Essay On Teenage Wasteland

Oates starts off by introducing the story’s 15 year old protagonist, Connie. Connie is symbolic of innocence and good. However, Connie has

Through plot, Oates demonstrates how Arnold Friend can be seen as a symbolic Satan. Plot starts when Arnold makes sure to tell Connie he is interested in her as he says,“Gonna get you baby” (Oates 1). Connie is in a drive-in restaurant for an older crowd when Arnold sees her for the first time. Once Connie leaves the drive-in dinner with a boy named Eddie, Arnold decides to make a move on Connie. Arnold uses foreshadowing to let her know he will meet her again. Just as Arnold says he is going to get Connie, he shows up in her driveway, creating a creepy situation. That Sunday afternoon, Connie is alone in her house while her parents and sister are on a picnic at one of their neighbor’s house, Arnold decides to use this opportunity to make his

Anne Tyler’s “Teenage Wasteland” is a story about a modern day family of four and the relationship issues they experienced with each other. The story is presented in third person limited; however, the reader is shown much about how the mother of the family feels and the troubles she experiences in her relationships with her husband and children, primarily her son Donny. Daisy is portrayed as a mother who worries that she had failed Donny because of his continual disobedience toward the authority figures in his life. Donny is a teen who constantly misbehaves in school and in the story is described as “noisy, lazy, and disruptive; always fooling around with his friends, and would not respond in class.” (188). These behaviors lead Donny to

In the story “Where are you Going, Where Have you been?” Joyce Carol Oates tells us about a fifteen year old girl named Connie. Connie is confronted by a young man who is trying to persuade her to take a ride with him. He introduces himself as Arnold Friend and kindly asks her to come with him but she refused. He then threatens Connie and her family. She is then forced outside and leaves with Arnold Friend. Arnold Friend clearly symbolizes the devil through his physical traits, his knowledge of Connie, and his power over her kind of like he was hypnotizing her to go with him.

“Teenage Wasteland” is a short story written by Anne Tyler that focuses on the relationship between teens and parents. Many times it seems like they live in completely different worlds but they just have a different understanding of what they both want from each other. The story focuses on the two main characters Donny and Daisy. Donny is a teenage boy who isn’t the best student and doesn’t necessarily follow the rules or obey what his parents say. Daisy is a stay at home mom to her two children. And she doesn’t seem too motivated on helping her children but just focused on pointing out all the bad things that Donny 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.

If not thought about or read over more than once, the fact that Connie’s father was almost a phantom in her life might be missed. In this era, fathers in particular were not very active in their children’s lives, daughters especially; they were the mother’s problem. This same idea carries over to the father of Connie’s best girlfriend, who after driving them to the stores or movies “…never even bothered to ask what they had done.” (Oates, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"), the name of the story is also a question that should be asked of any daughter by her father. The fathers in question here display a sense of total apathy to the question of what their daughters are actually doing. These fathers came from a time in the 40’s and 50’s when men worried about men things and woman issues were exactly that. Men and in particular fathers of that time made no effort to be involved in their daughters lives as they are today. Oates noticed that issue in society and attached it to her work in this story although minutely. The main conflict in Connie’s life is trying to balance a fine line between the way she acts at home in front of her mother, and her secret wild side which she only shows to her friends and the boys she meets. Oates’ characterization of Connie is that of a round character, one of intense

The text says, “gonna get you baby”(Oates 1). The fact that Arnold Friend doesn't even know Connie and the first thing he says to her is that he is going to get her. That is pretty satanic, he speaks it into existence that he is going to get her and he does. Westwood backs up the claim stating that through foreshadowing Arnold Friend is similar to the devil. Westwood states that, “Exercising a eerie power, he predicts what will happen”(Westwood 1). Arnold Friend knows he is going to get Connie and what he is going to do with her before he even knows it. These are traits that the devil also has. Constant conflict between Connie and her mother causes Connie to wish for something that she now regrets. The text states, “Connie’s mother kept picking at her until Connie wished her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it was all over” (Oates 1). Connie and her mother are always bickering and Connie wishes herself and her mother were dead. When feeling low or depressed the devil finds ways to get control or seduce you. Arnold Friend takes advantage of Connie’s low self esteem and giver her close to what she wishes for. Through plot Arnold Friend reveals his many sinister traits and why the similarity between himself and the devil is so vivid.

