On Dumpster Diving Essay

Didion and Eighner have different styles of writing, but they both created writings with an instructional component. In both pieces of literature, they guide the audience like a mother to child, guiding us step by step in order to perfect the outcome. Joan Didion’s “On Keeping a Notebook” teaches the reader on how to keep note of the past through a notebook. “On Dumpster Diving” written by Lars Eighner, teaches the reader how to successfully dumpster dive and survive. However, Eighner’s piece included many details, whereas Didion’s ideas used examples by flowing from one top to another. It could also be said that Lars Eighner’s piece creates a more thorough analysis on how to dumpster dive. In spite of the fact that the pieces of literature

In “On Dumpster Diving” Eighner creates his essay based off of his experience of being homeless and relying on dumpster diving in order to survive. He states that, “The necessities of daily life I began to extract from Dumpsters. Yes, we ate from Dumpsters. Except for jeans, all my clothes came from Dumpsters.”(Eighner 173). By stating so, Eighner was able to prove his credibility on the topic of dumpster diving by proving to the reader that he has experience with it. By channeling his experiences, he is later able to introduce how to survive off the food that is thrown out. In comparison, Joan Didion’s essay, “On Keeping A Notebook”, is about how one should keep a notebook. She establishes her credibility by stating that she feels an impulse to transcribe what she is thinking. “So the point of my keeping a notebook has never been, nor is it now, to have an accurate factual record of what I have been doing or thinking. That would be a different impulse entirely.” Later on the passage, she usually examples of her entries on her notebook of thoughts and memories. By using their personal experiences, both authors are able to use their firsthand knowledge onto a topic and compose the two