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Have you ever thought about the possibilities of becoming homeless? I think about that almost every day; I try to comprehend and picture in my head the life as someone that lives on or off the streets of New York. New York isn’t one of the cleanest places in the United States, but it sure has one of the highest percentage rates in the U.S. for homeless people. In the 21st century, people raised in the U.S. are not taught about the struggles of homelessness and what they have to go through to survive; most people don’t plan on becoming homeless and became homeless due to the fluctuation in the market and various other problems. Also not only the homeless, but people in depth (people struggling to pay bills or drug addicts) and other people suffering also has to survive.
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...
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...egularly, and seeking always to answer the question, “Why was thus discarded?” Narrator advises to avoid such foods as game, poultry, pork, and egg-based meals. Soft drinks testing should be based on their fizzing vigorously. Being a scavenger, one has to notice the least signs of visible contaminates. Being a scavenger is very hard work and dissatisfying so people that think it’s easy trust me it’s quite the opposite.
In the future homelessness rates will have gone up and have to resort to either dumpster diving or use violence America is getting scarier and scarier as each year progress. It makes me think how will my grandkids, great grandkids, great-great grandkids and so on live.
Works Cited
Eigner, Lars “ On Dumpster Diving” 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology Ed. Samuel Cohen. Fourth Edition Boston & New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014. Page 139-151. Print.
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.
Step 3: 1. Eighner introduces his arguments through the use of narrative stories and his own personal experiences. He uses this technique to let the reader see firsthand how some people are able to survive off what is carelessly thrown away by others who take what they own for granted. Eighner illustrates this point on page 1, “The necessities of daily life I began to extract from Dumpsters. Yes, we ate from Dumpsters. Except for jeans, all my clothes can from Dumpsters. Boom boxes, candles, bedding, toilet paper, medicine, books, a typewriter… I acquired many things from the Dumpsters.”
Once again, I was horrified to the amount of trash that was around the pond, as well as in it that I soon found out. This was my first official time going fishing, so all I was expecting to catch was a fish. Not long after being there, I felt a tug at the line, so I reeled it in, I had caught a cup. This same type of thing kept happening, and I was constantly reeling in trash, but no fish. At one point, I actually reeled in a shoe. I had always seen movies and pictures with guys catching boots and cans, but I had always just thought that it was a joke. I now know that it was a true depiction of the current waterways. This got me to thinking about the fish. What is happening to them? Are they being poisoned from all the trash thrown into the waterways? Are they getting buried underneath everything? To me Kaza's quote " it is not easy to gaze clear – eyed at these troubling manifestations of human activity," (63), is exactly right. After seeing this site, and thinking about the fish it was a hard concept to
The essay “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner describes his experience of being homeless. Eighner wrote it to teach people how to scavenge through Dumpsters. Additionally, the author explains his personal experiences on finding the correct foods, items, and money. His explanation will allow curious people and others wanting to start Dumpster diving an idea on the process. Humans throw out an abundance of food and items that enable homeless and financially poor to live from it.
