
“The Journey” portrays series of traumatic events and chaos surrounding the narrator; reappearing throughout the poem. The text visually illustrates the thought that life is a constant battle with man’s conscious and unconscious mind. By definition, the conscious mind consists of ones awareness in the present moment while the unconscious mind is a reservoir of emotions , thoughts, and memories that are outside of our conscious awareness. These psychoanalytic theories are shown through a non-stop “storm” like event and its effect on the narrator and the “house” that they are in. The narrator’s conscious mind is focused on all the chaos going on around them and on the situation at hand. In contrast, the unconscious mind may be processing the fact that the voices they are hearing should be having little to no impact on them and in order to successfully become their own person they must listen to the voices within their head. The didacticism is clear by the end of the text when the author reveals the obstacles in life are ones surroundings and the battle between what they want to do and what others want them to do.

Initially, the message being conveyed by the author is not entirely clear and the reader’s focus is put on the storm. The poem begins with the outside voices in a fierce uproar tugging her ankles, “shouting their bad advice” (Oliver l.4-5).  The reader is put in the narrators shoes and is too focused on the situation at hand to realize what the author is really trying to say. Mary Oliver describes the surroundings of the narrator in order to make the reader get a better sense of the terror and make the situation more plausible “though the whole house began to tremble” (Oliver l.6)  and “though the wind pried” (Oliver l.14) both exemplify the idea that the narrator feels very trapped and conflicted in their current situation finding it very difficult to see what they should do from an outside perspective. Oliver does an excellent job of revealing everyday struggles in that everyone has gone through at one point or another; and the common issue of not being able to see the obvious solution until it is over or unless it is from the outside point of view. The use of imagery reflects the fact that in life itself ones conscious mind is so entranced in what is right in front of them, that they forget all the lessons learned and importance of what they already know in their unconscious mind. For example, everyone goes through traumatic events throughout their lives and have learned eventually to overcome their downfalls; however, when it happens all over again the cycle seems to continue.  

Gradually, as the text continues the narrator’s unconscious mind begins to incorporate prior knowledge and begin thinking realistically. Most clearly illustrated in the line , “But little by little, as you left their voices behind and the stars began to burn” (Oliver 23) the narrator comes to realization they can overcome anything by listening to themselves. The stars burning through the clouds highlight the new developed idea that all along people have the ability to overcome life’s obstacles. It is not until they dig deeper within themselves and realize they have gone through the same thing before in a different form and incorporate the suggestions of their conscious mind that they truly overcome the “storm”; a symbol for life and its obstacles throughout.  “The house” referred to in the text, represents life’s surroundings while “the voices” represent the societal influence on the unconscious mind. 

Although it seems very simple at first, the difficulty of using both ones conscious and unconscious mind often clouds many peoples’ judgments. When in a tough situation people tend to see a problem and the prior skills of rational thinking that have been developed are discarded. From a readers’ perspective, Oliver uses “… and you felt the old tug at your ankles” (Oliver l.8-9) to exemplify the fact that the opinions of others are preventing the escape, and blocking the path to realizing the only thing that can help is listening to the voice within ones head and ignoring the ones around them.  Mary Oliver’s ultimate theme guides the reader to see that as life gets “deeper and deeper” (Oliver l.31) the epiphany will come of connecting what one sees and what they know and the obstacles life give will seem minuscule. The reason the realization comes at the end of the story goes along with the idea that as one gets older they get wiser and the more “storms” experienced the quicker the lesson is seen.

The ultimate lesson conveyed is that the crucial qualities needed to reach success and happiness is to not let others stand in ones way and no one can help a person get to their goals but themselves. The struggle and journey to success is the success itself and the day the principles Oliver suggests are realized is the day life’s “storm” is supposedly over. The lateness spoken about in the line “It was already late” (Oliver l.18) symbolizes that often the realization the author is speaking about comes later in life after many lessons throughout ones life helps them come to a sudden epiphany. The day the unconscious and conscious mind come full circle, the storm will end, the house will stop shaking and the an old tug will no longer restrict ones feet. Looking back on life’s path the realization will hit, the aftermath of the storm before ones eyes; now with the knowledge and determination “to save the only life you could save” (Oliver l. 36-37).  