On Dumpster Diving
Alex Russo
Professor Strona
English 50
26 September 2014
Socioeconomic Stereotypes When most people think about a homeless man or a “bum”, words like drunk, addict, and lazy come to mind. These characteristics are true in some cases, but in others it’s just a way of stereotyping people, like the notion that blonde girls are dumb or Asians are bad drivers. In the two articles “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner and “The Lady in Red” by Richard Lemieux, Eighner provides for himself free of cost by dumpster diving, but Lemieux is simply at what most people would call “rock bottom” of his life at the time, so he resorts to begging people for money. These two men are not your typical drunk bums hanging out behind a dumpster, they are honest people just trying to survive. It’s wrong to look at every homeless person and attach a negative stereotype, because you can’t tell much about a person until you view their actions. But at the same time, it’s necessary to realize that those stereotypical homeless people do exist. Every once in a while a homeless person will ask me for some money outside of a grocery store or someplace else, and I usually say no because their physical appearance leads me to believe that they are that typical homeless man who is trying to go get a beer or a pack of cigarettes (which is wrong, but most people like myself are raised to believe that homeless people are that certain kind of stereotype). And secondly, I worked for my money and I need that to pay for things that I need like food, gas, and a roof over my head. I don’t have a surplus of money to be giving it out to anyone who asks. I would give out some money if it was a woman or a child, but I’m less likely to give out money to a man because I feel like a man should always be able to support himself. At least Eighner does what he has to do to survive by scavenging through dumpsters to find any food worth eating, but Lemieux refuses to lower himself to eating out of trash, so he begs
Professor Strona
English 50
26 September 2014
Socioeconomic Stereotypes When most people think about a homeless man or a “bum”, words like drunk, addict, and lazy come to mind. These characteristics are true in some cases, but in others it’s just a way of stereotyping people, like the notion that blonde girls are dumb or Asians are bad drivers. In the two articles “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner and “The Lady in Red” by Richard Lemieux, Eighner provides for himself free of cost by dumpster diving, but Lemieux is simply at what most people would call “rock bottom” of his life at the time, so he resorts to begging people for money. These two men are not your typical drunk bums hanging out behind a dumpster, they are honest people just trying to survive. It’s wrong to look at every homeless person and attach a negative stereotype, because you can’t tell much about a person until you view their actions. But at the same time, it’s necessary to realize that those stereotypical homeless people do exist. Every once in a while a homeless person will ask me for some money outside of a grocery store or someplace else, and I usually say no because their physical appearance leads me to believe that they are that typical homeless man who is trying to go get a beer or a pack of cigarettes (which is wrong, but most people like myself are raised to believe that homeless people are that certain kind of stereotype). And secondly, I worked for my money and I need that to pay for things that I need like food, gas, and a roof over my head. I don’t have a surplus of money to be giving it out to anyone who asks. I would give out some money if it was a woman or a child, but I’m less likely to give out money to a man because I feel like a man should always be able to support himself. At least Eighner does what he has to do to survive by scavenging through dumpsters to find any food worth eating, but Lemieux refuses to lower himself to eating out of trash, so he begs