The Third Dumpster Essay

Words: 1362
Pages: 6
Open Document
The Third Dumpster

In "The Third Dumpster", we meet the two Chinese brothers Morehouse and Goodwin, who are trying to get along in American society. The author Gish Jen is a second generation Chinese-American, whose parents emigrated from China to America. Many of her works focus on the multicultural America, in which many different ethnic groups live, and how these get along with each other. "The Third Dumpster" was written in 2013 .
The story is told through the eyes of Goodwin, as the third-person narrator is bound to him. His stream of thoughts is shown to the reader, which makes the reader sympathize with him. The story starts in medias res, where we are told about the two brothers' situation. We are told about the house, which …show more content…
They have grown up in the States, which could mean that they only have spoken their traditional language at home, and English everywhere else. Again, this can be seen in their way of speech. “Are you saying they are better off than we are? That they have choices where we have none? That is a gross distortion of the situation! argued Goodwin. […]” (l. 88). The story makes use of language and its style of writing to show the characters way of life in Western society. As mentioned earlier, the brothers use a more “every-day-speech” language in opposition to the parents, who hasn’t mastered the language. As seen in the quote, Goodwin also uses the word “gross distortion”, which normally wouldn’t be used by people such as the parents. Again, the story makes use of the language to show its characters’ level of assimilation in western society. Furthermore, the parents’ disgust toward the American lifestyle can be seen in the mother’s comments towards Goodwin’s earlier marriage: “You know why your wife dump you? She is completely American, that’s why.” (l. 172).
A certain contrast can also be seen between the two brothers, Goodwin, and Morehouse. Through Goodwin's stream of thoughts, he states that he admires his brother in some way: "How Goodwin wished he had said that! And how much he wished he had ended up like Morehouse instead of like Morehouse turned inside out." (l. 166). The quote also marks the fact, that the two brothers almost can be seen as
Show More

Related Documents: The Third Dumpster Essay

The Third Dumpster

January 29th, 2015 Leshem Rae ENGL 220 H: Close Reading Assignment “The Third Dumpster” by Gish Jen The Third Dumpster is approximately a seven page short story written by Gish Jen. In this story, the author does not seem to have any relation to the characters other than simply being the storyteller; a third person point of view. The tone of the writing can be seen as funny, farce and somewhat confusing. The stories tone is considered funny because in many parts of the story Jen uses slight humour…

Words 1093 - Pages 5

On Dumpster Diving Rhetorical Analysis

Throughout his essay, On Dumpster Diving, Lars Eighner utilizes a wide variety of rhetorical devices. In particular, within the first seven paragraphs, he uses ethos and parallelism to introduce the reader to himself as well as to the lifestyle of a scavenger. In addition, he also mentions the unintentional malapropisms used by a portion of the homeless population, however, this is purely anecdotal and provides no deeper insight into his life. From the very beginning of his essay, in the first sentence…

Words 576 - Pages 3

Essay about Dionna Fowler Eng

1101-41406 Professor Trish Ivey 05 February 2015 “Dumpster Diving”: A Poor Man’s Sport Lars Eighner (b. 1948) – a freelance writer and writing coach – dropped out of the University of Texas at Austin only after his third year and took a job at a state mental hospital. In 1988, a policy dispute forced Eighner to leave his job, which eventually led him to a life of homelessness. He was able to use his experiences as a positive and write about “Dumpster Diving” from his own perspective. Eighner shares…

Words 1190 - Pages 5

Dumpster Diving Summary

In the story on dumpster diving, it basically tells the story of the author, Lars Eighner who had a major lifestyle change by choice from being employed by the federal government and living a lifestyle revolving around normal things that society worships to living a lifestyle of scavenging through dumpsters and living off other peoples trash. The second story introduces the readers to the author Nancy Mairs on her life of being physically disabled and living a normal life. The third reading is about…

Words 572 - Pages 3

Equal Opportunity Application Answers

Canton City Hall, Third Floor 218 Cleveland Avenue, S.W. P.O. Box 24218 Canton, Ohio 44701-4218 Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION CITY OF CANTON, OHIO Phone: (330) 489-3360 FAX: (330) 580-2059 OPPORTUNITY FOR EMPLOYMENT THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION OF CANTON, OHIO ANNOUNCES COMPETITIVE MERIT EXAMINATIONS FOR: AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER CONTINUOUS RECRUITMENT DATE OF ISSUE: NO: May 22, 2014 M14-14 CLASSIFICATION TITLE UTILITY OPERATOR 2 (Street, Park or WRF Division) UTILITY…

Words 1450 - Pages 6

Identity Theft Research Paper

Identity theft has become the new era of crime, as we know it. Identity not only ruins the lives of their victims but their crimes also leave a lasting effect. Identity theft can happy to anyone and the fact that these crimes can be committed in numerous ways makes the general public greatly susceptible to these crimes. In this paper we I will present a general overview of identity theft; discuss the most common ways to commit identity theft, present examples and then discuss the rights of victims…

Words 2014 - Pages 9

Abortion: One Of The Most Controversial Moral Issues In The World

terminating a foetus will be explored. First is the position where foetuses have an inalienable right to life. The second position is that foetuses are a part of a woman’s body, therefore has the right to terminate the foetus whenever she pleases. The third position is that foetuses possess the right to live but also can be terminated under certain circumstances. These three positions regarding the morality of terminating foetuses will be further discussed within this paper. The first position is that…

Words 562 - Pages 3

The Rosebud Native American Reservation In South Dakota

seen kids who look like they haven’t eaten in days. I have seen men walking around with a bottle in their hand at noon just wandering around. I have seen dumpsters that look more suitable to live in than the housing on the reservation. I thought I knew what poverty was before I went to the reservation. Now my idea of…

Words 485 - Pages 2

Stephanie Ericsson The Ways We Lie Summary

The essay is about how Mike went from a vocational school to graduating from college prep and eventually getting accepted to college. I had a difficult time finding the main idea at first, but I think I found it on the third page. The main idea of this essay is “Students will float to the mark you set”. The reason Mike’s story about his friends and him throughout his vocational track are related to this main idea is because it shows the reader how a teacher who set the…

Words 1079 - Pages 5

Sentinel City Community Windshield Survey Essay

Sentinel City Community Windshield Survey H’Linh Kay American Sentinel University Sentinel City Community Windshield Survey A community is defined as a group of people who live in the same area, where they interact with each other and share common interests, beliefs, needs, resources, and environment (Harkness, & DeMarco, 2016, p. 189). The windshield survey is a personal collection of observed data while walking or driving a car or using public transportation in the community. The purpose…

Words 1819 - Pages 8