Visibly Absent

The poem “Paralyzed” is representative of the perception of a man who has become so depressed that he can no longer feel anything physically or emotionally. He is currently experiencing something many depressed people go through which is the in between of despising to continue on earth but still being incredibly anxious over the idea of death. He feels both empty and emotionless and almost as though he is not living his life but just viewing it from the outside looking in. This poem proves when one is considered “lost” the person they once were is replaced by someone who feels nothing but emptiness.

Aware of his past self vanishing, the man in the poem progressively gets worse over time. The person that he has known himself to be his entire life is now missing which he struggles to accept. He recognizes his thoughts are contradicting his typical personality. He states in the poem the lines, “Where’s the person that I know? They must have left” and “Where is the real me I’m lost and it kills me.” These lines display his frustration over not understanding where his inactive self is and wondering what happened to that person and questioning if they will ever be able to come back. Because the man is so frustrated over being lost he can no longer feel any of his emotions.

The male in the poem along with a good percentage of the human population believes he is fully liable for becoming so sad. Often a depressed person may be advised that they will feel better if they exercise more or spend less time in their room. This is clearly not true and is extremely damaging for the person to hear as it ends up making them feel as though they could have somehow prevented everything that they are going through. He expresses in the poem the lines, “I’m in a box, But I’m the one who locked me in” and “Waves come crashing over me but I just watch ‘em I just watch ‘em.” He is trying to explain how he feels he trapped himself into this problem he can't get out of and is just watching the problems come but can't bring himself to do anything about them. He is observing things around him rather than experiencing them and also fully blames himself for entering the depressive state he is now in. The male feels lost and therefore becomes even more emotionless as he blames his depression on himself.