Disorder

Traveling, a poem by Simon J. Ortiz, celebrates the disorder found in an apparently mentally unstable man’s quest for finding various locations either made up, or of some significance to him. We find our man searching through various resources to find various locations, but when “he asks the librarian for a book but it is out and he looks hurt and then he rushes back to the globe”. The disorder is found in that, this poor man has been emotionally, or mentally damaged and the “hurt” that he feels is instantaneous and short lived. It doesn’t really matter to him that he didn’t get what he wanted, and he just continues on as if nothing had upset him. The other thing that caught my eye was in the phrase, “Traveling to known and unknown places”. What exactlly is an unknown place? The disorder is found in the insane man, this insanity is celebrated. It is nothing to hide or be ashamed of, but rather he just continues on his way, searching aimlessly for places, and books, and through globes to keep his mind busy.