Free «On Dumpster Diving» Essay

The author, Lars Eighner, writes to the middleclass audience found in any society. The writer wants his audience to know about the lives of Dumpster Divers; he wants them to feel for these people and understand their plight. The middle class consumers are directly addressed in this essay; the writer seems to suggest that they (middle class) are the people affected most by many economic issues in the society. Lars Eighner has made Dumpster collection his occupation. He writes from experience, and his work is very credible in depicting the lives of ‘Dumpster Divers’; his observation of the passivity of middle class people shows that it is ironical that middleclass people remain passive, yet they are the ones who struggle a lot to earn a living. In fact, they are the real ‘Dumpsters’. He says that the poor can live from the waste of the rich, and the rich always know that there is more where they got their provisions; only the middle class live by reusing their old things. This is because the middleclass cannot afford some luxuries that could only be associated with the rich. They can also not go seeking for the wastes of the rich like Dumpsters do. Therefore, this essay seems to arouse the minds of the middleclass people to act in order to change their lifestyles. The middleclass is also vulnerable since people in this class can find themselves without a source of livelihood. For instance, the writer was once earning but the economic status made him take to the streets. Both the poor and the middleclass are affected by the economy, but the rich seem to be comfortable at all times. The middleclass is always rushing to make a life, and the poor are always rushing to survive; only the rich can afford some luxuries.