TERRA – AP English Language and Composition
Summer Reading Assignment 2016-17
Please read carefully: Enclosed in this packet are materials that will help you prepare for the Advanced
Placement English Language and Composition course and exam. These assignments were designed in
accordance with The College Board’s requirement that the AP English Language curriculum match the
rigor of a college-level rhetoric and composition course. The summer must be used to bridge the gap
between the ceiling of sophomore honors (10th grade) and the floor of AP English Language and
Composition.
This summer each student is required to read the following texts:
Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us about the Art of
Persuasion by Jay Heinrich
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Essays (attached):
"Death of the Moth" - Virginia Woolf
"On Dumpster Diving" - Lars Eighner
"On Being a Cripple" - Nancy Mairs
"The Morals of the Prince" - Niccolo Machiavelli
Step 1:
It is recommended that you begin by reading and annotating Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle,
Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us about the Art of Persuasion by Jay Heinrich, as it will help you
identify claims and persuasive strategies in the other texts. Review the glossary of rhetorical strategies
and SOAPSTone+Theme Graphic Organizer enclosed in this packet as well. We will begin the year with
the assumption that you have acquired this knowledge. Though terms will be reviewed, they will not be
re-introduced.
Step 2:
Next you should read and annotate On Writing, as well as the brief essays attached to this packet. These
5 texts represent different rhetorical modes, so you will have a chance to see the rhetorical appeals
discussed in Thank You for Arguing applied in different contexts and structures. Practice annotating as
you read using the terms and strategies found in Thank You for Arguing, the glossary of rhetorical
strategies, and the SOAPSTone+Theme Graphic Organizer as a guide. You can also note any relevant and
critical questions you have while reading the texts. Be prepared to use your annotated books in class.
Step 3:
Come to class prepared to demonstrate your understanding and completion of this reading assignment.
Beginning on the first day of school you will be held accountable for your knowledge of the material
from these books. This means you should be able to define terms, recognize them in context, and apply
them in your writing. Be prepared to discuss or write about the content of each of these texts.
Recommended:
In AP English Language and Composition, a basic understanding of the rules of grammar is essential.
Students can review with either of the resources listed below.
Grammar Smart: A Guide to Perfect Usage, 2nd Edition. Princeton Review.
Purdue University Online Writing Lab. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/5/
Rhetorical Terms – A Glossary
ad hominem fallacy--(Latin for "to the man") a fallacy of logic in which a person's character or motive is
attacked instead of that person's argument.
ad populum fallacy--(Latin for "to the crowd") a fallacy of logic in which the widespread occurrence of
something is assumed to make it true or right; e.g. "The Escort is the most widely sold car in the world;
therefore, it must be the best."
allegory--a story in which the people, places, and things represent general concepts or moral qualities.
allusion--a brief reference to a person, place, event, or passage in a work of literature or the Bible assumed
to be sufficiently well known to be recognized by the reader; e.g. "I am Lazarus, come from the dead." T.
S. Eliot
analogy--a comparison between two things in which the more complex is explained in terms of the more
simple; e.g. comparing a year-long profile of the stock index to a roller-coaster ride.
anecdote--a short entertaining account of some happening, frequently personal or biographical.
anticlimax--a sudden drop from the dignified or important in thought or expression to the commonplace or
trivial, often for humorous effect.
appeal to authority--citation of information from people recognized for their special knowledge of a subject
for the purpose of strengthening a speaker or writer's arguments.
argumentation--exploration of a problem by investigating all sides of it; persuasion through reason.
begging the question--a fallacy of logical argument that assumes as true the very thing that one is trying to
prove; e.g. 1. The Bible is the infallible word of God. 2. The Bible says that God exists. Therefore, 3. God
exists.
cause and effect--examination of the causes and/or effects of a situation or phenomenon; e.g. Essay topics
such as "How did the incumbent mayor lose the election?" or "What causes obesity?" are well suited to
cause and effect exposition.
chronological ordering--arrangement in the order in which things occur; may move from past to present or
in reverse chronological order, from present to past.
classification as a means of ordering--arrangement of objects according to class; e.g. media classified as
print, television, and radio.
colloquial expression--words and phrases used in everyday speech but avoided in formal writing; e.g. Jack
was bummed out about his chemistry grade instead of Jack was upset about his chemistry grade.
damning with faint praise--intentional use of a positive statement that has a negative implication; e.g. "Your
new hairdo is so...interesting.
deduction (deductive reasoning)--a form of reasoning that begins with a generalization, then applies the
generalization to a specific case or cases; opposite to induction. (see syllogism)
digression--a temporary departure from the main subject in speaking or writing.
ellipsis--1. In grammar, the omission of a word or words necessary for complete construction but understood
in context. E.g. "If (it is) possible, (you) come early." 2. The sign (...) that something has been left out of a
quotation. "To be or not...that is the question."
euphemism--the use of a word or phrase that is less direct, but that is also less distasteful or less offensive
than another; e.g."he is at rest" is a euphemism for "he is dead."
expository writing--writing that explains or analyzes.
false dilemma--a fallacy of logical argument which is committed when too few of the available alternatives
are considered, and all but one are assessed and deemed impossible or unacceptable; e.g. A father
speaking to his son says, "Are you going to go to college and make something of yourself, or are you
going to end up being an unemployable bum like me?" The dilemma is the son's supposed choice
limitation: either he goes to college or he will be a bum. The dilemma is false, because the alternative of
not going to college but still being employable has not been considered.
hyperbole--an extravagant exaggeration of fact, used either for serious or comic effect; e.g. "Your beauty,
that did haunt me in my sleep/ To undertake the death of all the world,/So I might live one hour in your
sweet bosom." Shakespeare, Richard III
imagery--lively descriptions which impress the images of things upon the mind; figures of speech.
induction (inductive reasoning)--a form of reasoning which works from a body of fact to the formulation of a
generalization; opposite to deduction; frequently used as the principal form of reasoning in science and
history.
inverted syntax--reversing the normal word order of a sentence; e.g. "Whose woods these are I think I
know." Robert Frost
irony--a method of humorous or sarcastic expression in which the intended meaning of the words is the
opposite of their usual meaning; e.g. saying that a cold, windy, rainy day is "lovely."
litotes--in rhetoric, a figure in which an affirmative is expressed by a negation of the contrary. A "citizen of no
mean city" is, therefore, "a citizen of an important or famous city."
metaphor--a figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another by being spoken of as though it were
that thing; e.g. "...a sea of troubles." William Bradford
non sequitur--a statement that does not follow logically from what preceded it.
order of importance--a method of organizing a paper according to the relative significance of the subtopics.
oxymoron--a figure of speech in which contradictory terms or ideas are combined; e.g. "thunderous silence."
parable--a short story from which a lesson may be drawn; Christ used the parable to teach his followers
moral truths. The parable of the Sower and the Good Samaritan are examples of his parables.
parallel syntactic structures--using the same part of speech or syntactic structure in (1) each element of a
series, (2) before and after coordinating conjunctions (and, but, yet, or, for, nor), and (3) after each of a
pair of correlative conjunctions (not only...but also, neither...nor, both...and, etc.). Below are examples for
definitions (1) and (3):
(1) Over the hill, through the woods, and to grandmother's house we go.
