Ellenburg 1

Aaron Ellenburg

English 102-110

Mr. Larry Neuburger

From Trash to Treasure

In the essay On Dumpster Diving, by Lars Eighner, Eighner describes himself as a scavenger, not

a dumpster diver. He believes this title is more accurate because “I live from the refuse of others. I am a

scavenger” (358) and he “lacks the athletic ability to lower myself into dumpsters as the true divers do”

(358). He then goes on to explain what is safe to eat, the process involves three principles: using the

senses and common sense to evaluate food, knowing the dumpsters of a given area, and answering “why

was this discarded?”(358). Eighner then describes the can collectors and how they will ruin perfectly

good food, clothes, and other objects for cans to sell for alcohol or drugs. In addition Eighner learns a lot

about people because of the trash they throw out because some of it can be personal items. Due to his

time as a homeless man, Eighner doesn’t share the same materialistic mindset of most people. He relates

himself with the wealthy saying “I find my desire to grab for the gaudy bauble has been largely

sated”(369) and that he is sorry for the “rat-race millions who nightly scavenge the cable channels

looking for they know not what”(369).

Works Cited Page

Eighner, Lars. Power of Language Language of Power. N.p.: Pearson Custom publishing, 2009.

357-69. Print.