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Stereotypes about Homelessness in America in Dumpster Diving by Lars Eighner

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Stereotypes about Homelessness in America in Dumpster Diving by Lars Eighner

Lars Eighner's short essay, "Dumpster Diving," reveals the stereotypes about homelessness in America. In order to confirm these known stereotypes about American culture, Eighner includes autobiographical accounts of the economically inferior class, as well as revealing his elitist rules that governs the life of a homeless person. According to Eighner, homeless people fall into the following categories, 'can scroungers', 'Dumpster divers', and 'scavengers.' (Eighner, 1993). In addition, Eighner's blatant demonstration of his superiority to the people he scavenges from reveals his true character of snobbery. Although Eighner reveals that his chosen lifestyle …show more content…

He further proports that 'can scroungers' blatantly 'tear up the dumpsters' and disregard perfectly good items for other homeless people. Eighner sees 'can scroungers' at the bottom of his elitist list because of the obtrusiveness to the practice of common scavengers. Furthermore, Eigher declares, "a true scavenger hates to see good stuff go to waste, and what he cannot use he leaves in good condition in plain sight." Eighner as a homeless person uncovers his working within tradition of an archeologist. Similar to the archeologist, Eighner dubiously obtains information about those he scavenges from. Eighner feels that the refuge of the common consumer is more valuable then what people originally think. Eighner fervently states, "I avoid trying to draw conclusions about the people who dump in the Dumpsters I frequent," when in fact he constantly juxtaposes his position to the affluent people. For instance, Eigher frequents affluent college dorms because of the extreme wastefulness the college student's exhibit. He further passes judgment begrudgingly stating, "..it's Daddy's money."(Eighner, 1993) Moreover, it is the use of these rhetorical strategies that the author implements to deliberately expose his superiority over college students because of his swiftness in retrieving private information. Eighner's pretension even expands into academia where he finds; "college students often discard their papers. I am horrified

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