(3) That vegetable is both rich in vitamins and low in calories.
paradox--a statement which seems self-contradictory, but which may be true in fact. "Success is counted
sweetest / By those who ne'er succeed..." Emily Dickinson
parody--a literary composition which imitates the characteristic style of a serious work or writer and uses its
features to treat trivial, nonsensical material in an attempt at humor or satire.
pedantry--a display of narrow-minded and trivial scholarship or arbitrary adherence to rules and forms.
personification--a figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstract concept is endowed with human
attributes; e.g. the hand of fate.
periodic sentence structure--a sentence written so that the full meaning cannot be understood until the end;
e.g. Across the stream, beyond the clearing, from behind a fallen tree, the lion emerged.
persuasion--taking a single position for the purpose of getting others to accept that position; may appeal to
emotion or reason.
point of view--the way in which something is viewed or considered by a writer or speaker; in fiction, it is the
relationship assumed between the teller of a story and the characters in it, usually demonstrated by the
author's use of either first or third person.
post hoc fallacy--(from the Latin: post hoc, ergo propter hoc meaning "after this, therefore because of this.")
This fallacy of logic occurs when the writer assume that an incident that precedes another is the cause of
the second incident. For example: "Governor X began his first term in January. Three months later, the
state suffered severe economic depression. Therefore, Governor X cause the state's depression." The
chronological order of events does not establish a cause-effect relationship.
rhetoric--the art of using words effectively in writing or speaking so as to influence or persuade.
rhetorical question--a question asked for rhetorical effect to emphasize a point, no answer being expected;
e.g. "Robert, is this any way to speak to your mother?"
satire--a literary work in which vices, abuses, absurdities, etc. are held up to ridicule and contempt; use of
ridicule, sarcasm, irony, etc. to expose vices, abuses, etc.
simile--a figure of speech involving a comparison using like or as; e.g. "O my love is like a red, red rose."
Robert Burns
spatial ordering--organization of information using spatial cues such as top to bottom, left to right, etc.
syllogism--a form of reasoning in which two statements or premises are made and a logical conclusion is
drawn from them; a form of deductive reasoning. Example:
Major Premise: J and G Construction builds unsafe buildings.
Minor Premise: J and G Construction built the Tower Hotel.
Conclusion: The Tower Hotel is an unsafe building. (see deduction)
symbol--something that stands for another thing; frequently an object used to represent an abstraction, e.g.
the dove is a symbol of peace.
syntax--in grammar, the arrangement of words as elements in a sentence to show their relationship.
tone--a way of wording or expressing things that expresses an attitude; the tone may be angry, matter-of-fact,
pedantic, or ironic.
understatement--deliberately representing something as much less than it really is. Jonathan Swift wrote,
"Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her appearance."
SOAPSTonE + Theme Graphic Organizer
Speaker
Occasion
Identify the voice (narrator) and the point of view from which he or she is speaking.
Identify the speaker’s values, biases, and beliefs (if you are able). Determine if the
speaker can be trusted.
What is the time and place? Is there a particular historical context that influences the
message or the speaker? What specific set of circumstances prompted the writer to
write?
Audience
Who will hear or read this message? What are this audience’s biases or values? Is this
audience open to the message?
Purpose
Subject
Tone
What does this speaker hope to achieve? What is the main purpose (argument)?
What is this work about?
What is the dominant tone and what is its effect? Look primarily at the speaker’s
attitude. What words, images, or figures of speech reveal the speaker’s attitude? Are
there any shifts in tone within this document, and if so, what is the result/effect?
What evidence does the speaker give to prove his/her argument? Give at least three
examples. Use this stem sentence: “To prove the idea that _____, the speaker (says,
points out, shows, etc.) _____.”
What is the “big idea”? What is the author expressing about the human
condition/human experience/human spirit?
Evidence
Theme
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FREDERICK DOUGLASS
literacy for people like him; the education and the society Malcolm X
describes in "Learning to Read" (p. 245) are very different. How are
they similar?
4. Douglass's education is presented as both pleasurable and painful,
opening up new worlds to him at the same time as it helps him to
understand painful facts. Describe something you have learned—a
new subject, a new fact about the world—that has been similarly
double-edged for you.
LARS EIGHNER
On Dumpster Diving
Born in Texas in 1948, Lars Eighner became famous with the publication of his memoir Travels with Lizbeth: Three Years on the Road and
on the Streets (1993). The memoir of his (and his dog's) homelessness,
Travels with Lizbeth was a great success but was not enough to keep
Eighner and Lizbeth off the streets. Eventually with the support of
friends, new housing was found for them, but Lizbeth died in 1998.
Eighner continues to write fiction, essays, and erotica, and has a new
dog named Wilma.
"On Dumpster Diving" is the essay that led to the writing of what
was to become the rest of Travels with Lizbeth. In it he explains one
aspect of his life during the three hard years that are the subject of his
memoir—the process of feeding himself from the refuse of others. The
clear-eyed way in which he describes this process and the manner in
which he situates it in the larger culture make this essay worthy of careful reading.
Long before I began Dumpster diving I was impressed with Dumpsters, enough so that I wrote the Merriam-Webster research
service to discover what I could about the word "Dumpster." I
learned from them that "Dumpster" is a proprietary word belonging to the Dempster Dumpster company.
Since then I have dutifully capitalized the word although it was
lowercased in almost all of the citations Merriam-Webster photocopied for me. Dempster's word is too apt. I have never heard
these things called anything but Dumpsters. I do not know anyone who knows the generic name for these objects. From time to
time, however, I hear a wino or hobo give some corrupted credit
to the original and call them Dipsy Dumpsters.
I began Dumpster diving about a year before I became
homeless.
I prefer the term "scavenging" and use the word "scrounging"
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LARS EIGHNER
when I mean to be obscure. I have heard people, evidently meaning to be polite, using the word "foraging," but I prefer to reserve
that word for gathering nuts and berries and such which I do also
according to the season and the opportunity. "Dumpster diving"
seems to me to be a little too cute and, in my case, inaccurate because I lack the athletic ability to lower myself into the
Dumpsters as the true divers do, much to their increased profit.
