Imagine you had the chance to go back in time and change one decision you’ve made. Now imagine you return to the present only to find that everything is different. Instead of the once peaceful present that you were in, you are now in a hostile and apocalyptic world. Every decision you make has an effect that determines the outcome of the present. It’s called the butterfly effect, and the premise is step on a butterfly in the past and risk nuclear warfare in the present. The decision process is very complex; and your brain goes through various processes before determining an outcome. If a person goes through life with the ideal that everything they do can impact them negatively they never going to live life to the fullest.  Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Journey” she uses a combination of both figurative devises and the word “voices” to show that hesitation and doubt hold people back from decisions that could change their life.

Oliver uses the word “voices”, each time signifying a different meaning in the context of the poem. Each voice signifies the hesitation and nervousness a person feels when trying something new. Oliver uses personification when she mentions each “voice” to give the poem an eerie feeling to compliment the fact that new experiences are scary. The types of lines where Oliver begins by describing the setting and having these “voices” follow the reader, this allows a picture of an abandoned house with voices following a person shouting at them. Oliver describes it this way to have the reader picture themselves as that person in the house, to immerse the reader and truly become enthralled in the poem.   

When Oliver first uses the word “voice” in line 3 it is by using the “voices” to personify people shouting bad advice at the reader(Oliver,92). Through the use of personification, a person can hear the “voices” yelling at them. This is the beginning of the nerves a person feels when they are about to experience something new. The next instance that Oliver uses the word voices is in line 8 when she states that the reader feels the voices grab at their ankles (Oliver,92). This type of personification makes the reader feel the voices grab their ankle. This signifies the hesitation when a person feels as they try something new. This instance is a prime example of the inner voices that can talk someone out of a new experience.  For example, if someone was scared of going on a rollercoaster their first thought would be there is no way I’m going on that, that is the voice in s person’s head talking them out of a situation. This voice is responsible for everyone hesitating when attempting something new. 

The next instance that Oliver uses is in line 10 when she says the voices are becoming louder and yelling “Mend my life” but the reader proceeds anyway (Oliver,92). This is what happens when a person don’t listen to their inner voices and they begin the experience. In the previous example this would be when they are getting on the ride and don’t listen to the voice in their head. The voice makes a last ditch effort to try and talk them out of it saying “Get off of this thing!”, but they proceed and the coaster starts. Despite initial setbacks and doubts the experience outweighs the stress, nerves and grief that came before it. When experiencing something new everyone feels scared it’s what makes people human, when people look beyond those doubts and insecurities a whole new world full of endless possibilities opens up.   Oliver’s final use of the negative voices is in line 22, when the voices begin to fade away burning away into nothing (Oliver,92). This signifies that once a person goes through with embracing the new experience those feelings and voices of doubt fade away. This is when a person get off the coaster and realize all the feelings and voices they were hearing were for nothing.

The new voices that Oliver uses is emerges in line 26, when the negative voices disappear and a person finds their own voice (Oliver,92). This signifies the change that takes place when someone is done with the experience and they find that those voices and thoughts were silly to have because it made them stronger and braver. This is the part in the example in which a person would say “That was fun let’s go on another one!”. This proves that the voices are only holding people back from experiencing something new and exciting. 

Imagery is used throughout the poem as well making the reader picture the house that this poem takes place in. The reader is able to put themselves into the experience and feel everything that the voices do. When Oliver personifies each voice the reader can also picture their actions. For example, in line 3 when the voices grab at the reader’s ankles the reader can picture ghostly hands reaching up from the floor grabbing their ankles. Imagery and personification is what makes the poem so immersive and so eerie.

In conclusion the voices in the passage “The Journey” are actually just the reader’s inner voices trying to hold the reader back from new experiences. Oliver’s use of personification and imagery gives the poem its eerie feeling, and gives voices human like aspects to give the poem an eerie feeling.  These negative voices the reader hears are actually just feelings we experience when we are nervous to experience something new. The voice grabbing at their ankle signifies hesitation, the voices yelling and pleading with them is their inner voice’s final attempt to reason with them, and finally the new voice that emerges that symbolizes the new person that emerges from the experience.  