TOW #24- IRB second half- The Final TOW

       One man's trash is another man's treasure-- but why is that?  What makes that treasure so valuable to one person, but not the other?  According to Jonathan Franzen, the factor of value is time.  In his essay "Scavenging," Franzen uses a number of personal anecdotes and a contrast between old and modern to explore the interest of thrift, and validate his own reasons for holding on to obsolete things.
     To introduce the idea, Franzen recalls a visit he payed to the Mercer Museum, where he runs into an old rotary telephone labeled "Obsolete Telephone."  Through this memory, he is able to transition to his own thoughts and feelings on the subject of outdated items.  When Franzen realized that the exact phone "still served proudly in [his] living room," he felt insulted by the artifact's title.   However, at the end of the essay, when he evaluates his reasons for still owning this phone, he comes to the conclusion that it is because the item has value to him.  By stating his initial feelings about the situation through an anecdote,  Franzen is not only able to reflect, but he is able to gain authority through a sort of counter to his final thoughts.
     In addition to his use of anecdotes, Franzen maintains a strong contrast between old and new.  As the focus of his piece, 'the outdated' is viewed from the thrift-loving eyes of Franzen, ultimately supporting the ownership of old belongings.  Upon his discovery of his telephone in the Mercer Museum, Franzen defends that he had "used the telephone to order computer peripherals" not long ago.  Almost ironically,  Franzen contrasts the supposedly claimed "obsolete" telephone with his modern-like actions.  By juxtaposing the past and the present, he is able to make his argument clear to the reader; the internal argument that is going on within him at that very moment in the museum.
     Besides the financial benefits of holding onto old fashioned objects, the only other explanations are dependent on the beholder.  In his essay "Scavenging," Jonathan Franzen includes personal anecdotes and a contrast between past and modern things in order to explore his own motives for never letting go of dated objects.  In the end, a 'thing' will always just be a 'thing', however, the past will never stop turning into the present.