It is of no surprise to anyone that people in general, particularly Americans, tend to be overly-enticed by materialistic things and ridiculous ideals, placing more emphasis on them than things of sentiment. In “On Dumpster Diving,” author Lars Eighner develops on his experiences as a homeless man not in an attempt to defend the art of Dumpster diving, but instead to build upon the idea that a majority of people spend too much time and money on things that will not matter in a few years—they should instead focus on things that will never lose their value. Throughout the essay, he is attempting to persuade his audience that they should change their regular way of thinking and let go of materialistic things in order to live a better, more sound, and overall healthier life. To develop this purpose, Eighner utilizes juxtaposition, exemplification, and definition. The author juxtaposes the rich and poor with those in between in order to convince the audience, the middle class, that they should follow in the footsteps of both those richer and poorer than them in order to cease their materialistic attitudes. Near the end of the essay, Eighner states, “I think this is an attitude I share with the very wealthy—we both know there is plenty more where what we have came from. Between us are the rat-race millions who have confounded their selves with the objects they grasp and who nightly scavenge the cable channels looking for they know not what.” The author is stating that the wealthy and the homeless are both aware that there are things more important in life than tangible objects. Everyone else, however, has not made this connection yet and still searches, meaninglessly, for something of value. The middle class is often known to aspire to... ... middle of paper ... ...stic things in order to live a better, more sound, and overall healthier life. Juxtaposition makes the audience want to follow through with the purpose. Exemplification causes the audience to realize the extent of their materialistic nature. A definition of the average homeless person’s terms allows him to build his ethos and consequently allow the audience to believe and follow his purpose. A majority of people are a part of the middle class, and this majority tends to judge the poor for their lifestyle whether it be through Dumpster diving or begging on the streets. However, as proven by the essay, these people have no right to do so because the poor do, in reality, have a greater sense of self than these middle-class people, similar to the rich. The middle-class citizens must no longer act the victim; instead, they should be working on becoming more sentimental.
In this essay there is pathos, ethos and logos used to demonstrate the growing problem that is going on all over America. The problem is that so many people are becoming homeless, and a majority of them happen to be our veterans that fought for our country and gave us the freedoms we have today. Our veterans are coming back after fighting for us trying make a life, but a lot of them are unstable due to what they have been through because of going to war. A lot of veterans have problems after they get back and are ending up on the street with nothing, no support, no help, just struggling to get by. The focus is on getting people 's attention to make them aware of what going on so that they can help, which would be by giving donations of living
According to Selzer, Cooter thinks that Miss Bailey’s inheritance of her master’s wealth has been “misappropriated”, because “she didn’t earn it” (260). This indicates that exploitation is ultimately the reign over minds, in which the victims inherently agree with the capitalism theory so that they experience inequality without awareness. Nevertheless, while echoing Marx’s theory, Berlant concludes that the possession of large wealth creates a dilemma between choosing one’s “habituated life” and the unknown future that is “yet to be invented” (37). The lack of cultural capital minimizes people’s capacity of ownership, thus the possession of wealth alone will not change the state of living for poor people, because it is “too alive”
But I think this book is more for those people who aren’t that aware of social class, or for the ones who feel that we live in a society that is classless, rather than the actual people who have realized the consequences that class really has on someone’s life. Many people can relate to what stories are told in the book; if not, they know of a person that can relate to these stories. As a person that grew up in the lower class, I can definitely relate to most of the stories told in this book. From experience, there is a big difference in this country between the rich, middle class, and the poorest that we see daily. Even those in the so-called working class have to make continuous sacrifices and live very differently from those positioned firmly in the middle class.
A suburban life is a paradise full of shopping, colorful gardens, and well-groomed homes. Despite all these benefits, a suburban life is an isolated life. People living in suburbs are rarely exposed to miseries in society. One of these conflicts is homelessness. When living in an environment surrounded by homes, individuals often have difficulty imagining not being able to sleep in a warm bed, eat a proper meal or even receive necessary medical attention. This grim situation is depicted in the writings of Jeannette Walls. In the autobiography The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls accurately portrays homelessness by explaining its causes, its impact upon daily life, and its effect on victimized families.
In the essay, “On Dumpster Diving”, Eigner, Lars describes how he became homeless and how living on the streets is very difficult; he had to resort to eating from the trash and used this term called dumpster diving. Equally, I was interpreting a line caught my eye and astoundingly, I allude myself to him because we were similar in some ways. (13-14) “I began Dumpster Diving about a year before I became homeless. I prefer the term “scavenging” and the use of the word “scrounging”. People dumpster diving, Eigner describes is the way life for homeless people, that’s how they live. Eigner also wasn’t the only living thing that was dumpster diving, also little critters and animals that were homeless or abandoned. I have never done that, but I see people do that all the time because I live in the city. If I ever became homeless I would definitely resort to dumpster diving because I have seen many homeless people and some of them I remember them when I was a child. I thi...
Essayist, Lars Eighner, in his prize-winning essay, "On Dumpster Diving," discusses his experience as a homeless person. Eighner's purpose is to convey the idea that society needs to be less materialistic and place emphasis on items with "sentimental value" (387). He wants society to not get caught up in materials and live life to the fullest. Eighner creates an informative and educated tone to convince readers that dumpster diving is a honest, not greedy or selfish, "modern form of self-reliance" (386).
