The essay by Lars Eighner is devoted to the life of a homeless man, who shares his experience and presents his life and especially foraging in a very detailed way, with explanations and recommendations. He calls the act of getting food and objects from trashcans “Dumpster diving”. The author focuses mostly on the aspects of getting food from dumpsters and provides much advice concerning which food is safe to eat and which might be dangerous and where it is better to find fresh and safe products. Eighner also presents the stages each person starting to pick things from trashcans goes through – from self-disdain to hopeless collection of everything. The text also touches upon individual garbage cans and types of rubbish one can find inside them. Furthermore, the author focuses on the objects he usually finds and the stories they can tell him. Finally, the scavenger turns to philosophic reflection of the whole process and his life in the street and admits that it is sometimes rather pleasant and has taught him two significant lessons: let useless things go away and appreciate mental things more than material ones. Finally, the author compares himself to the wealthy, who also have had many trifles and found them absolutely bootless.
I was deeply impressed by the ideas of Lars Eighner. One of the main things that affected me deeply was the mood in which the essay is written – the scavenger is pretty humorous and tells about details of his homeless life very easily, and we cannot feel any regret in his voice, at least on the surface. For example, his recommendations and advice for the reader concerning life without home and seeking food in trashcans may seem quite ironic for readers as if they were preparing for it, too. As for the text itself, I have learnt many new things about a life of a scavenger and found out that it is much more complex and differs from my beliefs in many aspects. I find the last part of the text the most fascinating due to the comparison of the author and wealthy people. It made me think about it and suppose that Eighner really has much in common with rich people – he can possess many bright but useless things, get tired of them, comprehend their futility, and start appreciating truly important things in life, which are usually intangible. This surprising idea made me muse on our life and its values.
Five unknown words:
“to forage” - to feed on grass or herbs; obtain (food or provisions) by searching; search (a place) so as to obtain food.
“bogus” – not genuine or true (used in a disapproving manner when deception has been attempted).
“to avail oneself of” – to use, benefit, or take advantage of (an opportunity or available resource).
“to disparage” – to regard or represent as being of little worth.
“contingency” - a future event or circumstance which is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty.