Eighner’s essay On Dumpster Diving, conveys a story of a homeless who only has a dog named Lizbeth left after his savings ran out. The man in this story
Eighner writes, “Long before I began Dumpster diving I was impressed with Dumpsters, enough so that I wrote the Merriam research service to discover what I could about the world “Dumpster”. I learned from them that “Dumpster” is a proprietary word belonging to the Dempsey Dumpster company.” He was so fascinated with Dumpsters, that he learned the definition, which is a fact. A definition can be adjusted; however, it is not completely revised. Definitions are definite. Eighner states, “Eating from the Dumpsters involves three principles: using the senses and common sense to evaluate the condition of the found materials, knowing the Dumpsters of a given area and checking them regularly, and seeking always to answer the question, ‘Why was this discarded?’” He uses his senses to analyze the condition of the things he finds logically. Dumpster diving requires the ability to critically think about what can and can not be eaten. Eighner writes, “Although very rare with modern canning methods, botulism is a possibility. But botulism is almost certainly fatal and often the first symptom is death.” He uses knowledge to understand what the expectations of some foods, especially canned foods, should be. While Eighner uses all three persuasive appeals in his writing, ethos is the most
Dumpster diving is simply going through the personal items that has been thrown away by a person or organization to find something what might be useful for you. Dumpster is easy way when you target specific people of organization. If you target specific people it’s very easy that you have to keep on watch when they put garbage outside. If they kept outside which
Lars Eighner’s essay “On Dumpster Diving” describes his experience of being a Dumpster scavenger. Eighner began his Dumpster diving about one year before he became homeless. Since he needed to support living with his dog, Lizbeth, he not only ran out of his savings but also had to spend his infrequent income on rent. Therefore, he had to obtain and satisfy his daily necessities from the Dumpsters. During his experience as a scavenger, he gained a lot of knowledge from the art of Dumpster diving. He had enhanced his ability in distinguishing what was safe to eat and what wasn’t. Every time he found something in Dumpsters, he always asked himself,“why was this discarded?” He figured out what was a good time to find fresh food, like pizza, and
This great nation of awesome power and abundant resources is losing the battle against homelessness. The casualties can be seen on the street corners of every city in American holding an ?I will work for food? sign. Homeless shelters and rescue missions are at full capacity. There is no room at the inn for the nation?s indigent. Anyone who has studied this issue understands that homelessness is a complex problem. Communities continue to struggle with this socio-economic problem while attempting to understand its causes and implement solutions. The public and private sectors of this country are making a difference in the lives of the homeless by addressing the issues of housing, poverty and education.
Still gasping, she rummaged through the bag – feeling, smelling and glaring at the contents as she sorted through the endless bags of waste wishing for something edible. One by one, she drew another object or item from the bags and placed them to the side. The steady pace gradually increasing to a frantic search. Rubbish was soon flying everywhere as she raided the contents. She could feel the plastic bowls, cutlery and cups slowly mounting to her side, whilst the mere slump of shrivelled compost lay dismally on her right. Her face screwed up in frustration. I have to keep searching, I’ll find something, she encouraged herself. She yearned for satisfaction. She yearned for the taste of something other than dirt and river
Although Lar Eighner, writer of “On Dumpster Diving”, began dumpster diving when he became homeless, he believes the act should be referred to as scavenging. When first beginning to dumpster diving, he felt scavenging was very challenging. Not only would one need to have some sort of athleticism just to lower their body into the dumpster, but knowing how to distinguish the food was as being good or bad was also a challenge. Not thinking highly
Jeremy Seifert writes, directs and produces an award winning documentary, Dive! Although dumpster diving has become popular lately, Many people still wince at the idea of sifting food from dumpsters. However the purpose is not to encourage dumpster-diving but to address the bigger issue of food waste in the U.S.
In a collection of eye-opening photographs, New York-based photographer Brendan Bannon shines a light on the startling poverty that has seen dumpsites become not just a place where waste is left to rot, but a bustling source of potential fortune
First I will summarize an excerpt out of Heather Roger's essay, Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage published in 2005. Second I will summarize Lars Eighner essay On Dumpster Diving published in 1995. Our government needs to immediately enforce a set of strict standardized laws that carefully regulate and monitor the disposal of todays and more importantly tomorrow trash. I will argue that this is necessary for large corporations and businesses to deduce their consumption. Finally I will argue that we need to educate the public about the importance and need to restrict our consumption to secure our future.
Trash invades our world, and we can stop it by recycling. The movie Waste Land, tells the story of an artist named Vik. Vik goes to Rio to visit the people that work at the landfill. He believes that only bad and nasty people work at the landfill, however; Vik meets the pickers, the people that gather recyclables at the landfill. Vik bonds with the pickers, and he wants to sell his art to make better lives for the pickers. During the course of the movie, Vik’s perspective of the pickers changes, and a sense of ethos forms between himself and the pickers.