In my honest opinion, Lars Eighner did a spectacular job of describing and even challenging us to think in this article. It really came across as truthful, because the story was written by a man, who lived the dumpster diving life. It lets you see the perspective, of what these divers do to survive, and how they find treasures in the things we think are garbage and useless to us. He uses many beneficial techniques in his article and it made it an enjoyable article to read. The article’s title is something that you would normally see and think it is a rather disgusting subject matter, but the author does an amazing job at explaining how we take things for granted. You look at the title and think it is going to be a sad story about a homeless man who has to scrounge through garbage to find his …show more content…
He uses unfamiliar vocabulary throughout his article, but he explains and defines the well enough to understand what he is talking about. He has very good transitioning and placement of his paragraphs and it flows smoothly and makes it almost feel as if it is going in a type of chronological order. I think the author’s intent on this article had multiple reasons behind it. The first being almost as a documentary type of reflection on how he became a diver and the things he had to go through while living this life. The second being a descriptive and persuasive type article. He goes into great descriptions that make you visualize what he went through. He also tries to persuade you to not look at dumpster diving in a negative sense and appreciate the value of the material objects many of us take for granted and throw away. The author of this article really can shed light on something many people think of as a revolting subject matter. He thinks of it as a very efficient way of living, because you only take and use what you need and you don’t have materialistic things holding you
He starts by giving a lot of personal examples (Pizza shop example), then talks about other people who try it (The stages of beginning to dumpster dive), and explains how dumpster diving is a lot better than the more accepted picking up of cans (comparison to a wino). He then delves into the ethics behind dumpster diving (looking at prescription bottles and such), and then if one, presumably the reader, wanted to try it how they would do so (pole with hook on it). He ends with some deep insights into dumpster diving and his way of life. I think that the way he organizes his essay, and his overall tone, are to convince the reader that dumpster diving is not as bad as everyone things, and to make people actually interested in trying it. He first
According to Mayberry (2009) Lars Eighner, a graduate of the University of Texas, became homeless in 1988 and again in 1995 (p. 351). Some of the accounts from Travels with Lisbeth (1993), a book by Lars Eighner, depicted what he went through and what he found during his homeless state. A homeless person must eat and sleep but may not know where or when this might happen next. The human will to survive enabled Eighner to eat food from a dumpster, reach out to other for handouts, and sleep in places other than a bed with covers.
In the past decades, the booming housing market has caused the prices of real estate to dramatically increase causing the issue of homelessness to be on the rise. Many people who do live on the streets, resort to dumpster diving and finding trash to call theirs. In his article: "On Dumpster Diving" Lars Eighner, goes into depth about his experiences while dumpster diving. Eighner found many items in the dumpster that were still edible or somewhat useful. He began diving a year before he became homeless and has continued while he wrote his piece of work (Eighner 673). Eighner enlightens us with many instances of his journey dumpster diving while he was homeless.
The author, Lars Eighner explains in his informative narrative, “On Dumpster Diving” the lifestyle of living out of a dumpster. Eighner describes the necessary steps to effectively scavenge through dumpsters based on his own anecdotes as he began dumpster diving a year before he became homeless. The lessons he learned from being a dumpster diver was in being complacent to only grab what he needs and not what he wants, because in the end all those things will go to waste. Eighner shares his ideas mainly towards two direct audiences. One of them is directed to people who are dumpster divers themselves, and the other, to individuals who are unaware of how much trash we throw away and waste. However, the author does more than direct how much trash
Lars Eighner uses the appeal of ethos the most prominently in his book to prove he is credible, followed by an appeal logos by applying logic and pathos using stories.
A) Lars Eighner, in “On Dumpster Diving”, portrays the waste that is accumulated due to modern consumerism and materialism. He also demonstrates the issue of the wage gap. Consumers of the modern age spend too much and therefore waste too much. In the essay, Eighner describes life as an scavenger and demonstrates how people are able to live by the minimal resources. “Scavengers” are able to survive on the waste of the consumer. Eighner presents this scenario as a contrast to the life of a modern consumer, in order to portray it’s unnecessary wastefulness. Mainly, food seems to be taken lightly by society, as Eighner as a scavenger finds “a half jar of peanut butter”,
After reading the first chapter of Mark Ferguson’s short story, “A Drowning” I already knew that I would not like the story. It is an example of a lifeguard’s nightmare, finding a drowning victim without a way to save them. The fact that the narrator is painfully reliving the story makes me tense, especially when thinking about dangerous situations that could happen while I am working as a lifeguard and the effects it could have on me. To conclude, the story made me more and more uncomfortable each time the the victim was put in further danger and especially uncomfortable when he never came back up which made the story difficult for me to read.
This essay's structure is based on the quote "beginning with the practical art of Dumpster diving and presiding to the abstract" (379). Eighner begins with an informative tone to explain the foods to eat and avoid, the stages Dumpster divers go through, and label the places where divers are most successful. The "abstract" part of the quote talks about the ideas and thoughts he gathered from his experiences as a homeless person. This satire on people's wastefulness transitions into a more critical tone when he critiques society for their obsession for materialistic objects and their wasteful nature.
Jeremy Seifert’s documentary, Dive!, goes behind the scenes to show that there are billions of pounds of food waste a year in our country when 1 billion people a day are starving worldwide. Seifert originally began his dumpster diving to show that his family of three could not only salvage good food to eat from the trash, but they would also save more
The irony in the need for survival by a suicidal diver in Robert Hayden’s “the diver”.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest garbage dump in the world. According to estimates made by experts, the patch holds approximately three and a half million tons of garbage. Majority of this garbage is made of plastic. This waste is a threatening problem to the patch’s surrounding wildlife. Many animals are caught in the floating pieces of trash and it is the cause of the deaths of about one million birds and about one hundred thousand other sea animals. Due to the oceans nature and constant moving currents, the trash is also constantly moving. Therefore the size of the patch never stays the exact same. However, scientists believe it be approximately two times the size of Texas. The plastic is mostly broken down from larger materials into small pieces. The patch has been referred to as one scientist as a, “plastic soup”. This garbage poses such a threat mainly because it does not biodegrade. These plastics will be in the ocean essentially forever. Many plastics also contain chemicals, and absorb other chemicals and pollutants they become exposed to. These newly absorbed toxins are then leaked and distributed back into the ocean over time. The chemicals can directly enter the bodies of the animals which consume them. A study was being conducted by scientists of the fish that inhabit the area around the patch. What the researchers found inside the belly of one fish (that was no larger in size than that of a finger), was eighty four small fragments of plastic. It does not take scientists to recognize the impact of this problem, Zach Gold, who is sixteen, is from Santa Monica California. Zach enjoys s...
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.”
Lars' on dumpster diving is not a piece which is meant to be taken in a pitiful way. At the end of the essay he himself says he feels sorry for those that he scavenges from, those that put sentiment into material wealth. He goes into great detail on his dumpster diving exploits. The message of this essay is one of resilience and to make do with what one has. Examples are used quite frequently, the pizza shop or the fire ants, but also his language when he says "he may wipe off the egg yolk off the can but he cannot erase the stigma of eating eating garbage".
Our oceans take a large beating every day by the extremely large amount of pollution humans produce. Our society easily dumps their waste into the oceans to dispose of the excessive amount of garbage, sewage, and chemicals, but this small and simple solution is creating an even bigger problem. The way humans dispose of their wastes is causing the death of our beloved marine life. Not only are we killing off our animals, our food source, and our resources, we are also minimizing our usable water. By having a better understanding of the problem on the severe dumping, it will be easier to find ways to help minimize the pollution that is going into the ocean.
Vannela, Raveender. "Are We “Digging Our Own Grave” Under the Oceans?" Environmental Science & Technology 46.15 (2012): 7932-933. Print.