A journey is defined as traveling from one place to another.  If someone were to travel from North Carolina to Florida, it would be considered a journey.  However, the “journey” portion of traveling often consists of the events that take place while one is on a journey. Mary Oliver’s poem “A Journey” dials into this concept and talks about the journey a person takes through life in order to become an individual.  The “journey” portion of the poem challenges people to realize self-consciousness, disown external distractions, and never give up. 

We live in a society where one must conform to cultural norms in order to be accepted by its people. Oliver says, “The voices around you kept shouting their bad advice” signifying that many people in our culture derail a person from their quest for self-identity. Oliver wants people to reject this type of society and realize that they can listen to their own self-conscious and still excel through life.  As people renounce a world where society controls their lives, only then will people be able to leap into the new world, a world of individuality.  Oliver uses self-consciousness as the first step towards individuality because it is the root of being an individual. One must learn to think for themselves before furthering into Oliver’s journey. 

Once self-consciousness is attained, a new portion of the journey may begin. Oliver quickly transitions to this portion of the journey when she says, “Mend my life! But you didn’t stop. You knew what you had to do.” Oliver is accounting for the people in society who always ask for help and want everything handed to them instead of working hard and earning their fair share. With any society, there will always be people in need of help, but this journey requires people to continue towards individuality despite their gloomy cries for assistance. Oliver expects people to disown external distractions during this journey in order to achieve individuality and live a fruitful life.  

Oliver continues to expand this journey with the purpose of signifying motivation as the final portion of becoming an individual.  Oliver says, “It was already late enough, and the road full of fallen branches and stones. But little by little the stars began to burn through the sheets of the cloud and there was a new voice” which screams as a lesson for people to never give up because prosperity is earned, not given. The branches and stones are a representation of the many hardships and problems people encounter while on the journey for individuality. It is at this point that Oliver suggests the journey is over. People recognize their own voice; a voice that the author believes guided them all along throughout the journey. 

The journey that Oliver writes about is a recurring figurative device due to the cycle of events that occur while on the journey. The device is used differently each time in order to connect each portion of the journey so that one will discover individuality. The journey begins with understanding self-consciousness by breaking away from the cultural norm of society.  The next portion of the journey is directly connected to the first portion of the journey. Once a person realizes self-identity, they can start to live an individual life despite the constant cries for help from external distractions. The final part of the journey is the most challenging, yet important.  Oliver insists that people should never give up on something worth fighting for.  Oliver uses “branches” and “stones” to represent the hardships that occur along the way of the journey, but quickly reassures the reader that little by little it will become easier to leave the past behind. Each portion of the journey is a separate experience, but when accomplished at the same time, one can finally understand freedom and individuality. 