On Dumpster Diving
Scavengers Can Feel Rich How did a Texas born baby become a professional dumpster diver after attending, University of Texas, starting his journey working as an attendant and ward worker? Most people can assume he hit rock bottom and had no choice but to dumpster dive for a living, but that is not the case because this educated man chooses the lifestyle of scavenger hunting. He decides to live as a scavenger when his savings run out, and during this moment he gathers all the necessities needed for daily living from dumpsters.
Even though he decides to take this route in life, he still makes a contradicting statement. He mentions if he could he would naturally rather live the consumer life, except to be a less wasteful consumer. He pieces his experiences on how to survive dumpster diving when scavenging and by doing so his readers realize how challenging this profession can be. “On Dumpster Diving”, Lars Eighner uses philosophical discussions to describe the transition when becoming a dumpster and learns that in the end he is the rich man living off of peoples waste.
The transition of learning how to dumpster dive seems disgusting until one realizes people throw away good matter. Eigner’s commentary describing the stages of scavengers leaves images that linger. He explains the feeling of a first time scavenger, “Every grain seems to be a maggot. Everything seems to stink. He can wipe the egg yolk off the found can, but he cannot erase from his mind the stigma of eating garbage” (481). By stating this he shows what a person usually feels going through any kind of trash. After reading, this feeling of disgust appears such as flies on dog poop.
Enabling the readers to relate to the feelings the first timers feel. The feeling of disgust makes us eager to know what else a diver may have to face, but then the feeling vanishes. The feeling of dirty; converts into a feeling of dirt-free because the more experience a diver is the better it gets. They see the brighter side of the tunnel and start understanding that people throw away good quality stuff. For instance he states, “The scavenger finds a pair of running shoes that fit and look and smell brand new” (481). He pulls the readers in by an image of brand new shoes with a fresh smell.
The quotes above show opposite incidents when transitioning into a diver, which eventually balances out. Therefore becoming a dumpster diver is more accepted; than making a typical judgment of how disgusting it seems, and rather how resourceful dumpster divers are. The commentary provided in his essay proves his point that scavenging differs from scrounging. He explains his opinion if he was a householder, his strongest reservation about going through individual garbage cans is that it seems to be a very personal invasion to which he would object (483).
He shares this point of view because he doesn’t approve of the scroungers. He makes an obvious point that he is not a scrounger and what he thinks of them too! Eigner mentions, “Can scroungers, then are people who must have small amounts of cash. These are drug attics and winos…” Most readers will understand why he makes these comments, especially since he sees them do it. He supports this quote with his observations of what these scroungers do when going through people’s personal garbage. He observes that these people tend to leave litter everywhere in need of their fix.
It is apparent that he has morals and principles and that the reader must know the difference between a scavenger and scrounger. Near the end of his essay he symbolically reveals the power material things have on people from what he sees when scavenging through dumpsters. He thinks of scavenging as a modern form of self reliance. The symbolism he states is thought provoking, “Some material things are white elephants that eat up a possessor’s substance” (486). The symbolism he uses cause a reader to conclude that the subject matters were once valuable but is now no longer useful.
In the long run these material things take away from an owner’s wealth. This is proven by all the items Eighner comes across, except he is able to get use out of what he needs. Overall, this symbolism can be looked at as a cycle that never ends. He explains that he learns two lessons during his time as a scavenger: The first was to take what you can use it and let the rest of it go, and the second was the transience of material being (486). These lessons show that what may not be valuable to you may be valuable to others. It depends on the eye of the beholder and what they consider worthy.
Lars Eighner wrote “On Dumpster Diving” so any person can relate and understand things in our lives change in a matter of seconds but everything we choose has different stages in life to learn about. His commentary provides the series of incidents as a dumpster diver so the readers are eager to read more to know what a scavenger deals with on a day to day basis. In his closing he focuses on his attitude about possessions, thereby equating himself to the wealthy because he knows that there is always more, and pity the people who try to acquire everything they encounter in life..
From Eighners point of view he does much to the same that the very rich do; they both know there is plenty more where what they have came from. He also views the rest of the people as the “rat race millions,” people on the look out for anything they can find on the television regardless of if they really need it or not. He wrote this essay from a moral perspective so people will be aware of how wasteful they really are. Overall, Eighner’s catches a reader’s interest immediately by his use of humor, deadly serious of scientific style subject matter, and mainly his philosophical discussions on how to dumpster dive.
