Lars Eighner's essay “On Dumpster Diving” describes the lifestyle and steps necessary for the art of cleaning. Homelessness is seen as a negative connotation, but Eighner attempts to manipulate these notions by showing contrasts in his personal experiences and ironic portrayal. Based on his own experiences, this personal essay contains evidence showing how Eighner targeted social class to make apparent statements about modern consumerism and materialism. He begins to define what “dumpster diving” is and correlates it with scavenging as a means of survival. Additionally, he described the technical difficulties of dumpster diving and made allusions to what constitutes a statue of a scavenger. He also lists the stages of dumpster diving and concludes by making a direct link to consumer society. Students should read "On Dumpster Diving" by Lar Eighner because it causes readers to question society's social norms and their correlation to material objects. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay. Eighner demonstrates his point of view on the consumer society, with the public's lack of empathy towards discarded edible foods. Throughout his personal experiences, Eighner has come to the conclusion that there are benefits to finding food in a dumpster and salvaging what has been thrown away. He said: “A lot of perfectly good food can be found in dumpsters. » Therefore, he explains how food is acquired through his multiple research methods and that many of the foods found can be eaten with confidence. The author also describes the idea that students throw away food because that's all they know how to do. He says: “Perhaps the item was thrown away due to negligence, ignorance or waste. » The idea of ​​a wasteful society arises from the fact that waste is constantly thrown away every day for no good reason. Therefore, Eighner contrasts students and consumerism not to degrade them, but to indicate the common trait that many people have when talking about actually caring about the food you throw away. This allows Eighner to establish his opinion creatively while still keeping the truth behind his idea. Additionally, this statement can also be seen as a connection to Eighner himself and how others might perceive him as just a dumpster diver and nothing else. Society does not know the history of certain individuals, just as schoolchildren do not know when something is likely to go wrong. Eighner instills that dumpster diving serves a function in a consumer society and that owning material goods is only part of the process. Therefore, Eighner wants readers to know that objects have no value, no matter how rare they are. The idea of ​​being socialized to think about the art of acquiring things, but what can be considered truly valuable? Materialism arose from this idea due to the lack of definition of what would actually be considered valuable. For this reason, Eighner believes that there is “no value in the abstract.” This idea forms the basis of disbelief in material things, because mental ideas last longer. Therefore, Eighner realizes that recovery is similar to self-reliance. This must be individually sufficient to live. Eighner also uses contrast.