Analysis Of 'First Confession And Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been'

In the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” Connie, the main character, is already struggling with many things in life and sneaks her way to date guys. There was also conflicting between her and her mother due to her mother favoring her sister, June and describing her as someone who is a good example of what she wants Connie to be. Her father is never at home due to work and when he is home, the girls do not relate to him. Arnold Friend is described as a dangerous figure with his pale complexion and his slick black hair looking like trouble by not presenting himself in a pleasing way to Connie, by not walking properly. This was an indication on how he was not in the right state of mind and how Arnold shouldn’t be near Connie. There was one scene in the story where Arnold Friend shows up, uninvited, notifying Connie that he is not a friend, but has come to take her away from her home to possibly kidnap her. "Connie felt a wave of dizziness, rise in her at this sight and she stared at him as if waiting for something to change the shock of the moment, make it alright again”. Connie feels safe in the house and does not come out until Arnold convinces and demands her that she come out. Things took an unpleasant twist when Arnold tells Connie not use the phone or he will break his promise of not coming in the house

In Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’, the main protagonist Connie is displayed as a person with split personalities. She defies the roles of being a daughter and sister, and acts as a “nice” girl to hide her sexual persona. A side of her that only shows when she is away from both her family and home. She’s your average teenager, mainly concerned about her looks, music, her friends, she flirts with boys, and even explores her sexuality. Because of the fact that she is one way at home and an entirely different way elsewhere, when Arnold Friend arrived at her house both her personalities were forced to merge. By Arnold’s coming into her home, it is realized that Connie is not as mature as she believes she is, and once

Towards the end of the story, Arnold Friend 's tune turned a bit more aggressive. He eventually got his way by making Connie his puppet; she moved on on cue with every string he pulled. As Connie got closer to the door, she saw herself leaving, as if she were officially being torn apart from her old ways. She did not recognize anything, her front yard was a foreign landscape to her. Connie knew that by going to Arnold Friend she would never see any of her family again, nor her house with the music still playing in her room. In the beginning of the story, Connie mentioned to her friends how she wished that she could just kill her mother and sometimes herself, just to end it all. At the very end of the story, she places her now relaxed hand over her heart just to notice for the first time that it was not even hers, but

In the story, Oates uses interior monologue and third person limited omniscient narration to show how her parents neglect contributes to Connie’s vulnerability and how Arnold Friend is successful in his strategies of seduction. It’s obvious that Connie’s parents always have neglected her. Her mom is always evaluating her and critiquing her physical appearance. She is continuously comparing her to her sister June and Connie feels like she can never be on the same level as June. Since her sister is responsible and respectful Connie gets a great deal of freedom. Her dad has no sense to watch over or protect Connie, he just comes home and goes to bed, isn't curious about what is going on, he is extremely disengaged from her life. Connie thinks

In Joyce Carol Oates “Where are you going, where have you been?” introduces us to Connie a self-absorbed, rebellious, and very naïve fifteen year old who is tossed into this world of sexuality, and adulthood she believes she knows all about. As Oates explains about Connie to us we get introduced to what influences her to act out and not care what others think and go about dealing with problems herself. Her mom is brought in as an over protective mother who wants to see her daughter succeed but doesn’t go about it the right way she uses the lines “stop gawking at yourself!” to tell us how Connie only cares about her looks and the way she dresses. She even brings in the involvement of her sister and her she lives under her shadow. June is twenty four and works as a secretary at her high school and she had to hear everything June did right while she was usually having trashy daydreams. “She was plain, chunky and steady” as oates described in her story, but Connie got to go out a lot since she hung with her girlfriends. While we learn more and more we believe Connie is going to end up in a ditch dead by the end of the story until she is put in a scenario where she transforms into a character where she has to use her brains to survive and get out of a bad situation.

Although some may argue that the short story, “Where are you going, where have you been” by Joyce Carol Oates, reveals that Connie’s materialistic ideals drove her actions which caused her ultimate demise, this position limits the importance of Connie’s repressed thoughts. Connie’s repressed thoughts, identified through daydreams and inner dialogue, reveal her psychological efforts to protect herself from the imminent danger ahead. Connie’s repressed thoughts form as she strives to achieve a differentiation of self from her older sister, yet her newfound identity becomes superficially based off of how she believes she should behave around her peers. When Arnold Friend appears at her doorstep, even though Connie deploys her defense mechanisms

As one writer puts it “…Connie is shallow and vapid, believing, among other things, that the height of human suffering is the annoyance she feels at her mother’s chiding” (Slimp). To that end, and Connie’s detriment, Satan, through his knowledge of “everyone”, preys on her weak points such as her sense of superiority towards her sister and others in her family. He masks his intentions with a smile, and his identity through suavity. Throughout the story, it becomes clear that Arnold’s objective is not to rape and murder Connie, but to manipulate and toy with her. To what end, we do not know. Some have said that this story pictures Connie’s initiation into evil. I would, however, understand it differently. “Where Are You Going…”, to me, illustrates the vulnerability we have against our own demons, and more importantly, the impossibility of escape once we have fallen victim to them. What happens to Connie when she walks out the door is impossible to know but it is ripe for conjecture. Maybe it was all a dream and she will wake up once she leaves the house. Or, maybe, she will replace Ellie in the open jalopy painted bright gold, ever listening to the music from XYZ Sunday

