Finding our purpose in life won’t always be easy but there’s no greater achievement in life than doing something we love. In Mary Oliver’s poem “The Journey,” the speaker warns us of the obstacles that lie in our way in the path to finding our voice. She believes that if we are not at least trying to follow our own passion, then we will never be satisfied. College, is the first opportunity we are given to find our passion. While most won’t accomplish this goal till later in life, college is a unique experience to get away from our parents, the peer pressure of society, and find what we truly love in life. This is a point where it’s no longer becomes beneficial for us to stay at home, and we most learn our own lessons in life. For some people it might be a scary situation, leaving the ones we love, but in order to understand who we want to become, we first must leave their voices behind. Mary Oliver repeats the word “voice” over and over as to emphasize the importance of finding our voice, which in this case is our passion in life. In a world controlled by what people want us to become, Mary Oliver wants us to understand what it will take for us find our voice in life.  

“The Journey” takes courage and a resistance to not give in. On the way “the voices around you/kept shouting/their bad advice” (Oliver 3-5, 92). Mary Oliver’s speaker wants the reader to understand that in the beginning it won’t be easy to leave the ones we love the most behind, but it’s the only way to find our self subjectively. At some point we have to take responsibility for our life and become selfish. We have to enter the “wild night” and take on the challenge of uncertainty (Oliver 20, 92). Mary Oliver uses repetition of the word “voice” to remind us that it’s our responsibility to dare to take that risk. Taking this risk involves branching out from the ones we love, and the things we know are bad. These things such as drugs, and alcohol lead to bad decision making and the possibility of preventing us from obtaining our future goals. We are exposed to these things daily, but we must resist the temptation of fake happiness for our long term goal and purpose in life. These life lessons are important to learn when we are younger so we will not make the same mistakes later in life. People will always want a bad decision that they made back, but it’s the decisions that we make after the bad one that will determine where we end up in life. The importance of Mary Oliver being so general and specific at the same time is important so the poem can relate to the majority of people’s lives. She understands that each person has a different purpose in life, but wants to direct them in right direction. Her poem goes step by step through each process portraying the difficulties along the way. It is like art, each person will have a different interpretation of what it is telling them, but each one will understand the concept as a whole. The purpose of this poem is to not just touch one life or tell one story, but effect the lives of thousands and make them aware of the potential they have. 

As we travel through our journey, we will start to see that we are breaking away from the bad voices. Stating with, “As you left their voices behind”, we see a shift in the poems tone to a more hopeful attitude (Oliver 24, 92). The beginning of this poem is riddled with thoughts of difficulties we would have to prevail over. However, after this line we start to see a shirt to a more optimistic viewpoint. The “stars began to burn/through the sheets of clouds”, illustrating a visual breakthrough (Oliver 25-26, 92). This symbolizes that things are going in the right direction and possibly our true voice is breaking through. We were lost, but the stars shine bright as if to say we are getting closer to our purpose in life. We are always told to follow the stars and now that we are able to see them, a path becomes visible. We become no longer blinded by the other voices but “there was a new voice/which you slowly/recognized as your own” (Oliver 27-29, 92). Mary Oliver uses these metaphors to help the reader visualize their own voice. She not only wants us to hear it, but see it like the stars. These voices aren’t only words, but actions, as she describes the voices, “with its stiff fingers/at the very foundations” (Oliver 15-16, 92). They will attack us at the places we are most vulnerable and use the things we loved the most to try to pry us back. However, we must resist and walk past “the road of fallen/branch and stones” from others who did not make it (Oliver 21-22, 92).

While “The Journey” may be painful, it will uncover who we truly are, and help us understand “the only thing you could do” is save our own life (Oliver 34, 92). Mary Oliver wants us to recognize this so she uses a short and choppy writing style to ensure we look at each line carefully. While the poem is not very long, each line has a whole story wrapped in it, and a pause after each line makes the reader think back and picture what they just read. It is easy to just skim through the poem as we skim through life, but once we sit back and take it all in, we start to see the more complex vision. We understand people will try to help us but they will never be able to get inside of our brains and bodies. This is why Mary Oliver depicts a story of how we are the only ones that can save ourselves. Parents, teachers, and friends will want to help but this is a journey that we must go on by ourselves. In college there will be times when we will be tested but the important thing is to always follow our own voice. 

This poem captures the essence of what it is like to go out on our own into the real world. It is an important poem to read as we start any big journey. However, it is never too late for another journey to be started to figure out our true passion. For some they will only find what they love after many failed attempts. We need to take full advantage of our time to not only find the things we love the most, but find the people that will help us succeed in achieving these goals. It is also a chance to reinvent ourselves. We are no longer judged by our past, but have a chance to start over. At each step we need to be able to learn something about ourselves, and soon it will be our time to see stars’ shine through the clouds and hear our voice heard. 
