Commentary On The Poem 'The Missing Person' By Donald Justice

Donald Justice's poem entitled "The Missing Person" gives the reader an image of a person who does not know who they really are. Many people suffer from this lack of knowledge as to who they are and what significance their presence holds in this busy world. What does one do when all they have is themselves and they don't even know who they are? "The Missing Person" explores this dilemma. The poem speaks from deep down into the depths of a persons mind. It conveys a place that many do not wish to talk about, a place where we hold all of our truths, lies, doubts, fears, and much more. "He has come to report himself(1)` A missing person(2)`. The authorities(3)` Hand him the forms(4)." These first four lines do not actually mean the
When he says that he is emerging "Slowly, as from the dark(26)" he means that he is slowly coming out of a depression and finding himself. The furnished room that is only by darkness(27, 28) and the landlady(30) show three different things. The landlady(30) shows the fact that he is not known by other people(30, 31) and the only reason they know one another is because he gives her his rent. The darkness(28) represents depression and his room(27) represents how he is all alone, depressed, living a life he does not quite understand or know even though it is his life. In the last three lines "And for whom it will be years yet(32)` Before he can trust to the light(33)` This last disguise, himself(34)" The word "light(33)" represents the rest of the world. He is saying that it will be a multiple years(32) before he can really show his true self(34) to the rest of the world. This is a really important part of Justice's poem, because through all of the mans obvious struggles with his identity, he is saying that eventually he will find himself and show his true identity to the rest of the