I like the frankness of the word "scavenging," which I can
hardly think of without picturing a big black snail on an aquarium wall. I live from the refuse of others. I am a scavenger. I think
it a sound and honorable niche, although if I could I would naturally prefer to live the comfortable consumer life, perhaps—
and only perhaps—as a slightly less wasteful consumer owing to
what I have learned as a scavenger.
While my dog Lizbeth and I were still living in the house on
Avenue B in Austin, as my savings ran out, I put almost all my
sporadic income into rent. The necessities of daily life I began to
extract from Dumpsters. Yes, we ate from Dumpsters. Except
for jeans, all my clothes came from Dumpsters. Boom boxes,
candles, bedding, toilet paper, medicine, books, a typewriter, a
virgin male love doll, change sometimes amounting to many dollars: I acquired many things from the Dumpsters.
I have learned much as a scavenger. I mean to put some of
what I have learned down here, beginning with the practical art
of Dumpster diving and proceeding to the abstract.
What is safe to eat?
After all, the finding of objects is becoming something of an
urban art. Even respectable employed people will sometimes find
something tempting sticking out of a Dumpster or standing
beside one. Quite a number of people, not all of them of the
bohemian type, are willing to brag that they found this or that
piece in the trash. But eating from Dumpsters is the thing that
separates the dilettanti from the professionals.
Eating safely from the Dumpsters involves three principles: to
using the senses and common sense to evaluate the condition of
the found materials, knowing the Dumpsters of a given area and
checking them regularly, and seeking always to answer the question "Why was this discarded?"
Perhaps everyone who has a kitchen and a regular supply of
groceries has, at one time or another, made a sandwich and eaten
ON DUMPSTER DIVING
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109
half of it before discovering mold on the bread or got a mouthful
of milk before realizing the milk had turned. Nothing of the sort
is likely to happen to a Dumpster diver because he is constantly
reminded that most food is discarded for a reason. Yet a lot of
perfectly good food can be found in Dumpsters.
Canned goods, for example, turn up fairly often in the Dumpsters I frequent. All except the most phobic people would be willing to eat from a can even if it came from a Dumpster. Canned
goods are among the safest of foods to be found in Dumpsters,
but are not utterly foolproof.
Although very rare with modern canning methods, botulism is
a possibility. Most other forms of food poisoning seldom do lasting harm to a healthy person. But botulism is almost certainly
fatal and often the first symptom is death. Except for carbonated
beverages, all canned goods should contain a slight vacuum and
suck air when first punctured. Bulging, rusty, dented cans and
cans that spew when punctured should be avoided, especially
when the contents are not very acidic or syrupy.
Heat can break down the botulin, but this requires much more
cooking than most people do to canned goods. To the extent that
botulism occurs at all, of course, it can occur in cans on pantry
shelves as well as in cans from Dumpsters. Need I say that homecanned goods found in Dumpsters are simply too risky to be
recommended.
From time to time one of my companions, aware of the source
of my provision's, will ask, "Do you think these crackers are really
safe to eat?" For some reason it is most often the crackers they
ask about.
This question always makes me angry. Of course I would not
offer my companion anything I had doubts about. But more than
that I wonder why he cannot evaluate the condition of the crackers for himself. I have no special knowledge and I have been
wrong before. Since he knows where the food comes from, it
seems to me he ought to assume some of the responsibility for
deciding what he will put in his mouth.
For myself I have few qualms about dry foods such as crackers,
cookies, cereal, chips, and pasta if they are free of visible contaminates and still dry and crisp. Most often such things are found in
the original packaging, which is not so much a positive sign as it
is the absence of a negative one.
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110 LARS EIGHNER
Raw fruits and vegetables with intact skins seem perfectly safe
to me, excluding of course the obviously rotten. Many are discarded for minor imperfections which can be pared away. Leafy
vegetables, grapes, cauliflower, broccoli, and similar things may
be contaminated by liquids and may be impractical to wash.
Candy, especially hard candy, is usually safe if it has not drawn
ants. Chocolate is often discarded only because it has become discolored as the cocoa butter de-emulsified. Candying after all is
one method of food preservation because pathogens do not like
very sugary substances.
All of these foods might be found in any Dumpster and can be 20
evaluated with some confidence largely on the basis of appearance. Beyond these are foods which cannot be correctly evaluated
without additional information.
I began scavenging by pulling pizzas out of the Dumpster
behind a pizza delivery shop. In general prepared food requires
caution, but in this case I knew when the shop closed and went to
the Dumpster as soon as the last of the help left.
Such shops often get prank orders, called "bogus." Because
help seldom stays long at these places pizzas are often made with
the wrong topping, refused on delivery for being cold, or baked
incorrectly. The products to be discarded are boxed up because
inventory is kept by counting boxes: A boxed pizza can be written
off; an unboxed pizza does not exist.
I never placed a bogus order to increase the supply of pizzas
and I believe no one else was scavenging in this Dumpster. But
the people in the shop became suspicious and began to retain
their garbage in the shop overnight.
While it lasted I had a steady supply of fresh, sometimes warm
pizza. Because I knew the Dumpster I knew the source of the
pizza, and because I visited the Dumpster regularly I knew what
was fresh and what was yesterday's.
The area I frequent is inhabited by many affluent college stu- 25
dents. I am not here by chance; the Dumpsters in this area are
very rich. Students throw out many good things, including food.
In particular they tend to throw everything out when they move
at the end of a semester, before and after breaks, and around
midterm when many of them despair of college. So I find it
advantageous to keep an eye on the academic calendar.
The students throw food away around the breaks because they
ON DUMPSTER DIVING 111
do not know whether it has spoiled or will spoil before they
return. A typical discard is a half jar of peanut butter. In fact
nonorganic peanut butter does not require refrigeration and is
unlikely to spoil in any reasonable time. The student does not
know that, and since it is Daddy's money, the student decides not
to take a chance.
Opened containers require caution and some attention to the
question "Why was this discarded?" But in the case of discards
from student apartments, the answer may be that the item was
discarded through carelessness, ignorance, or wastefulness. This
can sometimes be deduced when the item is found with many
others, including some that are obviously perfectly good.
Some students, and others, approach defrosting a freezer by
chucking out the whole lot. Not only do the circumstances of
such a find tell the story, but also the mass of frozen goods stays
cold for a long time and items may be found still frozen or freshly
thawed.
