Universal Truth In Dave Barry's A Couple Of Neat Guys

When littering occurs and that one person who can’t stand it watches, you might have some problems. The short essay “A Couple of Really Neat Guys” by Dave Barry really explains this well. It shares a universal truth about one person’s big pet peeve, littering. As he makes it clear how much he thinks littering is disrespectful, he also demonstrates sarcasm and satire.

In order for environmental change to happen society needs to see the significance of trash. To make sense of that recall a time were you forgot to take the trash out and days later were reminded by the rotten stench? Now multiply the stench of that 1 bag 2 million times. To help you further understand let’s put this in mathematical terms. Let’s say on average 1 garbage bag weighs 20Lbs. that equates to 1bag=20lbs x 2,000,000 = 40 million putrid bags. This equation has opened my eyes. Rogers’s argument that Landfills should be in public places is a good one. Society is sheltered from Landfills: so they are out of sight therefore out of mind. If we can’t see the pollution we can’t change our carbon foot print.

While reading, Shooting Dad, I have notice that Vowell uses multiple hyperboles to develop a humorous tone. She included a hyperbole like,'' shooting crows is a national pastime, like baseball and apple pie,'' because it demonstrates a sense of exaggeration stating , in a playful tone, that many people shot crows just to waste time. Vowell also exaggerates about her home being compared to a Civil War by explain that, by looking at her home, you can already see "the Democratic campaign poster in the upstairs window and the Republican one in the downstairs window." This expresses the text in a humorous yet ironic tone which capture readers attention to continue forward and have a sense of completion.

“Waste” is a short essay in which Wendell Berry critically analyzes the growing epidemic of trash that is polluting the nation’s land, waterways, and the air. Berry explains to the readers how the remnants of floods and litter that leave farmlands scattered with trash, makes more work for the farmers who have to rid their land of the trash before they can use it. Along with the floods, roads and highways also lead to a barrage of garbage from people who are too lazy or ignorant to take proper care of their garbage, which Berry claims leads to “. . . a constant precipitation of cans, bottles, the plastic-ware containers of fast food joints, soiled plastic diapers, and sometimes whole bags of garbage,” (Waste 1) along the edges of their fields. The garbage of the country continues to be a burden for everyone, whether it impacts them directly or not. Although it would be impossible to eliminate garbage completely from the country, the waste could be greatly reduced. Most of today’s trash is a consequence of the laziness of American society.

One example is the use of a hyperbole is, “Some readers took umbrage at my comparing mounds of vegetable puree with various ex-presidents’ brains. ”(2) The use of hyperboles in her essay adds in extra humor or even drama, giving the reader a little entertainment. Another figure of speech is similes, “ and then feel despair and worry settle on my chest like an x-ray apron.” (2).

Furthermore, the use of hyperbole and metaphors are effective in this commencement speech. Ellen uses a hyperbole when she rationalizes her anxiety about the success of her sitcom after the public realize that she is gay. Ellen worried about this because in recent times, the

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

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.

Do you hate littering? Don’t you hate when you go to a nice beach and you see trash all over? Dave Barry’s anecdote “A Couple Of Really Nice Guys” is a high level of comedy that uses a personal issue and exaggerates it to reveal universal truth about littering. The author uses comic characters/caricatures and hyperboles.

For starters, debris can be carried into local waterways effected the water. Also, nearly 7 billions tons of debris end up in the ocean each year. Nearly 100,000 sea mammals are killed by this debris each year. What most people don’t know, is litter can be a serious fire hazard. It kills wild life, and the cleanup money is taken out of taxes. Selfish people who litter in the first place, may not think these effects are harmful because it doesn’t effect them at all, however just think about all the innocent people and animals you are effecting before you litter. Remember, the trash you are about to throw on the ground, could end up in an animals mouth, making them choke to death. Not littering is common sense. If you litter, you are effecting your community, all your friends and families, and making your environment look worse. If you don’t litter, there wouldn’t be billions of dollars spent on litter cleanup, and you wouldn’t have to worry about harming an innocent person or animal.

In “Picking Up” Robin Nagle enthusiastically describes why New York City’s Department of Sanitation is so significant to our day to day city life. This department picks up about 11,000 tons of trash as well as 2,000 tons of recycling daily. If it was not for them the city would be completely unlivable. As the anthropologist-in-residence for New York City's Department of Sanitation, Robin Nagle explains with many explanations why The Department of Sanitation is so vital and why they are just as important as any police officer or fireman out there. If it was not for those men and woman who remove our trash and recyclables, our city would be completely over run with trash. Not only is this completely disgusting, but there are so many diseases

2. Hyperbole is the use of over-exaggeration to make a point. Find and write down the quote from Jilly Dos Santos that employs hyperbole. Does this line effectively communicate her feelings about the situation she faced? Why or why not?

It may seem harmless and innocent, but littering is an unhealthy habit people of all ages in each country do every day. Littering is a second nature to some people; after doing it for so long and often, they do not realize they do it. As more and more people continue to litter, environments, animals, and humans are being harmed by people’s carless actions. Americans, as well as all humans, need to be more aware of how hazardous and costly littering is to the world and the creatures living in it. Littering shows lack of respect for the world, and needs to be prevented in order for future generations to live in a clean and healthy environment.

When I saw the shots of people digging around in the trash and later people telling the stories of how they ended up on the street, it immediately tugged at my heart. I thought that was the director’s goal; however, the more I read about it and the more I analyzed it, my thinking changed. I think the directors purpose was to give the gleaners a human face and to compare them to herself, and in turn the audience. I think the film was trying to get the audience to realize that gleaning occurs in everyone’s life, just in different areas. Whether it is for food, souvenirs, or home directions, everyone gleans something and we should treat other gleaners, no matter what they are gleaning for, as people too.

People tossing out trash means that they don’t care what happens to it as long as it’s out of their car or house. People should think of the impact they can cause the environment if they recycle properly, reusing water bottles, and when they go grocery shopping bring a reusable bags that won’t be thrown out into streams and lakes that will cause pollution to the environment. If someone throws garbage where it shouldn’t belong then throw it out for them to keep the environment clean.