Analyzing "On Dumpster Diving"

[axe_n_vixen]

 Lars Eighner has to ask himself a lot of questions. After reading "On Dumpster Diving" by Eighner, I had a lot of questions too. Why does he feel sorry for "the rat-race millions" who spend their evenings channel surfing? I can understand his annoyance with waste and people who take what they have for granted, but there is a saying I have heard

Comments

[kelsseyy]

I am in the same boat as you. I was really confused of why he felt sorry the the "rat race millions" as he says. Why would he feel sorry for the people that get to live in a house and eat whenever they want, not just when something comes up. You bring up a good point, that eve if being "free of posessions" is a good thing, would having things be better?

[sushigeau]

Your extreme comparison is amazing, I would love to know his answer to your last question! He sounds so proud throughout the whole piece, but I wonder what he thinks about people who are born into that life. The people who are actually stuck on the streets.

[stochastic_mud]

The questions you pose for Eighner are great. I think he over romanticized life on the street scavenging from dumpsters and was fairly general in calling us the "rat-race millions" in between. Most people, I think, try and avoid waste and recycle but I wonder if it even matters. That might be a good question for the research paper. Does the average consumer recycling and avoiding waste help that much?

You did a great job of asking some questions that made the essay more in depth. The comparison with slums reminded me that Eighner's experience was anything but typical and little should be drawn from it.