On Being A Cripple, And 'On Dumpster Diving' By Nancy Mairs

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When it comes to homeless or people who have a disability they are quickly to be judge by

others. What if people waited before judging and they were in their shoes for a day. The stories

that caught my eye and analyzed were “On Being a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs and the second one

was “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner. The first story is on a woman who is disabled but

likes to use the word “cripple” to describe herself. The second story is about a man who has to

survive out in the streets but has interesting facts about different foods. These essays both

have a different story behind them but share similarities, such as them being authors, the

audience they target, and the message they tri to send in their stories. …show more content…

Although, as there is differences

between the two authors, they share similarities towards the message they try to send out.

The second element the authors share is the message in their stories. To begin with the first

similarity, they share in their message is positive attitude. Mairs always was positive in her

disability. She never let it get into her way of being a normal person. As she stated that one day

she was at work. She was using the restroom, she fell, and she laughed about it because she’s

comfortable with her disability (pg. 259). Eighner is always looking for goods to survive out in

the streets. He doesn’t care about what people think about him digging for food. Another

similarity they share is that to not judge people based on there looks. Some people judge right

away when they spot what kind of brand of clothes someone is wearing. In my opinion, what

really counts is having clothes on your back, not at brand it is. Both stories had where the

author tried to tell readers life lessons that can happen to anybody. Last but not least is to be

appreciated for life. Mairs and Eighner both shared their life story. Anybody can …show more content…

But Mairs wanted to target people who had a

disability that thinks they can’t do anything and that that need motivation. Another difference

The third element between them is themselves as authors. To start with, the first similarity

was the authors had a normal life’s but later had obstacles. Both authors had a normal life,

where they didn’t have to deal with obstacles. Also they were able to overcome them with

positive attitude. Another similarity was being seen as worthless individuals. “But call me

“disabled” or “handicapped” if you like. I have long since grown accustomed to them” (260).

Mairs was looked at she wasn’t helpful because of her disability but she was. Both authors were

looked at as if they didn’t belong in society and were just more problems to the community.

Finally, the last similarity was being great at writing. Both authors were able to show strong

feelings towards life. Also they were recognized as a good impact on life because of their stories

they shared. Although these great authors had similarities, they had differences between them.

One difference between the authors was the age. Mairs was born on July 23, 1943 in

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