Analysis Of Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

Where there is desire, there is hope, despair, and struggle. Joyce Carol Oates illustrates animatedly the asphyxiated struggle of desire in her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” The story narrates the life of a young girl, named Connie, and her fated and enigmatic confrontation with a strange man. Feeling trapped in her own home with her own family, Connie, a self-conscious and rebellious teenager, tries to figure out a way to identify herself with the world around her. Her desire of escaping the reality fuels her struggle to enter adulthood. Through the physical form of Arnold Friend, who embodies both the hope and the despair in Connie’s struggle, the author metaphorically portrays a vigorous and psychological pressure that Connie has to endure. The story is scripted to allude to the danger of identifying oneself through sexuality in young girls. To better understanding this cryptic story, it is important to follow the psychological processes and conflict of Connie’s character, which help unveil the allegorical meaning of a young girl’s rite of passage through sex.

Connie does not want to be the nice and innocent pretty girl. She wants to be known for being very sexual. In the story she makes fun of her sister June because she is very modest and not sexual and causes conflict with their family. Also June is overweight twenty-four years old and still living at home. But she also does chores and does them without complaining to her parents. While Connie is a way from home she has two totally different ways of acting. Be that as it may, Arnold friend ‘s landing in her home drives her two sides to consolidate fiercely. As it were, Connie is not completely sexual until Arnold's interruption into her home until then; her sexuality was something outside of her "actual" self, the self that she permitted her family to see. Arnold also has a friend named Ellie. While Arnold drives up to Connie’s house Ellie stays in the car and she listens to music while Arnold speaks to Connie. Also Connie’s mother shows a large amount of frustration towards her and the way she acts and dresses. Connie and her mother fight constantly. But towards the end of the story when Connie is attacked my Arnold she cries out to her

Many people live life in a “fantasy world” and sometimes when they dream, that fantasy could end up like it is really happening. In the short story,Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates there is a likely chance that Connie’s encounter was a dream. Through further analysis it is revealed that Joyce Carol Oates’ short story is merely a dream in which Connie’s odd wish is fulfilled, all of which is achieved through setting, characterization, and plot.

The short story “Where are you going, Where have you been” by Joyce Carol Oates was published in 1966. The story was purposely written for Bob Dylan, who’s song “It’s all over now, Baby Blue” had a great influence on the story. story Oates gives us many descriptions of the characters to give the reader a better understanding of what the character is feeling, thinking, and shows their personalities through their actions. The story also includes many signs and a great deal of symbolism. In this analysis, I will explore is Arnold friend representing an evil entity or is he simply genuinely trying to be Connie’s friend. A character by the name of Arnold Friend could potentially be a symbol of a demonic force, or even the devil.

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,

Joyce Carol Oates finds inspiration for her short story based on Charles Howard Schmid Jr, a serial killer who made his debut in 1960’s. Charles Schmid was a charming, older, bad boy who targeted young girls in Tucson, Arizona. The similarity can be seen in Joyce’s short story when Arnold Friend targets stunning, 15-year-old Connie. Manipulation as well as other factors lead Connie to make an irrational decision, which jeopardizes her life. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” aspects of belonging to neglectful family with an overachieving sister, an envious mother, and careless father particularly contribute in Connie’s kidnapping,

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates, revolves around two main characters — Connie and Arnold Friend. Connie is a 15 year old girl, the protagonist in the story, who disrespects her family, and tries to act more mature than she actually is. Arnold Friend is the mysterious “villain” figure in the story that places Connie in an unpleasant situation that causes her to question the extent of her maturity. Throughout the short story Arnold pushes Connie’s comfort level, and tries to get her to be adventurous by getting in his car for a ride; however, Connie realizes that she cannot get out of this troubling situation on her own. Even though the characters’ overall personas are different, they both show arrogant tendencies, which serve as both of their greatest weaknesses in the short story.

As the story progresses, it is Sunday morning and her family is getting ready to attend a family bar-b-queue. However, Connie insists on not attending and is left alone at home. As she is washing her hair, she hears an unfamiliar car driving up to her house and her heart begins to pound for she does not want the visitor to see her undone. When Arnold Friend, a man she has seen at the restaurant before, but has never spoken to, shows up on her doorstep, she is someone curious as to why he is visiting her. Throughout the scene, he is attempting to persuade Connie into taking a ride with him and his friend Ellie. The more he speaks to her, he reveals to her that he knows many things about her such as her friends, her name, and family and where they are currently at. As the scene develops, Connie no longer has interest in Arnold for she now is scared and is fearful of what his intentions are.

