The journey is more important than the arrival

Journeys are more important than the arrival

A journey, in simple terms is the act of travelling from one place to another. A journey is an event of everyday life. Children journey through childhood, high school students journey through acne and adolescence and adults usually journey through parenthood. So it’s clear to assume that journeys come in many shapes and sizes. This makes them more important than the destination because goals are shared and sought after by all people but the process to achieve those goals are what determine the sweetness of attaining the goal itself. Poems such as “the road not taken” and “crossing the Red Sea” and books like “1984” by George Orwell aren’t so heavily focussed on the outcome as they are on the journeys themselves.

A Journey is more important than the arrival because ‘crossing the red sea’ is a journey through and through that doesn’t climax. This is a poem about displaced refugees crossing the red sea to find a new home. The voyage itself is a source of alleviation from emotional seclusion, as shown in the metaphors “Voices left their caves, Silence fell from its shackles,” creating a tentative mood of hope and showing how the migrants are emotionally opening up. This sense of optimism is reinforced in the Biblical allusion to resurrection in “Another Lazarus…who was saying a prayer in thanksgiving,” this proves that this is a journey comprised of hope. As the travellers journey through their past and into their future they cling onto hope that they will find fortune in another land.

Journeys are also more important than the destination because of the experiences and lessons learnt on the journeys themselves. When a group of friends embark on a road trip to a destination, they tend to enjoy the experience with friends and the allure of freedom from responsibility and when they reach their destination, they plan another trip because the trip itself was exhilarating. Experiences are also a core element of journeys. For e.g. the quote from TRNK, “then took the other, as just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim because it was grassy and wanted wear” with the use of personification when the grass ‘wanted wear’, the traveller makes a choice and moves along then only to regret it when he says “I doubted if I were to ever come back”. This reveals that the traveller experienced regret and ‘sighs’ that his journey led him to this disappointed climax. Henceforth it shows that arrivals are constantly being altered and manipulated by shifting journeys.

‘1984’ is a novel written by George Orwell and it shows that journeys are an intricate part of life and are formed by self realizations and self assessments. Winston, the protagonist in the book is a government worker who lives within a Soviet version of dystopian Britain in post WW2. In the beginning he barely questions the socio-political system that he lives in but as the book progresses, he goes on a spiritual journey that leads him to eventually loathe the established order and rebel. This life-changing event leads to his kidnapping and unfortunate brainwashing. He then goes say “O, stubborn, self willed exile from the loving heart” “Two gin-scented tears trickled down his nose, but it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished .He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother”. This anticlimactic ending shows that although the ending wasn’t ideal, the journey was portrayed as a symbol of hope against government repression and the torch Winston carried through his journey only faded at the very end.

As important as reaching a goal or destination is, it is the journey itself with all of its upswings and downswings that make the outcome seem satisfactory and worth the turmoil and effort for. Journeys are more important because they provide self-reflection and teach lessons to individuals who use these as guidelines on their next journey and try to make it a smoother path.