Poverty and homelessness are often, intertwined with the idea of gross mentality. illness and innate evil. In urban areas all across the United States, just like that of Seattle. in Sherman Alexie’s New Yorker piece, What You Pawn I Will Redeem, the downtrodden. are stereotyped as vicious addicts who would rob a child of its last penny if it meant a bottle of whiskey.
Statistically, over 670,000 Americans are homeless with a growing number. 48 million people go to bed hungry every night. Although we do provide shelters and opportunities in America, millions of people are homeless worldwide. Even on a more minor level there are still hundreds homeless within hometowns. Everyday we encounter the homeless whether by seeing them holding their personal signs at stoplights, confronts with beggars, or viewing them from afar under bridges. In her essay titled “On Compassion”, writer Barbara Ascher uses rhetorical techniques detailing some of her personal homeless experiences within the city life, Asher does effectively use logos, pathos,
For example, Dally is one of the poor greasers from the east side of the city, and Bob is a very rich Soc from the west side of the city. Dally, being a greaser from the east side of the city, has very little material wealth. Ponyboy states about all the greasers, “We’re poorer than the Socs and the middle class” (3). What little money Dally has he earns riding in local rodeos. He does not even own a car, but borrows Buck Merill’s when he needs one. In fact, Dally does not even have a permanent home. Ponyboy states that Dally “lived anywhere he could” (105). Therefore, Dally is an underprivileged greaser with little money and few possessions. On the contrary, Bob Sheldon is one of the extremely rich Socs from the west side of the city. Bob has no reason to work because everything he wants is handed to him by his affluent parents. Ponyboy describes the Socs, Bob’s click, as “the jet set, the West-side rich kids” (2). The Socs all seem to drive around in expensive sports cars and wear costly madras clothing, and Bob is no exception. Randy states that Bob’s parents “‘spoiled him rotten’” (116). Unlike Dally, Bob has everything he wants. Money and material things are not a concern. Clearly, financial circumstances set these two
...This is a very powerful article taking his readers into the world of being poor and homeless, and what people experience every day that could never be imagined. Eighner says in one of his last paragraphs that, “many times in our travels I have lost everything but the clothes I was wearing and Lizbeth” (Eighner 724). He also states that he and the wealthy have the same attitudes about knowing there is more where what they came from. Eighner is so powerful and doesn’t care what others think of him. He is just trying to survive like everyone else. To have such a carefree attitude is very moving.
When lots of people walk down the street and a homeless person is sitting there what do they do? They walk on and mumble something like get a job or try harder. Most poor people can’t do much more to fix their social class. It’s like they are stuck there. In Tammy Crabtree’s story, her family suggests this idea, “I growed up poor, my dad worked hard. He worked 27 years..........and it ain’t easy.” (People Like Us: Social Class in America) Tammy and her family have nothing else to do. They have worked all their life and been smart with their money. They do not have anything else to do to make their life better. People that are poor and don’t look the best can not get a good job either. They are stuck in that one job because no other place wants to hire them.
The majority of people waste food on a daily basis. In fact, in the U.S. alone there is an estimate that over half of the food produced goes uneaten; meanwhile there are people who are in need of food, and it ultimately goes to waste (Dockterman). For example, in his essay, “On Dumpster Diving,” author Lars Eighner writes about his experiences of dumpster diving with his pet dog, during his years of homelessness. According to Eighner, much of the food and materials he came across in the dumpsters were in usable shape, and many items were new. Clearly there needs to be a change in American food waste, in current and, hopefully not so much in, future generations. In order to bring about change in this misuse of food, Americans need to be conscious
Her use of connotative language creates many harsh images of her experiences in a life of poverty, a life of poverty. By using these images, Parker is capable of causing the damage. reader to feel many emotions and forces the reader to question his or her own stereotypes of the poor. With the use of connotative language and the ability to arouse emotion, Parker successfully compels the reader to examine his or her. thoughts and beliefs on who the poor are.
Poverty on social conditions affects everyone in every part of the world, no matter if they are rich or poor. First of all, everyone is divided into some sort of social class. The most known classes are the economic classes- the lower class, the middle class, and the higher class. The lower class goes through arduous labor all day and night to earn decent amounts of money to provide for themselves and their families. Most likely, they are the only source of income for the entire family. The higher class works hard to keep up or raise their high social status. They also work hard so they don’t loss their social rank, which permits them to hold a higher power over the middle and lower classes. Similarities of decisions made by characters in these two literary works will analyzed to understand the meaning behind the actions and influences of the social classes on each other.
The first term, ascribed status plays a large role in the analysis. For example, it is the social status a person is assigned at birth or assumed involuntarily later in life. It is a position that is neither earned nor chosen, but assigned. This term depicts the two families immensely. The mother and father in both families came from poor backgrounds and lived through struggle their entire lives. This plays a large role in life because it already puts you behind people who come from successful backgrounds. It is not easy to work your way back out of poverty if you were born into it. Nobody asks to live that way, but some are just assigned to live that way, and cannot do anything about it to fix it.