Yogurt, cheese, and sour cream are items that are often thrown
out while they are still good. Occasionally I find a cheese with a
spot of mold, which of course I just pare off, and because it is
obvious why such a cheese was discarded, I treat it with less suspicion than an apparently perfect cheese found in similar circumstances. Yogurt is often discarded, still sealed, only because the
expiration date on the carton had passed. This is one of my
favorite finds because yogurt will keep for several days, even in
warm weather.
Students throw out canned goods and staples at the end of
semesters and when they give up college at midterm. Drugs,
pornography, spirits, and the like are often discarded when parents are expected —Dad's day, for example. And spirits also turn
up after big party weekends, presumably discarded by the newly
reformed. Wine and spirits, of course, keep perfectly well even
once opened.
My test for carbonated soft drinks is whether they still fizz vigorously. Many juices or other beverages are too acid or too syrupy
to cause much concern provided they are not visibly contaminated. Liquids, however, require some care.
One hot day I found a large jug of Pat O'Brien's Hurricane mix.
The jug had been opened, but it was still ice cold. I drank three
large glasses before it became apparent to me that someone had
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LARS EIGHNER
added the rum to the mix, and not a little rum. I never tasted the
rum and by the time I began to feel the effects I had already
ingested a very large quantity of the beverage. Some divers would
have considered this a boon, but being suddenly and thoroughly
intoxicated in a public place in the early afternoon is not my idea
of a good time.
I have heard of people maliciously contaminating discarded
food and even handouts, but mostly I have heard of this from
people with vivid imaginations who have had no experience with
the Dumpsters themselves. Just before the pizza shop stopped
discarding its garbage at night, jalapenos began showing up on
most of the discarded pizzas. If indeed this was meant to discourage me it was a wasted effort because I am native Texan.
For myself, I avoid game, poultry, pork, and egg-based foods
whether I find them raw or cooked. I seldom have the means to
cook what I find, but when I do I avail myself of plentiful supplies
of beef which is often in very good condition. I suppose fish
becomes disagreeable before it becomes dangerous. The dog is
happy to have any such thing that is past its prime and, in fact,
does not recognize fish as food until it is quite strong.
Home leftovers, as opposed to surpluses from restaurants, are
very often bad. Evidently, especially among students, there is a
common type of personality that carefully wraps up even the
smallest leftover and shoves it into the back of the refrigerator for
six months or so before discarding it. Characteristic of this type
are the reused jars and margarine tubs which house the remains.
I avoid ethnic foods I am unfamiliar with. If I do not know
what it is supposed to look like when it is good, I cannot be certain I will be able to tell if it is bad.
No matter how careful I am I still get dysentery at least once a
month, oftener in warm weather. I do not want to paint too
romantic a picture. Dumpster diving has serious drawbacks as a
way of life.
I learned to scavenge gradually, on my own. Since then I have
initiated several companions into the trade. I have learned that
there is a predictable series of stages a person goes through in
learning to scavenge.
At first the new scavenger is filled with disgust and selfloathing. He is ashamed of being seen and may lurk around, trying to duck behind things, or he may try to dive at night.
ON DUMPSTER DIVING 113
35
(In fact, most people instinctively look away from a scavenger. 40
By skulking around, the novice calls attention to himself and
arouses suspicion. Diving at night is ineffective and needlessly
messy.)
Every grain of rice seems to be a maggot. Everything seems to
stink. He can wipe the egg yolk off the found can, but he cannot
erase the stigma of eating garbage out of his mind.
That stage passes with experience. The scavenger finds a pair
of running shoes that fit and look and smell brand new. He finds a
pocket calculator in perfect working order. He finds pristine ice
cream, still frozen, more than he can eat or keep. He begins to
understand: People do throw away perfectly good stuff, a lot of
perfectly good stuff.
At this stage, Dumpster shyness begins to dissipate. The diver,
after all, has the last laugh. He is finding all manner of good
things which are his for the taking. Those who disparage his profession are the fools, not he.
He may begin to hang onto some perfectly good things for
which he has neither a use nor a market. Then he begins to take
note of the things which are not perfectly good but are nearly so.
He mates a Walkman with broken earphones and one that is
missing a battery cover. He picks up things which he can repair.
At this stage he may become lost and never recover. Dumpsters 45
are full of things of some potential value to someone and also of
things which never have much intrinsic value but are interesting.
All the Dumpster divers I have known come to the point of trying
to acquire everything they touch. Why not take it, they reason,
since it is all free.
This is, of course, hopeless. Most divers come to realize that
they must restrict themselves to items of relatively immediate
utility. But in some cases the diver simply cannot control himself.
I have met several of these pack-rat types. Their ideas of the values of various pieces of junk verge on the psychotic. Every bit of
glass may be a diamond, they think, and all that glistens, gold.
I tend to gain weight when I am scavenging. Partly this is because I always find far more pizza and doughnuts than waterpacked tuna, nonfat yogurt, and fresh vegetables. Also I have not
developed much faith in the reliability of Dumpsters as a food
source, although it has been proven to me many times. I tend to
eat as if I have no idea where my next meal is coming from. But
mostly I just hate to see food go to waste and so I eat much more
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LARS EIGHNER
ON DUMPSTER DIVING
than I should. Something like this drives the obsession to collect junk.
As for collecting objects, I usually restrict myself to collecting
one kind of small object at a time, such as pocket calculators,
sunglasses, or campaign buttons. To live on the street I must
anticipate my needs to a certain extent: I must pick up and save
warm bedding I find in August because it will not be found in
Dumpsters in November. But even if I had a home with extensive
storage space I could not save everything that might be valuable
in some contingency.
I have proprietary feelings about my Dumpsters. As I have suggested, it is no accident that I scavenge from Dumpsters where
good finds are common. But my limited experience with Dumpsters in other areas suggests to me that it is the population of
competitors rather than the affluence of the dumpers that most
affects the feasibility of survival by scavenging. The large number
of competitors is what puts me off the idea of trying to scavenge
in places like Los Angeles.
Curiously, I do not mind my direct competition, other scavengers, so much as I hate the can scroungers.
People scrounge cans because they have to have a little cash. I
have tried scrounging cans with an able-bodied companion.
Afoot a can scrounger simply cannot make more than a few dollars a day. One can extract the necessities of life from the Dumpsters directly with far less effort than would be required to
accumulate the equivalent value in cans.
Can scroungers, then, are people who must have small amounts
of cash. These are drug addicts and winos, mostly the latter because the amounts of cash are so small.
Spirits and drugs do, like all other commodities, turn up in
Dumpsters and the scavenger will from time to time have a half
bottle of a rather good wine with his dinner. But the wino cannot
survive on these occasional finds; he must have his daily dose to
stave off the DTs. All the cans he can carry will buy about three
bottles of Wild Irish Rose.