The teenage rebellion, which most of people experience during the puberty, always worsens the relationship between parents and children. Written by Joyce Carol Oates, the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” describes the condition and consequence of a family whose child is rebellious. Through the characterization, plot, and dialogue, Oates successfully exhibits the thesis that Connie’s bad ending is the consequence of her parents’ attitude and actions.

Moral and social beliefs were being challenged and the youth of America, while coming of age, were rebelling against their parent’s ideals and creating their own culture. The birth of a social movement was upon the world and issues such as sexual freedom, feminism and other civil rights were hot topics during the years prior to Oates writing this story. It is these social changes and society’s interest in them that creates the foundation for the setting that breathes life into this story. Without this foundation, the coming-of-age story of Connie, not to mention American society, and her journey from the innocence of the 1950s into the bitter reality of the turbulent times of the 1960s would have been lost.

In the same vein, narcissism is another trait that characterizes Connie’s attitude. She obviously has the sophisticated mind-set of a young lady that she pretends to be although she is only an adolescent. It is easy to detect through the story that the protagonist Connie spends all her time acting and protecting her ego. So many passages illustrate that point of view. Connie is a two faced adolescent. She presents to the exterior world the image of a modest and well behaved girl whereas she has in her the hidden quality of sexual flirtation. To describe Connie, Oates mentions, ‘’Connie had long dark hair that drew anyone’s eye to it, and she wore part of it pulled up on her head and puffed out and the rest of it she left fall down her back. She wore a pull-over jersey blouse that looked one way when she was at home and another way when she was away from home’’

Later in the story Oates' character Connie senses the fear in a stranger who approaches her at her house when her family is gone. She here is tempted to leave in a car with this character and she senses something frightening about him. There is some sort of warning that goes off in her head. This character, the protagonist Arnold Friend description is very close fit with the devil. If you remove the "r" in his name you get "An old Fiend", Fiend meaning: an evil spirit; a demon and the devil, Satan. This has a lot to do with the temptation and clearly the evils of the story. Arnold Friend has trouble standing and walk, Connie also notices that it seems as if his boots were stuffed to give them a fit appearance. This projects too many that he has hoof like feet, feet

First of all, with the use of plot and character as dramatic elements, MacLeod is able to depict the main characteristics of the nature of adolescence, mainly the search for identity and the quest for independence. Among the scientific community, adolescence is believed to be the most crucial period in human development. It is a period of “rapid biological, social and psychological change” (Soto, et al. 330). There are the transformations that define puberty, there are changes in the relationships and attitudes towards adults and peers, and many teenagers struggle to form a coherent identity (331). In the process of discovering their identities, most adolescents become self-centered. Having not yet

“The psychologist said Donny has no serious emotional problems. He was merely going through a difficult period in his life. He required some academic help and a a better sense of self-worth.” (Anne Tyler. “Teenage Wasteland”) When children become teenagers, they begin the confusing yet enlightening journey into adulthood. At this point, they make important decisions which may change the course their lives. Teenagers are still influenced by others, but they are now responsible for their own choices and actions. Entering into young adulthood can be very confusing. At this stage, young people are deciding who they are and who they want to be. They also feel as if they should take responsibility for themselves but do not feel like a complete adult. Donny was basically deciding that school was not for him. He was cutting class and getting in trouble. Daisy took it upon herself to make the decision for him to go see a psychologist.

Tracey meets Evie in her high school, she begins to idealise Evie; Evie has the popularity, and the confidence that Tracey wants. Tracey’s family environment and growing psychological issues impact her ability to have a scene of self; this is shown when Tracey conforms to become Evie. Their friendship grows rapidly; once Evie moves into the Freeland house the two girls go into a downward spiral of hard drugs, sex, lies, piercings and petty crime. Evie manipulates Tracey into false sense of security. She gets the attention she craves from Evie; slowly Tracey shuns Mel completely out of her life. The influence of Evie on the family dynamics is major factor influencing Tracey’s resentment towards her mother.