On+Dumpster+Diving

Focus questions

. //
 * Dumpster** ( **duhmp**-ster/ dəm(p)-stər ) : //a brand of large metal bin for refuse designed to be hoisted onto a specially equipped truck for emptying or hauling away

Scavenging in Action

Many people throw away perfectly good items. Because America is one of the largest consumer countries is produces a large amount of waste. In Eighner's text, he spends most of his time convincing the readers that they are wasteful and that "scavengers" are the superior beings, due to the fact that they use what others discard. //"Between us are the rat-race millions who nightly scavenge the cable channels looking for what they know not. I am sorry for them." (On Dumpster Diving)// Like indians, Eighner lives off the land.
 * __Thesis__**

"On Dumpster Diving" is descriptive, but is organized spatially. The information Eighner presents is not given in an orderly fashion--rather thoughts jotted down as they are thought. This gives the effect of Dumpster Diving with words.The passage is partially a narrative, partially informative. The narrative aspect of it is presented through flashbacks.
 * __Organization__**

//"Boom boxes, candles, bedding, toilet paper, a virgin male love doll, medicine, books, a typewriter, dishes, furnishing, and change, sometimes amounting to many dollars--I acquired many things from the Dumpsters. "//

Because the passage is persuasive, the author uses many techniques. The author attempts at using the third source of persuasion--//Logos//--to persuade the reader. He tells of how the word "Dumpster" should be capitalized, because of its belonging to the Dempster Dumpster company. However, many people could ever think of a Dumpster as anything else than a place to put their refuse, so it will probably not be capitalized.

//"I learned from them that it is a proprietary word belonging to the Dempster Dumpster company. Since then I have dutifully capitalized the word, although it was lowercased in almost all the citations Merriam-Webster photocopied for me."//

The mood of this passage is rather comical do to the fact that the author choose such a subject, and the tone of the author only serves to bring forth more hilarity.
 * __Tone and Mood__**

//"I have heard people, evidently meaning to be polite, use the word foraging, but I prefer to reserve that word for gathering nuts and berries and such, which I do also according to the season and the opportunity."//

//"Occasionally a find tells a story. I once found a small paper bag containing some unused condoms, several partial tubes of flavored sexual lubricants, a partially used compact of birth-control pills, and the torn pieces of a picture of a young man. Clearly she was through with him and planning to give up sex altogether."//

//"To those psychologically or physically unprepared to enter a Dumpster, I recommend a stout stick, preferable with some barb or hook at one end. The hook can be used to grab plastic garbage bags. When I find canned goods or other objects loose at the bottom of a Dumpster, I lower a bag into it, roll the desired object into the bag, and then hoist the bag out-- a procedure more easily described than executed. Much Dumpster diving is a matter of experience for which nothing will do except practice."//

Eigner's word choice throughout is scholarly: "I have heard people, evidently meaning to be polite, use the word foraging, but I prefer to reserve that word for gathering nuts and berries and such, which I do also according to the season and the opportunity. " He appeals mainly to the sense of smell as his subject is Dumpster, but among other things Eigner appeals to people sense of right and wrong. "On other days going through them requires trespassing close to a dwelling. But my strongest reservation about going through individual garbage cans is that this seems to me a very personal kind of invasion to which I would object if I were a householder. Although many things in Dumpsters are obviously meant never to come to light, a Dumpster is somehow less personal." This author's sentence style is compared to that of a "...nineteenth-century English novelist". The author uses short sentences to indicate the beginning of a new topic or to present his thoughts on the current subject. The most clear use this at the end of exerpt when expresses his sorrow for his fellow human beings that are caught up in the rat race that we call life. The author does not use colors to enhance moods or characterize someone. However, he uses other sensory details--ones that pertain to the sense of sight, touch, and smell. Some of the best worded phrases and best chosen words are indicated below.
 * __Language and Style__**

"I prefer the word **scavenging** and use the word **scrounging** when I mean to be **obscure**. "

"After all, the finding of objects is becoming something of an **urban art**. "

"From time to time one of my **companions**, aware of the source of my **provisions**, will ask, "Do you think these crackers are really safe to eat?"..."

"I have heard of people **maliciously contaminating discarded** food and even handouts, but mostly I have heard of this from people with vivid imaginations who have had no experience with the Dumpsters themselves."

MAronson JPerez Period 4

__uhome.com.__ 2003. University of Idaho. 2008. 
 * Works cited**

<[|http://www1.broward.edu/~nplakcy/docs/dumpster_diving.htm]>

__dictionary.com.__ 2008. Lexico Publishing Company. 2008. 