On Dumpster Diving

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Dealing with Dumpsters Lars Eighner in “On Dumpster Diving,” originally printed in The Norton Reader talk about his personal report. “I am a scavenger.” This is a statement from the third line of the third paragraph. He chose this word to name himself. This essay interests me because he combines his knowledge and courage to survive. Indeed, he lives from the refuse of others (par. 3). From this essay he shows his expertise, his intelligence, and his good will. Before, Lars depends of the “refuse” of others; he was so amazed with Dumpsters that he wrote the “Merriam-Webster” to find and understand the word Dumpster. He prefers to use the word scavenger rather than dumpster because it is “honorable” according to him. However, he became dumpster even though he was not homeless. His explanation to this situation is that he spent almost all his income into a rentable cabin when he was living with Lizbeth on Avenue B. Lars reaches his fundamental needs from Dumpsters such as clothes, boom boxes, candles, bedding, toilet paper, a virgin male love doll, medicine, books, a typewriter, dishes, furnishings and often some dollars. From training to training he became expert on Dumpster diving. Because, he “learned much as a scavenger” he knows how to differentiate good things from bad things in a dumpster (pars. 1-6). His intelligence allows him to select safe food. He assumes that a great deal of good food can be found in Dumpster. Lars has some skills about nutrition. Indeed, he prefers canned goods because they are the best food which can be found in Dumpster. Whatever canned goods are contaminated or not, his experience enables him to use them safely. For example, he knows that all canned goods must “contain a slight vacuum and suck air when first punctured.” That means they are healthy. However, cans which do not present this fact, we should avoid. Furthermore, cans that

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