Analysis Of Joyce Carol OatesWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” was published in 1966 by Joyce Carol Oates. The story follows a girl, Connie, who encounters a mysterious man. She catches him watching her walk away with another boy, but doesn’t bother to think of him. As the days pass, she is stuck home alone to do whatever she wants; she enjoys her day relaxing—daydreaming about boys—until a car drives up to her house. Who might it be? The man… the man we soon call as Arnold Friend. Connie’s failure to look beyond her fantasies makes her prone to manipulation and deception; so one of her major character flaws is naiveté.

Arnold Friend’s layers of deception. Connie’s blindness is the pretext of her loss of innocence

Theriot, Michele D. "The Eternal Present in Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”." Journal of Short Story in English 48 (2007): 59-70. Print.

In the story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? It talks about a man and a woman whose names are Connie and also Arnold friend. Arnold is suppose ably Connie’s friend who seems to just be Connie’s conscious speaking to her to tell her to do the thinks that she does.

Adding on to that, Connie’s shortfall that rock music has molded her has come to light when Arnold Friend gives sexual advances to her. Joyce Carol Oates shows this by writing, “It was the same program that was playing inside the house. “Bobby King?” she said. “I listen to him all the time. I think he’s great.” “He’s kind of great,” Connie said reluctantly.” “Listen, that guy’s great. He knows where the action is.” (p.3-para.2). This shows how Connie feels shocked that Arnold was also listening to the same music as she was when she was inside the house last time. Since she was incompetent in realizing how teenagers interpret the music than adult figures, Connie is vulnerable when Arnold threatens her to come to him because of the rock music that is being allotted to teenagers. To sum it up, the sexual song lyrics and the image of rock music that is normally played and embraced in the American culture has influenced Connie, a teenager, physically and mentally; therefore, she is taken advantage of by Arnold because of her immaturity and youth.

In the short story, based on the setting, Connie is conflicted on her wish and how it is going into place. As if Connie just woke up not knowing where she was, “The kitchen looked like a place she had never seen before some room she had ran inside but that wasn’t good enough, wasn’t good to help her” (Oates 2). Connie does not seem to feel safe in the dream that she is fulfilling, In the dream when something goes wrong, Connie wants a more secure place, a more safe place than just her kitchen and hiding by the side of the wall hoping Arnold Friend would not come in. Connie wants her dream just the way she wants it to be and no different, but it is not happening that way. Oates’ states “Connie’s dreaming escape, like Cinderella’s although it promises pleasurable resolution unfortunately brings unrescued attentions upon her” (Kozikowski). When Connie hears the knock on the door, she goes to answer rather confused but at the same

Starting with “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Connie is viewed by the readers as being in this dreamlike state, which is simply used as a nightmare to show Connie the reality of her life when girls decide they want to grow up too fast. Hence, the entire experience with Arnold Friend was just Connie’s subconscious demonstrating to her what her “big girl” attitude and behavior could result in, and how it could change her life. Furthermore, with the story not having a definitive ending, it also shows that this is not reality for Connie, but just a pure glimpse of her path and future. Similarly, in “Young Goodman Brown,” Brown is also dreaming of his “what if” future. Throughout the story, people are magically appearing and disappearing. For example, when Brown talks about seeing Goody Cloyse. The story gives no indication that she acknowledges him being in the forest, yet they have known each other since he was a boy. As soon as the devil

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is based on a real-life event of Charles Schmid Jr. and the murder of multiple girls. The short story is designed around this historical event and has several key points that are comparable to both the story and the event. This story starts with a girl Connie who, like any typical teenager, is very flirtatious with a lot of guys; one person, in particular, Arnold Friend, is portrayed as a cougar. He shows up to Connie’s place, takes her somewhere and what's left is an inferred cliffhanger. The short story gives a more effective ending as it leaves the reader in a state of deep and complex thought in relations to the sudden and abrupt ending. Threats such as burning Connie’s house down, stopping her heart, and “going for a ride” are red flags that hint at Connie’s near future.

The main conflict Connie faces in the story is Arnold Friend himself, a satanic figure preying on the young and naive. Initially Friend seems desirable to Connie, he seems like a suave mature figure, from afar, but as he draws closer to her Connie begins to see his flaws and what lies

The antagonist of “Where are you going, Where have you been” written by Joyce Carol Oates, is no ordinary guy. Arnold Friends,a dynamic, round character with a charming but controlling personality, seems to be the embodiment of Atropos. A greek deity known as the moirai who is said to be the controller of fate, or specifically, one’s death. He talks a lot but reveal nothing about himself, a sign of emotionally manipulative person, someone who is able to zero in on one’s weakness, like Connie’s romantic fantasies.) Like the typical bad boy archetype he offered to take her away from the dull drone of her suburban life. But that explain how it links to arnold being atropos lmao/how death takes you away. With the quality of a calm and deep, sing-song

During the conversation between Connie and Arnold Friend, she experiences a dramatic moment so intense that it cannot be avoided or ignored. Her attempt was creating a sexy appearance and fascinating the boys in the local diner delivers as her experiment to analyze new fields as well as a new side of herself. However, until Arnold comes into the story, her expeditions have always been closed into security. She may go into an dark alley with a boy for a short period, but no matter what happens there,

The story is third person (limited omniscient) told from Connie's point of view and Connie's dreadful introduction starts when Arnold sees her at the drive-in the night before and "wagged a finger and laughed," saying "Gonna get you, baby" in response to Connie's smirk (Oates 319), giving away his true desire for Connie. From the very beginning, Arnold is the eerie static character and that eerie feeling is what compels Connie to look at him twice.

In her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates provides mental or psychological internal events, the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax, to connect with the theme that Arnold Friend is the demonic character or adversary who convinces Connie to cross the threshold into adulthood and lose her innocence, and likely, her life. Connie’s loss of innocence emerges when she puts herself in the position to be manipulated by others, specifically the men that she meets when she goes to the “drive-in restaurant where older kids hung out” (Oates 490). When Connie grants these men to manipulate her, she attempts to find the value in herself that she has been looking for because of her low self-esteem. Connie portrays

In the film it also says,” I’m watching you (then draws a X on Connie).” (Smooth Talk). Both these parts are incredibly important because if Connie or Arnold would have never seen each other. This could have led the story to never have been created or have a completely different plot line. During these two scenes, the actors were given so much credit for Arnold’s stalkerish ways and Connie’s frighten

In “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been” there is a younger, somewhat rebellious girl named Connie. Connie is the main character in the story, and she encounters many other characters in the story, but one character comes back in the end to become the antagonist. His name is Arnold Friend. Connie and Arnold meet when Connie was out sneaking off from her Dad with a boy named Eddie. Connie notices Arnold, and this is when they had there first creepy interaction.