Biblical Allusions In Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

“We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality” (Murdock). However, fantasies can interfere with an individual’s belief system and can cause a confusion. In the narrative by Joyce Carol Oates short story “Where Are You Going, Where have you been?” The story takes place around the 1960’s. In fact, this was the same time a real-life American serial killer named Charles Schmin started to target females. The narrator admits that her story was influenced by the famous serial killer. What I interpreted throughout the passage is that Connie who is the main character is facing a conflict between fantasy and reality. When Connie leaves home, another side of her is shown to society. She knows she can attract older boys. The way she’s able to do so is because of her appearance and personality. Connie ends up staying stuck with Arnold Friend, who puts her into a horrifying situation. As you read the selection you can’t deny that the author uses symbolism as the main theme. The reason why Oats decided to use symbolism, allegory, and metaphors to demonstrate through Connie’s Sexuality, where she beings to lose touch with her senses.

Urbanski, Marie. "Existential Allegory: Joyce Carol Oates 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Studies in Short Fiction 11 (1978): 200-03. Print.

In “Where are You Going, Where Have you Been?” Joyce Carol Oates uses an allegorical figure of evil to illustrate the theme of temptation. Oates alludes to hell through the character Arnold Friend, as the devil, and his victim Connie, who invites him in by committing the sin of vanity.

The short story written by ,Joyce Carol Oates called “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” takes place in the 50’s (possibly earlier/later) in a remote area where a young fifteen year old girl named connie learns she’s not as grown up as she thinks and needs the protection of her family when their safety is threatened.Connie is a wild teenager dressing the part,taking a liking to boys, and disobeying her parents.Her parents try to keep Connie tame using her older sister June as an example of what Connie should be.She has regular conflict with her mother constantly fighting because of her appearance and actions like lying about where she goes, and again her interest in boys trying to protect Connie from getting into trouble at a young age.Connie and her friends regularly go to the “mall” where they sneak across the street to a drive-in restaurant full of kids out of high-school over eighteen.Connie gets more than she bargains for when a man called Arnold Friend notices her and takes

In The Poisonwood Bible, written by Barbara Kingsolver, the aspect of biblical allusion is clearly present throughout the majority of the novel. For example, one of the most conspicuous allusions to the Bible is the way that Kingsolver has purposely named some of the main characters in her book after different people and images in the Bible. Kingsolver uses this biblical allusion to develop important themes, events, and characters in her novel. Kingsolver makes references to the Bible by tying in and creating similarities between important events and themes in the Bible and important events and themes in her novel.

Connie is a young fifteen year old who cares about her sexual drive that men have toward her. “The 1960s unleashed the so called sexual revolution. It seemed more a source of comic relief and tragic nostalgic recirculation than political inspiration…” This revolution consisted of women demanding their own rights so they could become more and more independent. There were significant shifts in social attitudes, behaviors, and institutional regulations at the beginning of the 60’s and also lasted through the 70’s. The sexual drive increased majorly and the amount of women that had sex before marriage also sky rocketed. In Where Are you Going, Where Have You Been, Connie wants sexual attention from men, and that hurts her self-confidence and

Joyce Carol Oates' short story "Where are you going? Where have you been?" 'runneth over' with Biblical allusion and symbolism. The symbols of Arnold Friend, his disguise, and the music that runs through the story contribute to an overall feeling of devilishness, deception, and unease.

Once someone crosses the redline, there is no way to go back. Peoples actions are not reversible, what is done cannot be undone. In both the short story by Joyce Carol Oates “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” and the movie “Smooth Talk” directed by Joyce Chopra, the screen door is portrayed as a transition and a boundary although sometimes it is interpreted in different ways. If Connie crosses the boundary, it will lead to many bad consequences. When Arnold Friend reaches Connie’s porch, the conflict is between the protagonist Connie and the antagonist Arnold Friend who is trying to lure her out of the house to go for a ride with him. Arnold is taking advantage of her youth and vulnerability. The screen

Many authors choose to use biblical allusions in their stories, but no one does it like Flannery O’Connor. Her complex but yet important allusions are very key to understanding a lot of her short stories. Especially in one of her most famous stories, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Connor uses biblical allusions to allow readers to receive a deeper understanding of her short story. The Misfit’s characterization, the grandmother’s characterization, and the Timothy allusion are all major examples of these biblical allusions.

Furthermore, Hughes uses the rhetorical device of allusion when he writes about his aunt’s bringing him to the church for a special meeting. When he writes, “Then just before the revival ended, they held a special meeting for children, ‘to bring the young lambs to the fold’’’ (1), he attempts to correlate his invitation to salvation to a Biblical parable. Along with his reference to the Bible, he conveys the church member’s excitement with vivid imagery. He illustrates the church’s setting as being infuse with “all moans and shouts and lonely cries and dire pictures of hell”, and he also describes the preacher’s sermon as a “wonderful rhythmical sermon” (3). Conjointly, Hughes presents imagery of the churchgoers and alludes to a Biblical story in order to demonstrate the magnitude of the religious enthusiasm of the members of the church.

Allusion can be described as “a literary device that indirectly refers to a past literary work, historical circumstance, or other cultural or geographic reference point…[to] help readers make connections between concepts in a body of work...authors assume that their readers have enough knowledge of a specific allusion to make the intended connection”(Lundin, 1). His first reference is to “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift; Baron uses this to allow his readers to understand that his proposal will be satirical.  Baron alludes to the Garden of Eden twice throughout his proposal; both times are to make the parallel between temptations in the Bible and the temptations of Americans. Historical figures that Baron mentioned throughout his work were Roger Sherman, Ross Perot, and William F. Buckley Jr. whom are all political figures that allow Baron’s audience of legislatures to further understand the context of his proposal. Events in history added by the author include Hastings, World War I and II, the American Revolution, the Louisiana Purchase, and the Prohibition. Each of the events he references add context of time period and conflicts that may or already have arisen from the problems that Baron is addressing. In order for his audience to understand the circumstances concerning his proposal, Baron used allusion

An allusion is a expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.Allusions to saints,miracles and religion in the novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davis is imperative in the character development of Dunstable Ramsay. Robertson Davies allusions to Saint Dunstan ,Dunstan's life long quest to prove that Mary Dempster is a saint and religious allusions are a very important component in the novel.

Authors, such as Upton Sinclair, incorporate allusions in their books to refer to other great works, people, and events. However, in the book The Jungle, biblical allusions are mixed in throughout the story. These allusions are used to fuse the story with references from the Bible; however, it’s extremely important to understand the literature of the fairy tails and short stories attached. With that in mind, we use these biblical excerpts and allusions in How to Read Like a Professor, such as the story of the Garden of Eden, and the story of Noah to enrich our perception on the sole idea of how biblical allusions can deepen our understanding of The Jungle.

Each individual may have a different interpretation of Joyce Carol Oates' short story "Where Are You Going, And Where Have You Been?", but despite the differences in the way we comprehend the story, it is quite obvious that Joyce Carol Oates had based one of the main characters, Arnold Friend, off of something or someone. The title of the story and what is written on the pages not only marks a biblical allusion and symbolizes something much larger that many people fail to realize, but also points to a flaw seen in many teenagers.

Joyce Carol Oates created an allusion with Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? to the Western European allegory called Death and the Maiden with Connie as the maiden in distress or victim and Arnold Friend as death personified.