analysis thus far, you are concerned about the

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

Eighner himself has lived on the streets as a homeless man. He allows the reader to join him in his own personal life stories in order to show the severity of his past situation. Eighner tells of the embarrassment and shame that comes from scavenging through trash to stay alive. He writes of the woeful feelings that a homeless person possesses in their time of wander. “He can wipe the egg yolk off the found can, but he cannot erase the stigma of eating garbage out of his mind” (Eighner 144). With much passion, he speaks of the homeless as victims of a undeserved life. However, according to Linderman, the life of a dumpster diver can be quite satisfying.

Lars Eighner once found himself homeless, scavenging dumpsters for his next meal and looking for possessions that could benefit him in this difficult time. While on this journey, Eighner discovered how wasteful today’s society is when it comes to vital materials in life. In his article, “Dumpster Diving”, Eighner uses an informative tone to emphasize the fact that people take things for granted by wasting valuable items they could still benefit from. Eighner establishes his use of logos by emphasizing his view on wastefulness in today’s society.

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.

The additional purpose in the setting of his idea is to remind himself of the rules of dumpster diving, what things you may be able to learn from it, and the advantages along with the disadvantages.

“On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner is a collective work on the issue of Dumpster Diving, in which Eighner depicts his own adventures as a “Diver.” His development of the central contention, this “way of life” is not as it is portrayed or stigmatized, is progressed through Eighner’s inclusion of the three persuasive appeals: pathos, logos, and ethos. These three devices coupled with other rhetorical devices provide an alluring argument, in which the reader sees the other side through a new lens, and their opinions on this issue is vastly differed, upon completion of the reading.

The texts, “High incomes don’t bring you Happiness” and “You can buy Happiness, if it’s an Experience”, completes the idea that monetary value does not bring true joy. In the passage, “High incomes don’t bring you Happiness”, the author states that bringing in an over excessive amount of money will not make one happy. The author said that an overall income of around $75,000 will complete one’s emotional well being, while anything over that will complete a life evaluation. Life evaluation is the idea that if one was to look at themselves while they’re in their deathbed, how would they rate their lifestyle. This is also supported through different statements within the passage, “You can buy Happiness, if it’s an Experience”. Within this study, it was proven that people enjoyed money, but often spent it on materialistic items which leaves them with a temporary feeling of satisfaction, while when they are given a fully paid trip to the Bahamas, the feeling of peace and joy lasts far longer than when they were to purchase an item of materialistic value. This

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

In the texts, “Serving in Florida”, by Barbara Ehrenreich, and “On Dumpster Diving”, by Lars Eighner, both authors have different and similar inputs about being below the poverty line. In Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Serving in Florida” the author talks about having to survive with little pay from jobs. Ehrenreich uses negative connotations throughout her text. While in Lars Eighner’s “On Dumpster Diving” uses positive connotations when putting emphasis on having no job and dumpster diving isn’t as bad as most people make it seem.

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.

Throughout the modern era, society’s views on money’s effect on a person’s emotions have drastically changed. Many people believed that the more money a person has, the more satisfied he or she will be. However, due to recent conclusions made by writers and case studies, money has proven to not be responsible for a person’s contentment. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Daisy and Gatsby’s wealth ultimately shows the reader that money does not equal happiness.

In “The Creation of Discontent” by Juliet Schor, she explains that we have changed over the years because we no longer have to do hard “backbreaking labor” (612). However, Juliet says “...with the quality of public life declining in many areas, shouldn’t we at least step back and re-examine our commitment to ever-greater quantities of consumer goods?” (612). Increasing the consumption of goods for the last four years hasn’t made anyone happy; according to the national polls, “...the level of ‘very happy’ had not recovered, in spite of the rapid growth in consumption during the 1960s and 1970s” (612). In fact, despite that the possessions that we hold are not creating happiness for us because “...by the mid-1980s, the American people were far