Raphael's Trash: The Elements Of Culture

There are many ways that Trash can be related to the elements of culture. The three most apparent elements of culture demonstrated in Trash are the social, technological, and economic elements. All three of these elements are represented differently throughout the book as there are multiple viewpoints of characters throughout the story representing the culture and showing insight into different parts of the culture.

To start the most apparent element of culture represented in trash is the social element of society. This element is represented when the speaker tells how the social groups and roles are assigned at the beginning of the book. In the first chapter Raphael states that social groups and friends are established in his dumpsite by who works at the same conveyor as you. This meaning that whoever picks through the garbage beside you begins to form a bond with you and that’s how you establish friendships. He also states that men and children in the dump pick through trash whenever they get old enough to walk and separate goods from “stupp”. This therefore establishes roles in their society.

This element is most evident when the speaker tells about the school that had been erected at the dumpsite. The school was said to be for teaching the kids in the dumpsite as many of them didn’t know how to read or write. The greatest impact though that the school had was that the teacher was known to give some of the hungry children food sometimes as they could not go to school because they had to pick trash and support their family. That is how new technology affected their culture and how people in the community responded to