I do not begrudge them the cans, but can scroungers tend to
tear up the Dumpsters, mixing the contents and littering the area.
They become so specialized that they can see only cans. They
earn my contempt by passing up change, canned goods, and readily hockable items.
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There are precious few courtesies among scavengers. But it is a
common practice to set aside surplus items: pairs of shoes, clothing, canned goods, and such. A true scavenger hates to see good
stuff go to waste and what he cannot use he leaves in good condition in plain sight.
Can scroungers lay waste to everything in their path and will
stir one of a pair of good shoes to the bottom of a Dumpster, to be
lost or ruined in the muck. Can scroungers will even go through
individual garbage cans, something I have never seen a scavenger do.
Individual garbage cans are set out on the public easement
only on garbage days. On other days going through them requires
trespassing close to a dwelling. Going through individual garbage
cans without scattering litter is almost impossible. Litter is likely
to reduce the public's tolerance of scavenging. Individual garbage
cans are simply not as productive as Dumpsters; people in houses
and duplexes do not move as often and for some reason do not
tend to discard as much useful material. Moreover, the time
required to go through one garbage can that serves one household is not much less than the time required to go through a
Dumpster that contains the refuse of twenty apartments.
But my strongest reservation about going through individual
garbage cans is that this seems to me a very personal kind of invasion to which I would object if I were a householder. Although
many things in Dumpsters are obviously meant never to come to
light, a Dumpster is somehow less personal.
I avoid trying to draw conclusions about the people who dump
in the Dumpsters I frequent. I think it would be unethical to do
so, although I know many people will find the idea of scavenger
ethics too funny for words.
Dumpsters contain bank statements, bills, correspondence,
and other documents, just as anyone might expect. But there
are also less obvious sources of information. Pill bottles, for example. The labels on pill bottles contain the name of the patient,
the name of the doctor, and the name of the drug. AIDS drugs
and antipsychotic medicines, to name but two groups, are specific and are seldom prescribed for any other disorders. The plastic compacts for birth control pills usually have complete label
information.
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LARS EIGHNER
Despite all of this sensitive information, I have had only one
apartment resident object to my going through the Dumpster. In
that case it turned out the resident was a university athlete who
was taking bets and who was afraid I would turn up his wager
slips.
Occasionally a find tells a story. I once found a small paper bag
containing some unused condoms, several partial tubes of flavored sexual lubricant, a partially used compact of birth control
pills, and the torn pieces of a picture of a young man. Clearly she
was through with him and planning to give up sex altogether.
Dumpster things are often sad — abandoned teddy bears,
shredded wedding books, despaired-of sales kits. I find many pets
lying in state in Dumpsters. Although I hope to get off the streets
so that Lizbeth can have a long and comfortable old age, I know
this hope is not very realistic. So I suppose when her time comes
she too will go into a Dumpster. I will have no better place for her.
And after all, for most of her life her livelihood has come from the
Dumpster. When she finds something I think is safe that has been
spilled from the Dumpster I let her have it. She already knows the
route around the best Dumpsters. I like to think that if she survives me she will have a chance of evading the dog catcher and of
finding her sustenance on the route.
Silly vanities also come to rest in the Dumpsters. I am a rather
accomplished needleworker. I get a lot of materials from the
Dumpsters. Evidently sorority girls, hoping to impress someone,
perhaps themselves, with their mastery of a womanly art, buy a
lot of embroider-by-number kits, work a few stitches horribly,
and eventually discard the whole mess. I pull out their stitches,
turn the canvas over, and work an original design. Do not think I
refrain from chuckling as I make original gifts from these kits.
I find diaries and journals. I have often thought of compiling a 65
book of literary found objects. And perhaps I will one day. But
what I find is hopelessly commonplace and bad without being,
even unconsciously, camp. College students also discard their papers. I am horrified to discover the kind of paper which now merits an A in an undergraduate course. I am grateful, however, for
the number of good books and magazines the students throw out.
In the area I know best I have never discovered vermin in the
Dumpsters, but there are two kinds of kitty surprise. One is alley
cats which I meet as they leap, claws first, out of Dumpsters. This
ON DUMPSTER DIVING
117
is especially thrilling when I have Lizbeth in tow. The other kind
of kitty surprise is a plastic garbage bag filled with some ponderous, amorphous mass. This always proves to be used cat litter.
City bees harvest doughnut glaze and this makes the Dumpster
at the doughnut shop more interesting. My faith in the instinctive
wisdom of animals is always shaken whenever I see Lizbeth attempt to catch a bee in her mouth, which she does whenever
bees are present. Evidently some birds find Dumpsters profitable,
for birdie surprise is almost as common as kitty surprise of the
first kind. In hunting season all kinds of small game turn up in
Dumpsters, some of it, sadly, not entirely dead. Curiously, summer and winter, maggots are uncommon.
The worst of the living and near-living hazards of the Dumpsters are the fire ants. The food that they claim is not much of a
loss, but they are vicious and aggressive. It is very easy to brush
against some surface of the Dumpster and pick up half a dozen or
more fire ants, usually in some sensitive area such as the underarm. One advantage of bringing Lizbeth along as I make Dumpster rounds is that, for obvious reasons, she is very alert to
ground-based fire ants. When Lizbeth recognizes the signs of fire
ant infestation around our feet she does the Dance of the Zillion
Fire Ants. I have learned not to ignore this warning from Lizbeth,
whether I perceive the tiny ants or not, but to remove ourselves at
Lizbeth's first pas de bourree.' All the more so because the ants
are the worst in the months I wear flip-flops, if I have them.
(Perhaps someone will misunderstand the above. Lizbeth does
the Dance of the Zillion Fire Ants when she recognizes more fire
ants than she cares to eat, not when she is being bitten. Since I
have learned to react promptly, she does not get bitten at all. It is
the isolated patrol of fire ants that falls in Lizbeth's range that
deserves pity. Lizbeth finds them quite tasty.)
By far the best way to go through a Dumpster is to lower yourself into it. Most of the good stuff tends to settle at the bottom
because it is usually weightier than the rubbish. My more athletic
companions have often demonstrated to me that they can extract
much good material from a Dumpster I have already been over.
To those psychologically or physically unprepared to enter a
Dumpster, I recommend a stout stick, preferably with some barb
1. pas de bourree: A ballet step (French).
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LARS EIGHNER
or hook at one end. The hook can be used to grab plastic garbage
bags. When I find canned goods or other objects loose at the bottom of a Dumpster I usually can roll them into a small bag that I
can then hoist up. Much Dumpster diving is a matter of experience for which nothing will do except practice.
