Analysis Of Dumpster Diving By Lars Eighner

In today’s society, there is an abundance of waste. This is clear in observing how people live, we often throw out items because we want something better. Lars Eighner, author of "On Dumpster Diving," writes about his experiences being homeless and how he survived on the waste of others. This provides insight on how the phrase "one man's trash is another man's treasure," is true. Jeremy Seifert, who directed the documentary Dive!, also talks about how he survives off of other people's waste, but this was a decision he made. As they tell of their experiences, Seifert and Eighner both come to the conclusion that society is wasteful. While both individuals provided good information, I believe Seifert presented the better argument. Both of

Yesterday I threw out an old jar of peanut butter with only about an inch left. It no longer served a purpose, as I had purchased a new and improved jar. As I began to toss the jar towards the garbage, I was reminded of an essay I had just read. In his essay Dumpster Diving, Lars Eighner suggests that when we throw away items, homeless people can find a way to make use out of whatever it is. Therefore, if we don't want there to be bums on the street, it is inferred that we shouldn't throw anything extra out. I myself was not supporting the homeless community, or being wasteful, I was just trying to make room in the cabinet. If I would have kept that inch of peanut butter, it wouldn't have made the world's population of homeless people try

We often choose what world we live in, who is associate with provolone what kind of lives we live. Choice is all around, but by choosing one life, another is missed out on. The book "On Dumpster Diving" by Las Eigher describes a man who went from the infinite, yet meaning choice of consumerism and academia, to the difficult, fulfilling and possibly more infinite world of homelessness and dumpster diving and conveys just how deprived humanity's consumer life has left it of critical thinking and general appreciation for what we have.

Eighner’s main point of this essay was to contend that Dumpster diving is a somewhat viable means of living for some, but the human tendency of overvaluing sentimental items can get in the way. His SMB statement would be, “While frowned upon by some, Dumpster diving provides certain commodities of life for individuals with enough will; however, individuals must stress the importance of each item they acquire as opposed to the perceived value.”

Lars Eighner “On Dumpster Diving” originally published in The Threepenny review in fall 1990. Eighner’s arranges his essay into 3 main ideas to all tie into his overall theme. He ties it all into the idea that our society is wasteful by nature. Eighner uses his own experiences to show how wasteful people really are. Although he has not always been homeless, it has taught him a way of life he had never dreamed imaginable. If he doesn’t discover the hidden treasure of the dumpster’s then who will.

“My Daily Dives in the Dumpster” by Lars Eighner is about a homeless person, explaining the strategies of surviving from dumpster. The narrator began “dumpster diving about a year before became a homeless” (114). The author explains how at first he felt ashamed of being through trash. “Everything seems to stink” (115).This stage passes with experience and he realized that most disposed items are valuable and can be reused. Eighner feels bad for all those rich people who waste a lot of items that may be valuable to others.

1．In Lars Eighner’s essay “On dumpster diving”, the author shows his unique personal experiences on the street and the interesting stories with dumpsters. After reading the article, I can describe the author’s attitude toward material possessions as: The prosperity of material and money is not the standard of his moral value. He cares more about the spiritual fulfillment, which is do some meaningful things he felt. And the difference of his attitude from other members of society is he really enjoyed his life, while other people, put into his situation, would rather die or fight for anything to get a better life. He used his knowledge and confidence to successfully survive in the hard environment and enjoy it a lot.

“After all, the finding of objects is becoming something of an urban art.” He first presents a perception of going through trash as if it were something magical, and then shows you how you could do it too. He organizes his essay into three different categories. The first being practical applications for example how to find good scavenging areas and how to distinguish what to eat and what not to eat from his personal experiences. Eighner claims that a diver must have three principles “using the sense sand 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 questions “Why was this discarded?” (379) Some things you learn are as followed. Canned goods turn up often in dumpsters and are amongst the safest food to eat. Dried foods like cereal, cookies, chips and pasta are safe to eat once they are free from whatever contamination they had when they were found. Fruits and vegetables are safe to eat when raw and there no evidence of it being rotten. carbonated drinks are often good if they still fizz. Eighner states that prepared food is sully not safe but goes on to talk about his experience with the pizza shop. He would retrieve full pies of pizzas right after the shop was

My summary about “Serving Florida” by Barbara Ehrenreich and “On dumpster diving” by Lars Eighner.

In the article "On Dumpster Diving", Lars Eighner discusses his experience of dumpster diving. Eighner was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1946 and worked as an attendant and ward worker from 1980-1987 before finding himself homeless for three years. According to Eighner, he began dumpster diving about a year before he became homeless, also, Eighner states that he still lacks the athletic ability to lower himself into the dumpsters as the true divers do. He calls himself a scavenger as he live from the refuse of others. Furthermore, he discusses that while he was still living in the house with his dog Lizbeth, he started extracting the necessities of daily from dumpsters as his savings ran out and they ate from dumpsters, also, all his clothes

“On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner he gives us an autobiographical account of his life and how he was homeless after he lost his job as an attendant in Austin, Texas’s state hospital. The story begins to focus on Eighner’s experiences of scavenging through dumpsters for food because people waste food and he does not have any to eat. He begins his argument and tells us how he was always fascinated by dumpsters and said: “long before I began Dumpster diving I was impressed with Dumpsters” (Eighner 2013). As I began to read this article I was disgusted that a man could eat out of the trash can.

In America, while homelessness and poverty runs rampant, while war veterans and Phds find themselves on the streets, while the price of living and the ability to find food for America’s poorest grows ever more difficult, we, as a culture, still look upon practices like dumpster diving as disgusting and believe them to be only practiced by the lowest and most uneducated of American society. This is no longer a practical image of the practice or the people behind it. As poverty is ever prevalent in the United States, many are forced to find food outside of conventional needs, especially in a culture that exceedingly devalues assistance to the poor. Simultaneously, with rampant consumerism and our propensity to throw

Immediately in viewing this passage from Lars Eighner’s “On Dumpster Diving” it can be gathered that Eighner is judging the college students in the area he frequents. Eighner states, “the Dumpsters in this area are very rich”. This quote implies that the Dumpsters themselves hold “rich” food and items much like the students who empty their items in these college Dumpsters. This quote in its entirety suggests that Eighner, as the dumpster diver, is a very smart and calculated individual. He recognizes that, “Students throw out so many good things, including food”, and “they tend to throw everything out when they move at the end of the semester”, so when the time rolls around for the end of the semester, breaks and midterms, Eighner tracks and

According to “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner, food plays a significant role in everyone’s lives. “On Dumpster Diving” is a story of a person who is alone and homeless. He has nothing to eat. The only source of food he got is a dumpster. He picks food from there and makes various suggestions and statements while picking the food up.

The main idea of “Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner is to show people a different way of looking at dumpster diving. He showed the new perspective by providing facts about what people throw away that is still good. For example, hard candy that is thrown away is still good if it hasn't attracted ants because pathogens don't like sugary foods. Another example is that dairy really expires a couple days after the expiration date which most people don’t even know. “Yogurt, cheese, and sour cream are items that are often thrown out while they are still good,”(Par 24).