Lars Eighner's Account Of Dumpster Diving

It is said that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Someone’s trash may very well be someone else’s greatest treasure. As Lars Eighner begins his proclamation on his profession the constant competition between internal wealth versus external wealth is evident in his account of dumpster diving. The internal wealth constituted of happiness and self-sufficiency is constantly battling the all craved external wealth of money. Eighner is also deeply dealing with balancing fine ethics while firmly griping on to a form of survival that becomes deeply precious to him. Delving deep into his preference of the word “scavenging”(p.21), Eighner begins his account on his life as a homeless person almost in a prickly manner. He utilizes his sentences as vehicles to create a subtle yet overpowering affect on his readers. He uses long-winded topic sentences that make for an assertive harbinger. Eighner does this in the opening of his 4th paragraph, when he writes, “I like the frankness of the word scavenging, which I can hardly think of without picturing a big black
Knowing well of the dumpsters he dives in and its sources. He states, “If I do not know what it is supposed to look like when it is good, I cannot be certain I will be able to tell if it is bad.”(p.25), he is incredibly analytical and deep even in the simplest of forms and that is what makes his writing so outstanding. He is well aware of when to dive, how to dive, and how to do it properly and ethically. His morals are something Eighner holds on to tightly and for that we value his character all the more. We see this when he writes, “I avoid trying to draw conclusions about the people who dump in the Dumpsters I frequent. I think it would be unethical to do some although I know many people will find the idea of scavenger ethics too funny for words.” but we do not. Instead, we develop a stronger connection with him that carries us throughout the rest of his