Dumpster diving is outdoor work, often surprisingly pleasant.
It is not entirely predictable; things of interest turn up every day
and some days there are finds of great value. I am always very
pleased when I can turn up exactly the thing I most wanted to
find. Yet in spite of the element of change, scavenging more than
most other pursuits tends to yield returns in some proportion to
the effort and intelligence brought to bear. It is very sweet to turn
up a few dollars in change from a Dumpster that has just been
gone over by a wino.
The land is now covered with cities. The cities are full of Dumpsters. I think of scavenging as a modern form of self-reliance. In
any event, after ten years of government service, where everything is geared to the lowest common denominator, I find work
that rewards initiative and effort refreshing. Certainly I would be
happy to have a sinecure again, but I am not heartbroken not to
have one anymore.
I find from the experience of scavenging two rather deep lessons. The first is to take what I can use and let the rest go by. I
have come to think that there is no value in the abstract. A thing I
cannot use or make useful, perhaps by trading, has no value however fine or rare it may be. I mean useful in a broad sense — so,
for example, some art I would think useful and valuable, but
other art might be otherwise for me.
I was shocked to realize that some things are not worth acquir- 75
ing, but now I think it is so. Some material things are white elephants that eat up the possessor's substance.
The second lesson is of the transience of material being. This
has not quite converted me to a dualist, but it has made some
headway in that direction. I do not suppose that ideas are immortal, but certainly mental things are longer-lived than other material things.
Once I was the sort of person who invests material objects with
sentimental value. Now I no longer have those things, but I have
the sentiments yet.
ON DUMPSTER DIVING
119
Many times in my travels I have lost everything but the clothes
I was wearing and Lizbeth. The things I find in Dumpsters, the
love letters and ragdolls of so many lives, remind me of this lesson. Now I hardly pick up a thing without envisioning the time I
will cast it away. This I think is a healthy state of mind. Almost
everything I have now has already been cast out at least once,
proving that what I own is valueless to someone.
Anyway, I find my desire to grab for the gaudy bauble has been
largely sated. I think this is an attitude I share with the very
wealthy—we both know there is plenty more where what we
have came from. Between us are the rat-race millions who have
confounded their selves with the objects they grasp and who
nightly scavenge the cable channels looking for they know not
what.
I am sorry for them.
For Discussion and Writing
1. Eighner is careful to offer definitions of the key terms he uses. List
those key terms and their definitions.
2. Summarize Eighner's analysis of the practical stages through which a
beginning Dumpster diver goes. What does his analysis tell us about
the larger experience of having to scavenge for food? What does his
writing style tell you about his views on his way of life?
3. Compare the "deep lessons" (pan 74) Eighner finds in scavenging to
those found in living in the woods by Henry David Thoreau, as
explained in "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For" (p. 416). How do
their views of what Eighner calls "the rat-race millions" (par. 79) differ, and how could that difference be explained by the course each
took to the way of life each describes?
4. How does reading Eighner make you feel about your own material
values? How do you relate to Dumpster diving and to what he calls the
"grab for the gaudy bauble" (par. 79)?
The Morals of the Prince
by Niccolo Machiavelli
The first great political philosopher of
the Renaissance, Niccolo Machiavelli was
born in 1469 in Florence, Italy. He was a
politician whose fortunes mirrored those
of the republic that was founded in the
absence of the ruling Medicis and ended
upon their return to power in Florence.
The Prince, written in 1513 but not
published until 1531, is the work that
earned Machiavelli his lasting reputation
and is a seminal text of political
philosophy still widely regarded—and
read—today. It is a study of leadership and
an argument that leaders must do anything
necessary to hold on to power.
It is this message that turned
Machiavelli's name into an adjective. As
you read the following excerpt from The
Prince, observe the different qualities of
Machiavelli's ideal prince and compare it
to those qualities we refer to when we call
something or someone "Machiavellian."
ON THE REASONS WHY MEN ARE
PRAISED OR BLAMED
—ESPECIALLY PRINCES
It remains now to be seen what style
and principles a prince ought to adopt in
dealing with his subjects and friends. I
know the subject has been treated
frequently before, and I'm afraid people
will think me rash for trying to do so
again, especially since I intend to differ in
this discussion from what others have said.
But since I intend to write something
useful to an understanding reader, it
seemed better to go after the real truth of
the matter than to repeat what people have
imagined. A great many men have
imagined states and princedoms such as
nobody ever saw or knew in the real
world, for there's such a difference
between the way we really live and the
way we ought to live that the man who
neglects the real to study the ideal will
learn how to accomplish his ruin, not his
salvation. Any man who tries to be good
all the time is bound to come to ruin
among the great number who are not good.
Hence a prince who wants to keep his post
must learn how not to be good, and use
that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as
necessity requires.
Putting aside, then, all the imaginary
things that are said about princes, and
getting down to the truth, let me say that
whenever men are discussed (and
especially princes because they are
prominent), there are certain qualities that
bring them either praise or blame. Thus
some are considered generous, others
stingy (I use a Tuscan term, since "greedy"
in our speech means a man who wants to
take other peoples goods. We call a man
"stingy" who clings to his own); some are
givers, others grabbers; some cruel, others
merciful; one man is treacherous, another
faithful; one is feeble and effeminate,
another fierce and spirited; one humane,
another proud; one lustful, another chaste;
one straightforward, another sly; one
harsh, another gentle; one serious, another
playful; one religious, another skeptical,
and so on. I know everyone will agree that
among these many qualities a prince
certainly ought to have all those that are
considered good. But since it is impossible
to have and exercise them all, because the
conditions of human life simply do not
allow it, a prince must be shrewd enough
to avoid the public disgrace of those vices
that would lose him his state. If he
possibly can, he should also guard against
vices that will not lose him his state; but if
he cannot prevent them, he should not be
too worried about indulging them. And
furthermore, he should not be too worried
about incurring blame for any vice without
which he would find it hard to save his
state. For if you look at matters carefully,
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you will see that something resembling
virtue, if you follow it, may be your ruin,
while something else resembling vice will
lead, if you follow it, to your security and
well-being.
ON LIBERALITY AND STINGINESS
Let me begin, then, with the first of
the qualities mentioned above, by saying
that a reputation for liberality is doubtless
very fine; but the generosity that earns you
that reputation can do you great harm. For
if you exercise your generosity in a really
virtuous way, as you should, nobody will
know of it, and you cannot escape the
odium of the opposite vice. Hence if you
wish to be widely known as a generous
man, you must seize every opportunity to
make a big display of your giving. A
prince of this character is bound to use up
his entire revenue in works of ostentation.