My interpretation of the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is that the Arnold Friend situation was just a dream. The main point that led me to believe that she was in a dream was whenever the narrator says, “and when she opened her eyes she hardly knew where she was…She shook her head as if to get awake”; this part happened right after the narrator also described that Connie was sitting in the sun and closed her eyes. Further more into the dream Arnold Friend comes, which is when things take a turn for the worst. Now, considering that Connie was not a well-behaved young woman, outside of her house, it would be very logical to say that the dream was just a warning to scare Connie a bit. As the narrator explains in the beginning of the story, Connie was not going down the right path.

It’s a beautiful, sunny, summer Sunday and you’re home alone after having a great time the night before and a car pulls into your driveway. What do you do? Instead of staying inside and waiting until the car eventually leaves, Connie approached the man that would eventually lead to her defeat. Connie is a very insecure character, she goes out wearing things her mother would not approve of to hang out with boys. Arnold is a stalker who preyed on Connie’s insecurities to fulfill his sinister needs. In the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Joyce Carrol Oates uses the characterization of Arnold Friend to foreshadow the grave outcome of her story.

In Joyce Carol Oates's short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, the main character, Connie fills her life with bad choices; one of her choices and her endless vanity leads to her death. Connie fills her life with many bad influences and sneaks out late to hang out with older boys. Connies was confronted by a man named Arnold Fiend one night at the restaurant and he said “Gonna get you, baby.” He comes back into her life and seems to be very suspicious, he seems to know a little too much about Connie, more than he should know. Connie is sucked into his trap and is dragged into what becomes her certain death.

Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” neatly divides into two sections that detail the dramatic shift in Connie’s perception that ultimately relates to her maturation. The division between the two reactions coincides perfectly with the climactic moment of the story when Connie recognizes the truth about Arnold Friend. Indeed, this organization aids in the amplification of Connie’s transition from youth to adulthood. The childlike and adult perceptions of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”

In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, the focus is on Connie: a young, impressionable, and insecure girl who is not certain where her place is in the world. At first glance, the story seems like any other in which a teenage girl struggles to come to terms with who she is and where she fits in. Yet, it takes a dark twist when Connie meets a seemingly charming stranger who obviously makes Connie uncomfortable when he reveals his true nature. The revelation that the stranger is actually an older man is both disturbing and unsettling, especially since he is forceful and demanding with Connie as soon as she starts to show signs of discomfort. Although this story starts off as an innocent tale of the tribulations of

In the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” authored by Joyce Carol Oates, there is a main character [also the narrator] named Connie. Oates does not create Connie as a hell-raiser; rather, a young lady that is indubitably unexperienced in either life or love. This story depicts a key insight to the main characters life, then tells of a vision Connie has about being abducted. Connie has many issues in her life at this point, and she is stuck trying to make sense of it all which a difficult task when there are so many different models in her life.

Escaping from his entrapment, Jackie believes in himself with confidence and starts to see and hear the world around him. Jackie thinks to himself, “ …. barring the one bad business of my grandmother it didn't seem so bad”(180). Jackie has almost fully escaped from his own entrapment by accepting and realizing that his sins towards his grandmother aren't so bad. Jackie then reaches his enlightenment when “he steps outside the church and waves of sunlight come down upon him”(182). There was brutal detail that showed us Jackie’s fear of confession by comparing it to walking into hell, and now that he is free of sins and has a new friend he has the ability to hear and see the world around him. He finally realizes that the world around him isn't so bad. We know that Jackie’s world isn't so bad but it is far from paradise. We know this because on page (182) it says “I heard the screech of trams on the road and my heart soared.” Jackie is glad his world isn't perfect but he can now realize how great the world around him is and he embraces it. Jackie being able to see the world also shows us how this confession has changed Nora. Jackie also has his fourth and final examine of conscience to finally clear his mind of everything bad because of all his confessed sins brought up by Nora. “And he only gave you three Hail Marys”(182)? Nora realizes that even though Jackie has committed very bad sins; the priest realized that he was truly sorry for his sins

This makes Jackie feel very guilty about the way he treated his grandmother. Jackie tries to avoid confession, but Mrs. Ryan will not have it and sends Jackie along with all the other children in her class to the church. Along the way, Nora catches up with them and taunts Jackie about his past bad behavior, letting him know that he is in for it when he gets in with the priest. She goes into confession first, and comes out holding a prayerful, solemn pose. When it is Jackie’s turn, he goes into the confession box and immediately becomes very confused.