The pressure of society’s opinions and desires are felt daily. Mary Oliver uses her poem “The Journey” to demonstrate that it is not only possible, but necessary to break free of this tension. In this poem, Oliver writes about a person who realizes that self-assurance takes precedence over the longing of society. This yearning includes both the standards presented by society as well as the desperate needs of others. These standards of society play an important part in the self-eradication. The poem reveals how a person escapes from these standards and begins to rely on only himself rather than others. By gaining a new sense of independence, he also realizes that he cannot alleviate the other people who seek assistance from others. In the end, it is clear that the only life he can save is his own. 

Mary Oliver begins the poem by writing, “One day you finally knew what you had to do, and though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice…” (lines 3-5). This represents society attempting to persuade a person to think a certain way. Advice is defined as, “An opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action” (dictionary.com). By “shouting bad advice,” society is trying to guide a person away from his personal beliefs, whether it be how to dress or what to worship. The beginning of the poem is not only about the autocratic opinions of society, but also its oppressive needs. In the following lines Oliver writes, “and you felt the old tug at your ankles, ‘Mend my life’ each voice cried,” (lines 8-10). These voices are people who are in need of something. Oliver is showing that the person in the poem originally felt obligated to help these voices. This person’s sympathetic nature forced them to desire to save another person before they even consider their own well-being. She describes the cries for help as “the old tug at your ankles.” Tugging at someone’s ankles prevents him from moving forward. In the same way, the desperate cries for help were preventing the person from moving forward with his own life. He was so focused on ensuring happiness in other people’s lives that he nearly forgot about caring for his own.

Although this person may have initially felt obligated to help others in need, he eventually realized that it is nearly useless to try to save everyone else while ignoring personal demands. The author shows this in the lines that read, “But you didn’t stop. You knew what you had to do,” (lines 12-13). In these lines, Oliver is also revealing that this person is finally realizing what is actually required of him. He needed to ignore the cries of others and cease personal neglect. The poet continues on with the lines, “…though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible,” (lines 14-18). She uses these lines to demonstrate the persistency of the destitute voices. The “wind” in this instance is the urge to provide support. The author continues on by describing a “wild night” with a road “full of fallen branches and stones,” (lines 20-22). The “wild night” in this occasion is the moment in which this person finally began to prioritize personal obligation. The “fallen branches and stones” are the people that he once felt responsible for. They are described as “fallen” because they are in desperate situations and cannot fend for themselves. They seek the attention of others rather than recognize their own ability to help themselves.

The person in the poem once felt indentured to ensure their satisfaction. Oliver concludes the poem by describing this person’s realization of the necessity of self-obligation. “But little by little as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own,” (lines 23-29).  By leaving the voices behind, the person is finally being relieved of this futile burden. This line is describing the exact moment in which the importance of self-demand became a reality. This person is finally listening to his own voice rather than the many voices of others. Mary Oliver concludes the poem with the lines reading, “…determined to do the only thing you could do – determined to save the only life you could save,” (lines 33-36). The author is showing that although a person may desire to help others in an attempt to save them, it is only possible for him to save his own life. This is because he only has true control over his own life. 

Mary Oliver wrote this poem in order to provide a unique picture of how a person can realize the importance of self-obligation. At the beginning of the poem, Oliver describes the pressures of society as “voices” that kept shouting bad advice. This “bad advice” would be the different standards that society administers. These standards contribute to the reason that there are so many other voices in need. These voices can never attain the standards set by society and, therefore, seek aid from others. The poem goes on to describe how these voices were holding the person back and shouting, “Mend my life!” These were the voices of destitute people looking to someone else for salvation. The person in the poem may have once been one of these people, but then began to focus on self-reliance. Oliver shows this realization through the lines reading, “But you didn’t stop. You knew what you had to do.” In this moment, the importance of self-reliance became evident. The conclusion of the poem is the awareness that the only person someone can save is him or herself. The author is not saying that wishing to guide others is unbeneficial, rather is the replacing personal well-being with the well-being of other that is degrading. In the end, a person has control of only one life: his own.  
