"On Dumpster Diving" by Lars Eighner

Question 1

step 1

Answer 1

Eighner, homeless, comfortable with his position

Question 2

step 2

Answer 2

explaining why dumpster diving is acceptable

Question 3

step 3

Answer 3

people who think Dumpster diving is disgusting

Question 4

step 4

Answer 4

argue that Dumpster diving has value

Question 5

step 5

Answer 5

instruction sequences, elevated/academic diction

Question 6

step 6

Answer 6

instruction, moralizing

Question 7

determine occasion

Answer 7

“wile my dog Lizbeth and I were still living in the house on Avenue B in Austin”

Question 8

style

Answer 8

• colloquial language “wino or hobo”
• contrast “invests material objects” “no longer have.. but have sentiments”
• paradox “I am a scavenger” & “I think it a sound and honorable profession”
• paradox “almost everything I have now has already been cast out at least once, proving…”

Question 9

“the second lesson is the transience of…”

Answer 9

purpose

Question 10

tone

Answer 10

• words like “de-emulsified” and “pathogenic” create a clinical tone
• feelings inspired by “rat-race” “gaudy bauble” “valueless” “sorry for them”

Question 11

speaker

Answer 11

narrator; “i was once the sort of person who invests”

Question 12

audience

Answer 12

speaking to the judgmental reader “for they know not what” “sorry for them”

Question 13

“much dumpster diving is a matter of experience…”

Answer 13

purpose