Index IntroductionArticle AnalysisReflectionIntroduction“On Dumpster Diving” is an online article from Issue 1 Special Issue on Homelessness: New England written by Lars Eighner. Eighter is a person who lives his life as a “scavenger” with his dog Lizbeth. Dumpster diving is his only way to survive and support himself and his partner and so he is forced to live this way. He writes this article to advise homeless and middle class divers on how to be safe when diving, what to watch out for and what to expect. He also writes this to inform those interested in the topic of dumpster diving about what goes into the life of a dumpster diver and the challenges they face day to day. Eighner's use of vivid descriptions, first-hand experiences, personal anecdotes, and emotional stories effectively shares his experiences as a dumpster diver and shares his advice on how to survive living a dumpster diver lifestyle. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Article Analysis The biggest and seemingly most important strategy Eighner uses to share his knowledge of dumpster diving is through his vivid descriptions. It explains in detail what types of foods to watch out for and how to properly control your food to avoid illness or even death. An example of this can be seen in his advice on how to check canned foods. He shares that canned goods “are found in dumpsters quite often…” and “are among the safest foods found in dumpsters…”. Despite this positive review on canned goods, he continues and shares the potential risks of consuming canned goods. Eighner shares that “botulism is a possibility” resulting from consuming canned goods and that “botulism is almost certainly fatal and often the first symptom is death.” With these risks, Eighner then shares ways to avoid the disease, explaining that "heat can break down botulinum" but "requires more cooking than most people do with canned products." He also shares what kind of creatures that feast in dumpsters that dumpster diver should watch out for. Eighner explains that "city bees collect icing for donuts" and "birds find dumpsters profitable," but worst of all are fire ants. Fire ants, according to Eighter, are "ferocious and aggressive" and "it is easy to skim the surface of the dumpster and pick up a half-dozen or more fire ants." These types of descriptions and tips are extremely important to the article's overall effectiveness for readers, but they provide the audience with the information they need to survive with step-by-step instructions on what to do (or what not to do) when diving into the food dumpster or whatever, and how to be careful when doing so. Almost as important as the vivid descriptions, Eighner's firsthand experiences are also an important factor in his dumpster diving advice. In the article he explains how all the knowledge he has gained so far in his life about dumpster diving comes from things he has experienced. Much of the knowledge Einner has gained is about food and food safety. As mentioned above, his vivid descriptions of the types of foods found in dumpsters stem from his experiences of continually rummaging through them. He was able to learn what types of foods to avoid such as “foods based ongame, poultry, pork and eggs" and what foods you prefer to eat such as "raw fruit, vegetables... crackers, biscuits, cereals, chips" and even "pizzas out of the dumpster behind a pizza delivery shop". Along with this knowledge, Eighter was able to learn how dumpster diving affected others, the kinds of things to be wary of, and know where and how to find the things he needs. he managed to acquire all the skills needed to survive. This information highlights the credibility of Eighner and his advice on dumpster diving, and proves that his advice is trustworthy. Eighner shares advice from someone who is a dumpster diver and survives as such. Therefore, this makes his readers understand the words he says more deeply. Without this key factor, his article would not have a major effect on his readers. Eighner's anecdotes add an important touch to the article to attract readers' attention. Eighner provides an example of one such anecdote in his little story about his experiences searching for pizza. Eighter says he "started rummaging around taking pizzas out of the bins behind a delivery shop" and knew when the shop closed to go to the bin "as the last remaining help". However, after a while “people in the store became suspicious and began keeping trash in the store overnight.” Another of Eighner's anecdotes concerns his life before becoming homeless. Eighner says that while he and his dog Lizbeth were "still living in the house on Avenue B in Austin" his savings began to run out and almost all of his money (money that he managed to scavenge and find) in his rent. Eighner's life was getting tough and he had to "dig out" the things he needed to take care of himself and Lizbeth. He had to eat from the bins and also get his clothes from the bins. Whatever came to mind, he had to go and look for these necessary things in the dumpsters. The little stories that Eighner occasionally inserts give readers a way to put themselves in the author's shoes and empathize with the author and many others who live that lifestyle and may have similar stories to Eighner's. Much like Eighner's anecdotes, his emotional stories impact the way the reader assimilates his information, but with a more emotional approach. These stories add an element to the article that captivates the reader. An example of this is shown in his story of how he discovered the different stages of a street cleaner through the experiences of others and how these stages affected those people in different ways. According to Eighner, it all starts with the new scavenger full of "disgust and self-loathing" towards himself but, eventually, this "dumpster shyness begins to dissipate" and this can sometimes result in the new sub becoming loses and feverishly recovers from it. , becoming essentially addicted to the idea of ​​digging. Another example is seen in his idea of ​​how he might have to return Lizbeth to the dumpsters from which she received everything she needed to live. Eighner says he has found "a lot of pets lying in dumpsters around the state" and believes that unless he can get off the street (which is highly unlikely), his dog Lizbeth will "go in a dumpster" too. He wants to give Lizbeth “a long and comfortable old age” but, given his circumstances, he will most likely not be able to make that happen. However, Eighter also shares his belief that dumpsters might be a nice place to go considering they have them=)