Dumspter Diving & Self Reliance


After reading “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner and glancing over the analysis questions that followed, one in particular really stood out to me. Eighner states, “I think of scavenging as a modern form of self-reliance.” Is there truly irony behind this statement?

Like many others who read the piece, initially I thought, “Psshh yeah right, how is it self-reliance if you’re relying on other people’s garbage? Preposterous.” How could someone who clearly does not rely on himself make the claim that this art he engages in is essentially all about relying on himself? It didn’t make sense; of course it HAD to be ironic, so that was the stance I took.
However, after further thinking about this, I believe it really all comes down to what lens you view his statement in. For Eighner and many other serious dumpster divers, who have close to nothing, this craft truly is self-reliance to them. They can only count on themselves to go and scavenge for their means of living – in fact dumpster diving IS their means of living. They have no one else to supply food for them, buy/get clothes for them, etc. All they really have is themselves, and they are forced to depend a whole lot on that. Who else is going to provide for them, who else is going to get them through the city streets?

Basically, I don’t think there’s real irony behind Eighner’s statement because he, being an intense dumpster driver, truly does have to rely on himself to find food and other survival necessities whereas others who view it from the big picture think that it’s ironic since he depends on other peoples’ discards to get by. It all comes down to whose point of view you consider regarding Eighner’s claim.

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 4, 2018 at 12:53 PM

    This is a really interesting point of view!! I had never thought about it in this way - I think this applies when analyzing other pieces as well.

    ReplyDelete

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