Thus, in the end, if he wants to keep a
name for generosity, he will have to load
his people with exorbitant taxes and
squeeze money out of them in every way
he can. This is the first step in making him
odious to his subjects; for when he is poor,
nobody will respect him. Then, when his
generosity has angered many and brought
rewards to a few, the slightest difficulty
will trouble him, and at the first approach
of danger, down he goes. If by chance he
foresees this, and tries to change his ways,
he will immediately be labeled a miser.
Since a prince cannot use this virtue of
liberality in such a way as to become
known for it unless he harms his own
security, he won't mind if he judges
prudently of things, being known as a
miser. In due course he will be thought the
more liberal man, when people see that his
parsimony enables him to live on his
income, to defend himself against his
enemies, and to undertake major projects
without burdening his people with taxes.
Thus he will be acting liberally toward all
those people from whom he takes nothing
(and there are an immense number of
them), and in a stingy way toward those
people on whom he bestows nothing (and
they are very few). In our times, we have
seen great things being accomplished only
by men who have had the name of misers;
all the others have gone under. Pope Julius
II, though he used his reputation as a
generous man to gain the papacy,
sacrificed in order to be able to make war;
the present king of France has waged many
wars without levying a single extra tax on
his people simply because he could take
care of the extra expenses out of the
savings from his long parsimony. If the
present king of Spain had a reputation for
generosity, he would never have been able
to undertake so many campaigns, or win so
many of them.
Hence a prince who prefers not to rob
his subjects, who wants to be able to
defend himself, who wants to avoid
poverty and contempt, and who doesn't
want to become a plunderer, should not
mind in the least if people consider him a
miser; this is simply one of the vices that
enable him to reign. Someone may object
that Caesar used a reputation for
generosity to become emperor, and many
other people have also risen in the world,
because they were generous or were
supposed to be so. Well, I answer, either
you are a prince already, or you are in the
process of becomingone; in the first case,
this reputation for generosity is harmful to
you, in the second case it is very
necessary. Caesar was one of those who
wanted to become ruler in Rome; but after
he had reached his goal, if he had lived,
and had not cut down on his expenses, he
would have ruined the empire itself.
Someone may say: there have been plenty
of princes, very successful in warfare, who
have had a reputation for generosity. But I
answer; either the prince is spending his
own money and that of his subjects, or he
is spending someone else's. In the first
case, he ought to be sparing; in the second
case, he ought to spend money like water.
Any prince at the head of his army, which
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lives on loot, extortion, and plunder,
disposes of other peoples property, and is
bound to be very generous; otherwise, his
soldiers would desert him. You can always
be a more generous giver when what you
give is not yours or your subjects'; Cyrus,
Caesar, and Alexander were generous in
this way. Spending what belongs to other
people does no harm to your reputation,
rather it enhances it; only spending your
own substance harms you. And there is
nothing that wears out faster than
generosity; even as you practice it, you
lose the means of practicing it, and you
become either poor and contemptible or (in
the course of escaping poverty) rapacious
and hateful. The thing above all against
which a prince must protect himself is
being contemptible and hateful; generosity
leads to both. Thus, it's much wiser to put
up with the reputation of being a miser,
which brings you shame without hate, than
to be forced—just because you want to
appear generous—into a reputation for
rapacity, which brings shame on you and
hate along with it.
ON CRUELTY AND CLEMENCY:
WHETHER IT IS BETTER TO BE
LOVED OR FEARED
Continuing now with our list of qualities,
let me say that every prince should prefer
to be considered merciful rather than cruel,
yet he should be careful not to mismanage
this clemency of his. People thought
Cesare Borgia was cruel, but that cruelty
of his reorganized the Romagna, united it,
and established it in peace and loyalty.
Anyone who views the matter realistically
will see that this prince was much more
merciful than the people of Florence who,
to avoid the reputation of cruelty, allowed
Pistoia to be destroyed. Thus, no prince
should mind being called cruel for what he
does to keep his subjects united and loyal;
he may make examples of a very few, but
he will be more merciful in reality than
those who, in their tenderheartedness,
allow disorders to occur, with their
attendant murders and lootings. Such
turbulence brings harm to an entire
community, while the executions ordered
by a prince affect only one individual at a
time. A new prince, above all others,
cannot possibly avoid a name for cruelty,
since new states are always in danger. And
Virgil, speaking through the mouth of
Dido says:
My cruel fate
And doubts attending an unsettled
state
Force me to guard my coast from
foreign foes.
Yet a prince should be slow to believe
rumors and to commit himself to action on
the basis of them. He should not be afraid
of his own thoughts; he ought to proceed
cautiously, moderating his conduct with
prudence and humanity, allowing neither
over-confidence to make him careless, nor
overtimidity to make him intolerable.
Here the question arises: is it better to
be loved than feared, or vice versa? I don't
doubt that every prince would like to be
both; but since it is hard to accommodate
these qualities, if you have to make a
choice, to be feared is much safer than to
be loved. For it is a good general rule
about men, that they are ungrateful, fickle,
liars and deceivers, fearful of danger and
greedy for gain. While you serve their
welfare, they are all yours, offering their
blood, their belongings, their lives, and
their children's lives, as we noted
above—so long as the danger is remote.
But when the danger is close at hand, they
turn against you. Then, any prince who has
relied on their words and has made no
other preparations will come to grief;
because friendships that are bought at a
price, and not with greatness and nobility
of soul, may be paid for but they are not
acquired, and they cannot be used in time
of need. People are less concerned with
offending a man who makes himself loved
Page 3 of 6
than one who makes himself feared; the
reason is that love is a link of obligation
which men, because they are rotten, will
break any they think doing so serves their
advantage; fear involves dread of
punishment, from which they can never
escape.
Still, a prince should make himself
feared in such a way that, even if he gets
no love, he gets no hate either; because it
is perfectly possible to be feared and not
hated, and this will be the result if only the
prince will keep his hands off the property
of his subjects or citizens, and off their
women. When he does have to shed blood,
he should be sure to have a strong
justification and manifest cause; but above
all, he should not confiscate people's
property, because men are quicker to
forget the death of a father than the loss of
a patrimony. Besides, pretexts for
confiscation are always plentiful, it never
fails that a prince who starts living by
plunder can find reasons to rob someone
else. Excuses for proceeding against
someone's life are much rarer and more
quickly exhausted.
