Curtis Harrington

Composition 102-110

Larry Neuberger

30 January 2011

Dumpster Diving as a Lifestyle:

Analyzing the Financial Benefits and the Social Implications

Lars Eighner’s “On Dumpster Diving” charmingly relates his experience spent

scavenging countless dumpsters for food and the occasional discarded treasure. Moreover,

Eighner deftly contrasts his seemingly simple philosophy of conservation and waste against that

of the privileged, improvident mindset of the middle and upper classes. Because of Eighner’s

often humorous approach to storytelling, he repeatedly pontificates about the imminent dangers

one would face on a regular basis. To illustrate, Eighner relates that botulism, while uncommon,

is a real possibility. He continues on to say, “Most other forms of food poisoning seldom do

lasting harm to a healthy person, but botulism is most certainly fatal and often the first symptom

is death” (359). Despite these certain risks, Eighner clearly prefers his chosen way of life when

compared to that of the average person, even going so far as to compare his mentalities to that of

a wealthy person. That is, much like the upper-class businessman, he knows there is much to be

had given where he has come from and that between them are “the rat-race millions who nightly

scavenge the cable channels looking for they know not what” (369).

Eighner, Lars. "On Dumpster Diving." Power of Language; Language of Power. Comp. United

States of America: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. Print.