
Mary Oliver’s “The Journey” depicts the struggles of life and portrays the determination we must need to overcome the demons in our life which try to hold us back. The usage of the word “though” is used multiple times throughout the poem as the writer faces challenges from the voices which could be the problems in her life. The word eventually disappears as the writer starts to get past her problems and “burn through the sheets of clouds” (Oliver ln 25-26). The word “though” is used to show the toughness and strength of the author as she continues to overcome the voices no matter how much they try to hold her back because it is used when problems are apparent and disappears as the writer reaches her end goal.

Oliver uses the word “though” in similar meaning many times throughout the poem but each time she uses it she is one step closer to her goal of becoming free of the voices and successful in her goals. The first time Oliver uses it, “though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice-” (ln 3-5), Oliver is at her darkest point with the voices all around her screaming in her head trying to pull her away from her end goal. She has just found her motivation and embarked on her strenuous journey but it does not come easy. Oliver is saying people will try to hold us back in life by staying in the same place without any goals or ambitions to move on in life with us. They will try to make us take part in their low life activities because they cannot see what we are trying to achieve. Their screaming voices may not even be intentional but because of their lack of ambition they continue to spew “their bad advice” (Oliver ln 5). Oliver’s use of the word “though” in the beginning of this poem is illustrated in a way of fighting through the voices or bad intentions of those around us that try to suck us into their stalled out lives while we know that we must fight through their screeching noises to achieve the goals we have set out for ourselves.  

As the poem progresses Oliver is in the next phase of trying to escape her voices, “though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. ‘Mend my life!’” (Oliver ln 6-10). In this phase of the use of the word “though” Oliver has started her trek to free herself of the people holding her back, her voices, and now she is being followed by their shrieks telling her to mend their lives too. She is trying to tell us that people will try to become our friends when they realize that we are starting to make something out of our lives and become successful. The word “though” in this instance is used to show that the author cannot save anyone but herself and that although the voices are still screaming she knew what she had to do. The quote “But you didn’t stop.” (Oliver ln 13) indicates that the author is continuing on her journey to break free of the voices even though she knows that they want to come with her which in the end will bring her right back to where she started trapped around screaming voices. Oliver is telling us that to achieve our goals there will be tough times where we must find our “though” whether it be involving relationships or other obstacles like failing tests in college or getting fired from a job. Some of the voices in our lives may be the people around us who don’t mean to be screaming in our ears but in the end they hold us back ultimately from where we are trying to go. Though these voices may be telling us to take them with us and help them get somewhere in life, we cannot do that until we get to where we need to be first. The second use of “though” in this poem exemplifies the fact that people will always be trying to hold us back and want us to fail, but we must continue on in our own personal journey and forget about the screeching voices to ultimately achieve the goals we have set out to achieve.

The last usage of the word “though” is actually used twice in the statement “though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible” (ln 14-18). This quote signifies the end portion of the author breaking free of the voices and starting to see that the end goal is near. The fact that the word “though” is used twice in this statement is relevant because it shows double the strength of the character as she breaks through the voices. Because the word represents the strength within the character to stay focused on the end goal and become free of the voices, the double usage of the word shows us how important it is to remain strong through tough times and to stay focused on the goals we wish to achieve. This is the last time we see the word “though” in the poem. By this point, Oliver has escaped the voices that had terrorized and restrained her from her dreams and has begun the home stretch on her path to happiness. This disappearance of “though” serves as a positive sign in the poem even though the word brought about a strengthening connotation. The disappearance shows that she doesn’t need “though” anymore because “the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds,” (Oliver ln 25-26) which means she is breaking through her goals and beginning to get where she wants to be because she knew what she had to do and that was to escape the voices.

The word “though” in Mary Oliver’s “The Journey” has a steady meaning throughout the poem but the circumstances within each time it is used are different every time. It is used to express the strength and determination of the character in the poem because of how every time it is used the context shows how even though something is attempting to hold the author back, she will never give up and stay on course to achieve her goals. The usage of “though” is separated into three parts. The beginning when the voices are at their worst screaming in her ears, the middle where Oliver has begun to escape but the voices are grasping on with all their might, and the end where she toughens out the last attempt by the voices to hold her back and finally breaks through to start to achieve her goals. “Though” in this poem is much bigger than a singular word, it represents the strength and determination we must all take in our lives as we strive to achieve our dreams.