Name______

Class Period______

English II

“My Daily Dives in the Dumpster” by Lars Eighner

Anticipation Guide

  1. What assumptions do you make about someone sorting through a Dumpster? Choose all that apply.
  2. educatedi. loser
  3. mentally illj. victim
  4. alcoholick. shameless
  5. proudl. mentally disabled
  6. unlovedm. drug addict
  7. intelligentn. hard-working
  8. desperateo.______(other)
  9. popularp.______(other)
  1. What things that you throw away in the weekly garbage might others find valuable?
  2. ______
  1. ______
  1. ______
  1. ______
  1. ______
  1. What could you learn about people by going through their garbage?
  2. ______
  1. ______
  1. ______
  1. ______

4. In what circumstance(s) might dumpster diving be “not so bad” (meaning not gross or disgusting)?

Name______

English II

“My Daily Dives in the Dumpster” by Lars Eighner

Go Find:

  1. List 4 other names or nicknames for “dumpster diving”.

a.

b.

c.

d.

  1. Is Dumpster Diving illegal in Kentucky? Explain in 20 words.

______

______

______.

Post-Reading

  1. Why does Eighner prefer the term scavenging to scrounging or foraging to characterize his process of looking in Dumpsters?
  2. He lives on waste, like a buzzard or other animal scavenger.
  3. Foraging only refers to eating dead animals.
  4. Scrounging is another word for starving.
  5. Scavenging makes searching through a Dumpster not sound bad.
  1. What probably surprises the audience most about Eighner’s essay?
  2. That someone would look for pop cans to sell for drug money.
  3. That Eighner finds things that are very personal.
  4. That Eighner writes very intelligently and has an impressive vocabulary.
  5. That someone would actually find something useful in a Dumpster.
  1. What are the “predictable series of stages that a person goes through in learning to scavenge,” according to Eighner?
  2. Excitement, hesitation, and disappointment.
  3. Reluctance, shame, and hopelessness.
  4. Disgust, greed, and restriction to what is needed.
  5. Delight, a feeling of urgency, and boredom.
  1. What separates people who just get things they can use from Dumpsters and people like Eighner who rely on them for survival?
  2. Telling people that they took something from a Dumpster.
  3. Eating from a Dumpster.
  4. The others always have a home.
  5. Selling things for drugs.
  1. Which of the following is NOT one of the “three principles” for eating safely from a Dumpster?
  2. Knowing the Dumpsters of a given area and checking them regularly.
  3. Using common sense and the senses to see how good the condition is of the food found.
  4. Making it a rule only to eat from the Dumpsters of fast-food restaurants.
  5. Always trying to figure out first why the found food was thrown away.
  1. Why does Eighner avoid “ethnic foods [he is] unfamiliar with?”
  2. He just does not like them.
  3. He can’t tell if they’re not spoiled if he does not know what they are supposed to look and taste like.
  4. He does not avoid them; he just can’t find them in the area he searches.
  5. Ethnic foods go bad the fastest.
  1. Why do only “drug addicts and winos” scrounge for cans?
  2. They are too proud to eat food or wear clothes from a Dumpster.
  3. That is the only thing left for them by the time the rest of the homeless go through the Dumpsters.
  4. They are too lazy to go through the Dumpsters carefully and find other valuable things.
  5. They need small amounts of cash quickly in order to temporarily satisfy their addictions.
  1. Although Eighner admits that most people would find it ridiculously funny that he has a set of moral guidelines for going through garbage, what personal rule does he make about finding more “personal” items?
  2. To put them somewhere where nobody else can find them and see them after he has.
  3. To keep from drawing conclusions about the people who throw things away in the Dumpsters he visits often.
  4. To try to go through garbage cans instead of Dumpsters as much as possible.
  5. To avoid looking at any piece of paper with any kind of writing on it.
  1. After working for the government for 10 years before Eighner became homeless, what is it about Dumpster diving that he finds “refreshing?”
  2. He does not have to do any physical work anymore.
  3. He would rather NOT have a paycheck because of all the taxes the government takes.
  4. It takes very little effort to reap big rewards.
  5. One is rewarded according to how much effort and thought is put into the task.
  1. Which of the following has Eighner NOT learned from Dumpster Diving?
  2. Material things are not lasting.
  3. We should only get what we really need and use.
  4. There is always “more where that came from.”
  5. Everything is valuable.
  1. Although Lars Eighner is homeless and lives from what he finds from Dumpsters, who does he feel sorry for?
  2. Those who constantly want new material possessions but do not even know what they are looking for.
  3. Rich people.
  4. College students.
  5. Drug addicts and winos that tear Dumpsters apart trying to get the next fix.
  1. What is the main idea of this essay?
  2. There are a lot of desperate people who have nothing, so we should not take our material possessions for granted.
  3. We should appreciate the homes we live in and the food we eat.
  4. Although being homeless and Dumpster diving seems horrible, it is worse to be wasteful, dissatisfied, and constantly wanting something we don’t even need.
  5. The only people who are desperate enough to live from Dumpsters are those who are mentally disabled or addicted.
  1. What did you find most interesting or most surprising about this essay?
  1. What do you think YOU have learned about life from this essay?