On Dumpster Diving Summary

Improved Essays
Lars Eighner’s “On Dumpster Diving” is a story about himself and how he went from having a nice job, and a family to living in the streets as a homeless man accompanied by his dog named Lizbeth. Eighner began Dumpster diving a year before he became homeless. Eighner shows how dumpster diving is a full time j ob that requires a lot of effort but following certain rules can help someone to become efficient. Eighner describes his experiences on the street and the art of Dumpster diving. Eighner finds Dumpster Diving an art. Each story he tells the reader, bring us another rule of Dumpster Diving. One rule from Eighner we learn about is a good place and time to look for food and other items that could be useful. When he tells us about his time at the pizza place we learn that different location allow for a better yield. …show more content…
He mentions that students throw out many excellent things, including food. He found out that they seem to throw more stuff out between moves and at the end of semesters. Most of the items throw out are discarded by slight imperfections, or just because some are almost expired. Eighner also mentions in general people throw away perfectly good stuff and a lot of it. But he only collects things that he can use immediately. He does not let himself be belittled by others. When Eighner is scavenging through trash, he takes caution not to judge the consumers by their waste, whether its pills, documents, or other personal items. Lars Eighner teaches us that we waste way more then we think we do, and it is in our nature. We also learn that we do not need as much as we think we do. Eighner shows us that we rely more on materialistic

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    “On dumpster diving” by lars Eighner and “Working at Wendy’s by Joe Franklin relates with the pride that Eighner found while living a life as a dumpster; the shame and humiliation that Franklin felt while working at Wendy’s. Eighner, who along with his dog Lizbeth went out for dumpster diving found himself in a emotionally stable state while Franklin wasn't in that state because according to his study he did, working at a food court wasn't his area of work but he has no choice as he wanted some work and this job paid him well so that he can support her wife in her attempts. . Eighner in the beginning uses the word “scavenging” instead of “foraging”. He finds himself as a dumpster diver as cute as he says that “ I [He ]lacks Even the physical…

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Author, Lars Eighner, in his personal narrative essay, “On Dumpster Diving”, expresses his personal experiences from the streets, and described how the gracious art of dumpster diving carried him through a difficult time in his life. Eighner’s purpose was to enlighten our society on the repression brought upon by ourselves. He adopts a didactic tone, in order to appeal to his beliefs as a scavenger in his generalized audience, especially those who do not understand the life of a scavenger. Eighner establishes his credibility from the first sentence; “long before I began Dumpster diving” which shows us that this essay comes from personal experience.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Watching someone crawl into the side of a dumpster and pulling out food can be disturbing to outsiders, but it can be just as embarrassing to the person performing the act. Eighner also shares practical lessons that living on the streets can offer, as well as a category of social classes for the homeless population. Scavenging has become such a popular and competitive act and is divided into series of stages that a person goes through as they learn how to scavenge. Eighner explains the first stage a scavenger feels is “disgust” and feels “ashamed.” He is disgusted with himself and feels ashamed to be seen “lurking around, trying to duck behind things…”…

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reading the title, Insert Flap “A” and Throw Away, of Perelman’s essay, I was immediately reminded of a tiny telescope model my younger brother purchased. which I was instructed to help him construct, along with the frustration and anger it brought me. The fate of the telescope model was as described in Perelman’s title, the trash. Through the title, the author creates a connection between the reader and himself, emphasizing that he is only human, therefore he can only follow such meaningless directions so closely. Eager to learn the outcome of this similar situation that he was put through, I was prompted to read his essay.…

    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    all the way to the location of the best dumpsters and the worst (712). Eighner shares many details and proves to the audience that dumpster diving was really his life and assures his…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Waste consumption in the United States has been a really big problem of this century and our waste habits are even a bigger problem. The book of Garbology, written by Edward Humes, uncovers the habits of Americans. Humes writes about a woman in chapter 11 named Bea Johnson who is an advocate for not producing trash. Humes states she has been producing no more than a size of a glass a year on waste. Johnson has also been finding ways how to produce less trash and she came to the conclusion if there was less trash being produced the happier her family was.…

    • 1942 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Three of the aforementioned literary depictions have proven to be prominent representations of how three accomplished writers perceive trash, namely that which occupies dumpsters and dumps. “The Town Dump” by Howard Nemerov depicts a dump as “the city which seconds ours” in the form of a 4-stanza poem. “On Dumpster Diving” is an essay which frames trash as “a way of life” by Lars Eighner. Wallace Stegner writes about a dump as more poetic and exciting than people in “The Town Dump.” All three have in common the use of one device; figurative language.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Dumpster diving has serious drawbacks as a way of life”(Eighner 24). He is definitely being honest here, though dumpster diving is how he lives he is not trying to sugar coat it. In his mind and feelings a way of life just as imperfect as it sounds, with illness and hardships. Eighner also talks about he does not try to make conclusions based on people 's trash(26). He is honest with the fact that he thinks it unethical to do so, something most people will agree…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Analysis of Eighner’s “On Dumpster Diving” “On Dumpster Diving” is an essay written by Lars Eighner, detailing the art and proper protocol of dumpster diving, or as Eighner prefers it to be called, scavenging. Eighner gathers the wisdom he has learned from living on the streets in this essay, writing in a straightforward and descriptive style. He touches on many different points: wastefulness, the everyday living conditions of the homeless, and the value of materialistic objects. Eighner strives to educate readers while destigmatizing dumpster diving as a whole.…

    • 1081 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Students toss out canned goods and staples toward the end of semesters and when they surrender school at midterm.another guideline is knowing how to eat securely out of dumpster. Anybody can accomplish a satisfying existence without the trappings of riches. As according to the essay, Eighner discovers about all that he needs and in some cases all the more just from the decline of others. He looks at himself to the exclusive class,…

    • 195 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On Dumpster Diving On Dumpster Diving states both positive and negative things about diving into dumpster. I personally think dumpsters are disgusting and diving into them to scavenge is like taking a bath in manure. I do understand though that sometimes people have to do things they don’t like to do to survive. Lars Eighner wrote about his personal experiences with dumpster diving and its affects on him.…

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Title goes here Waste has, undoubtedly, a very big impact on the current Global Warming phenomenon. Many political figures and environmental activists have called for a change in our habits as consumers to reduce the amount of waste that we produce. However, can we as individuals have a significant impact on the overall waste reduction? Or does this task belong to the large corporations and politicians that really have the power to make a difference? In the essays “Forget Shorter Showers” by Derrick Jensen and “Waste Not, Want Not” by Bill Mckibbens, both authors address the impact of waste reduction as part of the solution to the problem.…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We had to decide what to throw out. I suggested we throw out one of the bags of feed for the oxen. I am happy we got to keep the chests of clothes and our water barrel.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If your apartment complex, home or business uses a dumpster, it is vital that you teach your children how to be safe while around a dumpster. Here are a few things you need to teach your children in order to ensure that they know how to act safely when near a dumpster. Explain To Your Kids How To Use A Dumpster First, you need to explain to your kids the purpose of a dumpster. Explain to your children that a dumpster is basically a big trash can that businesses use for all the trash that they generate and is often used to clean up big projects where a lot of trash is created.…

    • 620 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    If you don’t have a lot of junks and debris and you don’t really need to rent a big dumpster to remove your debris, our 10 yard dumpster is the best choice. This dumpster ideal for taking care of your junks for various residential debris such as general cleanup in your home or property, etc. You can rent this dumpster if you only need…

    • 64 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays