When speaking of a difficult topic regarding yourself, it is not uncommon for the words my friend or you to be used in place of the word I. It can be inferred that Mary Oliver used this tactic in her free-verse poem “The Journey”. Having personal experience in writing poetry as well as substituting I for you in difficult pieces of writing, it is evident that Oliver is using “you” and “the voices” as a way to deflect her own issues as well place the blame she feels for herself onto an imaginary third party. In order to divert the blame away from herself, Mary Oliver hides behind the you and the voices to mask her own tribulations and crushing self-blame. 

Throughout the poem, Oliver treats you as a deflection of herself.  It is always less complicated to express painful topics without actually owning up to the hardships. The tone of the poem suggests the you Oliver is referring to is herself. She sounds extremely relieved that the you has finally escaped the voices, saying “as you left their voices behind,/ the stars began to burn/ through the sheets of clouds” (Oliver 24-26). This visual has a remarkably strong positive connotation, it is as if the you has finally opened their eyes for the first time. 

Depending on the tone and personality a piece of writing contains you can oftentimes seem to carry blame. Writing the word you or your fifteen times in one thirty-five line poem is almost excessive. The overuse of this word can demonstrate that Oliver blames the you for not escaping the voices sooner.  The whole purpose of the voices is to torment the you, so why hasn’t the you escaped the voices sooner? Not only is the pronoun used in excess but it seems to carry a lot of weight. Throughout the beginning of the poem the context surrounding the repeated you sounds heavy and regretful. For example when Oliver opens the piece by saying “you finally knew” (1) it sounds as if the  you has been dealing with the torture for an extended period of time and has done nothing to resolve the issue, until now. Meaning that Oliver blames herself, but like the tumultuous part of her life she denies to admit that the blame is all hers.  However, by the conclusion of the poem Oliver’s tone regarding the you becomes lighter and more optimistic once the you finally breaks away from the tortuous voices.   

Not only does Oliver deflect the you away from herself, but she also deflects the voices. These soul darkening voices are yet another digression from her own mind. It can not be a simple thing to admit. That your own psyche has betrayed you, that your own mind is the reason for your unhappiness. Although the voices can be looked at as society, at some point throughout every woman’s life society and her own thoughts meld into one colossal, judgemental mush. Which is understandable, how many times can one individual hear something until they start to believe it? Unfortunately in Mary Oliver’s case, she had a seemingly difficult time separating society from her own thoughts. These grim ideals manifested into something that would be more manageable, like the voice. 

In the beginning of the writing Oliver seems incredibly tired, like the voices are physically wearing her out. When Oliver says “you felt the old tug/ at your ankles” (8-9), it reminds the readers that this is not the first time there has been a tug of the ankles trying to drag the you to a dark, unwanted place. The mischievous voices are the things doing the tugging and Oliver comes off as being very familiar with such tug, like she has dealt with and continues to deal with it personally. Oliver seems deeply connected to the old tug, she seems to as if she has had intimate experiences with the voice. If she were writing about another individual there is a very small possibility she would be able to express the emotions and strife the struggling person is undergoing with such passion and detail, if she did not experience it first hand.  

Although it is only mentioned once Oliver also uses one last tool to deflect her own debilitating strife. When Oliver describes the voices causing  “the whole house” to tremble, (6)  the reader can get the impression that the house Oliver discusses is not a house at all. The reader can infer that the house is yet another deflection of Oliver’s self. The house is her own mind, her own body. The house trembles from the voices, however, it can be viewed as Oliver and the constant upset she feels when the voices torment her. The beration Oliver endures from the voices is a constant phenomenon that rattles her house or mind to its core.    

Using the word you as a deflection of oneself is a common tactic when writing about difficult topics. Mary Oliver uses you as a understandable cop-out while discussing an arduous area of her life. It is obviously easier for many people to express such hard times when they aren’t addressing them. While using the pronoun you Oliver reveals her own adversity as well as the blame she puts on herself. Mary Oliver does not halt her self-deflection there, she also portrays the voices as others when in reality the voices are just the dark, frightening corners of her mind. In today’s day and age it is less complicated to place your own problems on others, or imaginary figures then to own up to them.  It is evident through tone as well as Oliver’s intense connection to the content and people of the poem that she is hiding behind the you and the voices in order to prohibit her own self-blame. 