This exposure with Arnold Friend was Connie’s death experience, and through the story Arnold carries out an order from his superiors to lead Connie to her death, and he is certain that she has to leave with him. Even though, she tries to fight to stay inside her house or “alive” but she knows that the end of her existence is closer that she imagines. Oates states, “She thought, I’m not going to see my mother again. She thought, I’m not going to sleep in my bed again” (Oates). This fear in Connie’s heart and mind is telling her that she is not going to be ok, and that she is going

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a short story by Joyce Carol Oates that brings a young girl’s nightmares to life. The setting of this story is particularly important to the course of the story and the character development because the setting vitally influences Connie’s decision to go with Arnold Friend. In the story, the setting provides the instability and vulnerability necessary for Connie to go for a ride with Arnold Friend.

The Plot of “Where you going? Where have you been?”, a short story by Joyce Carol Oates is about a fifteen year old girl named Connie who lives with her mother, father and her 24 year old sister June, who works as a secretary at Connie’s high school and lives at home. Connie’s mother is constantly criticizing Connie on how she kept her room, the way she dressed and always compared her to her sister June who helps around the house and keeps her room clean and helps with the household bills. There was no real fair comparison between the two because the difference in characters and age. Her mother often compared her own appearance to that of Connie’s.

Both the story and the film begin with the establishment of the character of Connie as a typical teenage girl who struggles to find the balance between romance and family relationship. Connie is a 15-year old girl who rejects the role of a daughter, sister and nice girl to grow her sexual persona. She makes fun of her older sister, June and is in constant conflict with her family. Her concerns in the text are adolescent as she thinks about her looks, listen to music, hangs out with friend and flirts with boys. She feels good when she thinks that boys and men find her attractive. She has created a particular manner of dressing, walking, talking and laughing which makes her sexually attractive, although the manners she has are temporary and artificial. Her behavior in the house is different from when she is somewhere else as when she is in at home her sexual urges go to hiding. She tries to appear more wiser than she is

The story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is about a 15 year old girl who doesn’t get much attention from her loved ones and is trying to escape into a fantasy world. It seems like Connie and her mother have difficult relationship and have hard time talking to each other. From what I have read, the difficulties in their relationship comes from her mother's jealousy. It looks like her mother sees herself in Connie, and misses her youth. That’s why she’s being hard on Connie without realizing it. Besides that, her father is always working and has no time for Connie or anyone else. Connie didn’t get enough love from her father whom was always gone, so she had to find male attention somewhere else. Her sister, June is a perfect daughter. She works in school and helps out in the house while Connie is totally opposite of her. Their mother is always comparing them, and shows how great June is over Connie. That fact doesn’t discourage Connie that she’s the favorite daughter because of how pretty she is. Because of Connie’s family issues, she has nobody to talk to. Connie is looking for attention and understanding from other places. As she said, she has two identities, one in home, and another one somewhere else but home.

During the 1960’s powerful ideas had blossomed into movements that possessed almost every being. Music, drugs, and sexuality held deep influences to the actions throughout American society. Teenagers matured through this evolution and largely impacted individual values and beliefs. This, however, was said to have brought rebellion and mischief to the minds of teenagers in this era. In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, she writes to express her disapproval of the changes in the teenagers of the 1960’s that was caused by the cultural movements during that time period.

“Where are you going, where have you been ?” is a story written by Joyce Carol Oates. In this story the author talks about the significant moment people face when they reach a certain age. This story is about a teenager name Connie, who is sunk in her own world full of trashy dream. She has absorbed the lesson of the pop culture she lives in. In her world, being attractive is everything for a woman. Her mother is constantly criticizing her about her look, meanwhile her father can care less about the family. Like Joyce Carol Oates’ message of life and changes is best understood when the reader brings his or her imagination to meet with the author’s events. It is necessary that the reader has a solid response to Oates’ efforts to fully understand the message. The reader can argue that the theme is: Analyzing a teenager’s mind of her sexuality, insecurity and the difference in appearances and reality. One can argue that being a teenager is one of the toughest phases in life for a woman, during teenage years insecurities are present and rife; in truth overcoming self-doubts is a major part of growing up and maturing into adults. Teenagers years are challenging in many ways. It is the time of great changes in life, and with the changes come pressure, worrying, uncertainty, and fear. Each of us experience transitions in our daily lives. Some of these changes could be small like moving from one city to another, other times these changes can be major like the transformation between