On Dumpster Diving by Lars Eighner Approaches to

“On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner

Approaches to Analysis: • Note the allusions to both Kerouac and Steinbeck – What do they add? • Note the first 5 paragraphs: author’s own language & his attention to language as a subject; appeal to logos • Paragraphs 6 -37: how developed? personal experience, specific incident , technical information, mild satire, irony. • Paragraphs 38 – end: note: logos appeals, ethos appeals – - - pathos appeals are almost entirely omitted • Appealing to ethos in a slyly ironic manner (paragraph 59)

Questions on Rhetoric & Style – 1 st Set Choose ONE question below to answer. Be prepared to share your response. 1. Note the allusions to both Kerouac and Steinbeck – What do they add? 2. What is the effect of Eighner’s attention to language in the first 5 paragraphs? Does this opening appeal more to ethos, logos, or pathos? Explain. 3. Note the technical & clinical nature of 1 st 37 paragraphs of the essay. In paragraph 19, for example, he writes of de-emulsification and the behavior of pathogens. What is the effect of such scientific language & information? 4. Identify and explain two examples of irony in the section about the students( paragraphs 25 -30).

Questions on Rhetoric & Style- 2 nd set Choose ONE question below to answer. Be prepared to share your response. 5. Paragraph 37 concludes, “I do not want to paint too romantic a picture. Dumpster diving has serious drawbacks as a way of life, ” What is the effect of these sentences? What is their rhetorical purpose? 6. Note the careful distinction Eighner makes between the “true scavenger” and the “can scrounger. ” What purpose does it serve? 7. Do Eighner’s thoughts of Lizbeth (the dog) in paragraph 63 appeal chiefly to ethos, logos, or pathos? Explain. 8. Provide an example of an appeal to ethos. Explain its significance.

Last point of discussion: Explain the irony in the closing passage (paragraphs 78 -80).