But a prince at the head of his armies
and commanding a multitude of soldiers
should not care a bit if he is considered
cruel; without such a reputation, he could
never hold his army together and ready for
action. Among the marvelous deeds of
Hannibal, this was prime: that, having an
immense army, which included men of
many different races and nations, and
which he led to battle in distant countries,
he never allowed them to fight among
themselves or to rise against him, whether
his fortune was good or bad. The reason
for this could only be his inhuman cruelty,
which, along with his countless other
talents, made him an object of awe and
terror to his soldiers; and without the
cruelty, his other qualities would never
have sufficed. The historians who pass
snap judgments on these matters admire
his accomplishments and at the same time
condemn the cruelty which was their main
cause.
When I say, "His other qualities would
never have sufficed," we can see that this
is true from the example of Scipio, an
outstanding man not only among those of
his own time, but in all recorded history;
yet his armies revolted in Spain, for no
other reason than his excessive leniency in
allowing his soldiers more freedom than
military discipline permits. Fabius
Maximus rebuked him in the senate for
this failing, calling him the corrupter of the
Roman armies. When a lieutenant of
Scipio s plundered the Locrians, he took
no action in behalf of the people, and did
nothing to discipline that insolent
lieutenant; again, this was the result of
hiseasygoing nature. Indeed, when
someone in the senate wanted to excuse
him on this occasion, he said there are
many men who knew better how to avoid
error themselves than how to correct error
in others. Such a soft temper would in time
have tarnished the fame and glory of
Scipio, had he brought it to the office of
emperor; but as he lived under the control
of the senate, this harmful quality of his
not only remained hidden but was
considered creditable.
Returning to the question of being
feared or loved, I conclude that since men
love at their own inclination but can be
made to fear at the inclination of the
prince, a shrewd prince will lay his
foundations on what is under his own
control, not on what is controlled by
others. He should simply take pains not to
be hated, as I said.
How praiseworthy it is for a prince to
keep his word and live with integrity rather
than by craftiness, everyone understands;
yet we see from recent experience that
those princes have accomplished most who
paid little heed to keeping their promises,
but who knew how craftily to manipulate
the minds of men. In the end, they won out
over those who tried to act honestly.
You should consider then, that there
are two ways of fighting, one with laws
Page 4 of 6
and the other with force. The first is
properly a human method, the second
belongs to beasts. But as the first method
does not always suffice, you sometimes
have to turn to the second. Thus a prince
must know how to make good use of both
the beast and the man. Ancient writers
made subtle note of this fact when they
wrote that Achilles and many other princes
of antiquity were sent to be reared by
Chiron the centaur, who trained them in
his discipline. Having a teacher who is half
man and half beast can only mean that a
prince must know how to use both these
two natures, and that one without the other
has no lasting effect.
Since a prince must know how to use
the character of beasts, he should pick for
imitation the fox and the lion. As the lion
cannot protect himself from traps, and the
fox cannot defend himself from wolves,
you have to be a fox in order to be wary of
traps, and a lion to overawe the wolves.
Those who try to live by the lion alone are
badly mistaken. Thus a prudent prince
cannot and should not keep his word when
to do so would go against his interest, or
when the reasons that made him pledge it
no longer apply. Doubtless if all men were
good, this rule would be bad; but since
they are a sad lot, and keep no faith with
you, you in your turn are under no
obligation to keep it with them.
Besides, a prince will never lack for
legitimate excuses to explain away his
breaches of faith. Modern history will
furnish innumerable examples of this
behavior, showing how many treaties and
promises have been made null and void by
the faithlessness of princes, and how the
man succeeded best who knew best how to
play the fox. But it is a necessary part of
this nature that you must conceal it
carefully; you must be a great liar and
hypocrite. Men are so simple of mind and
so much dominated by their immediate
needs, that a deceitful man will always
find plenty who are ready to be deceived.
One of many recent examples calls for
mention. Alexander VI never did anything
else, never had another thought, except to
deceive men, and he always found fresh
material to work on. Never was there a
man more convincing in his assertions,
who sealed his promises with more solemn
oaths, and who observed them less. Yet his
deceptions were always successful,
because he knew exactly how to manage
this sort of business.
In actual fact, a prince may not have
all the admirable qualities we listed, but it
is very necessary that he should seem to
have them. Indeed, I will venture to say
that when you have them and exercise
them all the time, they are harmful to you;
when you just seem to have them, they are
useful. It is good to appear merciful,
truthful, humane, sincere, and religious; it
is good to be so in reality. But you must
keep your mind so disposed that, in case of
need, you can turn to the exact contrary.
This has to be understood: a prince, and
especially a new prince, cannot possibly
exercise all those virtues for which men
are called "good." To preserve the state, he
often has to do things against his word,
against charity, against humanity, against
religion. Thus he has to have a mind ready
to shift as the winds of fortune and the
varying circumstances of life may dictate.
And as I said above, he should not depart
from the good if he can hold to it, but he
should be ready to enter on evil if he has
to.
Hence a prince should take great care
never to drop a word that does not seem
imbued with the five good qualities noted
above; to anyone who sees or hears him,
he should appear all compassion, all honor,
all humanity all integrity, all religion.
Nothing is more necessary than to seem to
have this last virtue. Men in general judge
more by the sense of sight than by the
sense of touch, because everyone can see
but only a few can test by feeling.
Everyone sees what you seem to be, few
know what you really are; and those few
do not dare take a stand against the general
Page 5 of 6
opinion, supported by the majesty of the
government. In the actions of all men, and
especially of princes who are not subject to
a court of appeal, we must always look to
the end. Let a prince, therefore, win
victories and uphold his state; his methods
will always be considered worthy, and
everyone will praise them, because the
masses are always impressed by the
superficial appearance of things, and by
the outcome of an enterprise. And the
world consists of nothing but the masses;
the few who have no influence when the
many feel secure. A certain prince of our
own time, whom it's just as well not to
name, preaches nothing but peace and
mutual trust, yet he is the determined
enemy of both; and if on several different
occasions he had observed either, he
would have lost both his reputation and his
throne.
For Discussion and Writing
1. Draw a line down the middle of a sheet of paper and make two lists: things for which princes are
praised on the left and things for which they are blamed on the right. Try to match up those qualities
that are in opposition to each other.
2. "You must be a great liar and hypocrite," Machiavelli advises (par. 15); how, here as elsewhere,
does Machiavelli argue against traditional moral values? How does he show that the commonly
assumed effects of "doing the right thing" are not the results toward which the prince
must work?
3. Machiavelli writes, "Men are so simple of mind and so much dominated by their immediate
needs, that a deceitful man will always find plenty who are ready to be deceived" (par. 15). Compare
his view of human nature to that implied by Thomas Jefferson in the final version of the Declaration
of Independence. How does each writer’s view correspond to his view of the relationship between
leaders and the people.
4. Think about a time in your life when you might have done something that could be called
“Machaivellian.” Describe the incident. How do you feel about it now?
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