In Joyce Carol Oates 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been' Music?

Like many teenagers, music plays a large role in Connie's life. She drifts off into daydreams and desires when listening to music. It plays in her head, even when there is no music around. She dreams of boys and love, "sweet, gentle, the way it was in movies and promised in songs" (par. 12). When Arnold and his friend Ellie first pull up into Connie's driveway, the music on the radio has an effect on her. Like many teenagers, Connie is intrigued by the music. It allows a connection between her and the strangers in her driveway. She becomes interested in the boys. They listen to the same station on Ellie's transmitter radio that Connie plays in the house. Although she has never spoken with them before, Connie feels more comfortable and less tense as she begins to listen to the music from Ellie's transmitter radio and the music coming from inside her home as they blend into one sound. Because of Connie's relaxing state, she allows herself to become intrigued with Arnold and

The novel is able to share how music is of great importance and is able to affect people’s moods and thoughts.

Music has played a major role as an agent of socialization in each of my 4 decades. I know and hope that it will continue to do so. During each period music has affected my personality, shown my personality, affected my perceptions and helped me to cope with growing and changing as a person. My Looking Glass Self has compared the person in song and possibly the singer themselves to myself to gain perspective of who I was at each time. I am going to discuss each decade with the thought of how music was an agent of socialization in each.

The sexy and enticing image in the American civilization affects teenagers as they are driven to emulate those ideas which in the end are deceived and hurt because of their ignorance. In the story, Connie has predicaments within her family because of her efforts to become sexually attractive which causes her to criticize her sister and her mother. Joyce Carol

Music used to be about connections between listeners and the song lyrics. Now it is not much about the connection, but rather people just trying to keep up with the in-crowd. This often leads people into listening to music they dislike only to gain popularity or to feel like they fit in. In Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?,” the role of music is considerably more than first appeared within the story. It is much more than just background noise and should not be overlooked. Music influences people’s characters from the way they act, to what they think, and even what they want. It is not as innocent as first thought.

James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” conveys how music serves as a form of communication, both at a small and large scale. Charting the development of the communication between Sonny and his brother allows us to view how the unnamed brother fails to meet Sonny at his emotional level by not understanding his pain. I argue that the text introduces Sonny as someone who “has never been talkative” to set the foundation for his growth from being voiceless to speaking both vibrantly and effortlessly through music (Baldwin 113). Over the course of the text, the unnamed brother begins to listen to Sonny to discover the connection between music and emotion. Therefore, the text argues that music is a crucial mechanism to communicate with one another—more specifically

The late 1950s was a time of cultural revolution which had a large influence on the American youth. “As the next decade drew near, issues such as civil rights, war, women 's rights, and the sexual revolution would deeply affect many American teenagers. The conservative family values and morals that predominated in the 1950s were just beginning to be challenged as the decade came to a close” (Moss and Wilson 3). As a result, many teenagers lost the conservative morals of the 1950s and became more independent. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie represents the result of this cultural revolution. Criticized by her mother for her promiscuity, Connie is an independent girl who often hangs out with her friends trying to attract boys. In doing so, she attracts a sexual predator named Arnold Friend who visits her at her home to try to get her to leave with him to presumably rape her. At the end of the story, Connie chooses to go with him. Connie gets into this dangerous situation because of a mistaken belief on her self-worth, the loss of morals by her and the adults in the story, and the influence of the 1960s popular music. Looking at “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” through the historical and feminist lenses, suggests that the story is really about how the misconceptions on self-worth and the diversion of 1960s society from

“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.

This reference shows how music lays a foundation of teenage values beyond school or parental teaching. A musical artist can influence a young mind by the chosen lyrics with greater effectiveness than formal education. Music can control or enhance moods. A good mood can get better or a bad mood can be worked through with the choice of music. A bad mood can also be enhanced by lyrics about suicide or violent behavior. Teens can also use music to gain information about the adult world, to withdraw from social contact, facilitate friendships and social settings, or to help them create a personal identity. (O'Toole, 1997)

From the creation of harmonies to singing to instruments, music has been an abstract form of human expression. Although an auditory collection of pitches and volumes, musicians can manipulate the same notes and bring them alive for their audiences. The true emotion and energy that’s felt in music really comes from the player as feelings are transferred to and through the listener. This interaction between performer and the house is catharsis, the complete release of strong repressed emotions. Thanks to the musician, music has the ability to grasp people and cause them to sense emotions and feelings without lyrics or images even being necessary. Although it’s believed we can only hear with our ears, something about music makes it emotionally if not physically tangible. In James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues,” a narrator certainly unaware of the impact of music invites himself to experience jazz for the first time. Baldwin uses the final scene of his story to argue that music has an effect on those who are able to experience it. Baldwin does this in one single moment by letting the fixed, practical minded, “well-intentioned” narrator experience catharsis from jazz as his growing, free-spirited brother communicates with him through jazz.

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.

Connie is seen as a sex object, which shows how women are dominated by men during this time. In this short story, Oates states, “Gonna get you baby” (Oates 1). This shows how women are more than likely to be approached when they are alone and men tend to think they can talk to a woman any way they please. This can reveal signs of pedaphinilia when there is such a huge age difference, which the reader sees between Connie and Arnold Friend. Arnold Friend thinks he can approach Connie in that manner because all he wants is her body. In the short story, Oates states, “Yes, I’m your lover. You don’t know what that is but you will” (CITE) which shows how men feel like they own women so they do not have to respect them by using inappropriate words. Friend stalks Connie and invades her privacy for his own needs, not thinking about how this can affect Connie’s mental health. In the story, it states, “Don’cha wanta go for a ride?’ (CITE) which is forcing Connie to do something after she said no. Women is today’s society are insecure and vulnerable because they let men use them for their body. (you need research in these paragraphs! I do not see any!)

Music functions as Connie’s separation from the real world to her fantasy world. She uses it to escape her life, and start daydreaming about boys. When Arnold pulls up to Connie's house, she then notices that he is playing the exact same music as her. Even though Arnold was using the music “as a leitmotif to his almost supernatural ability to dominate Connie” (Easterly 539), this similarity caused her to gain interest in Arnold even more without notice. The music relaxed her, which made her comfortable with him at one point in time. Connie had already drawn her idea of romance from her favorite music, and her encounter with Arnold revealed that the romance in her music is more appealing than the reality of adult sexuality and seduction.

Arnold tries to take her for a ride in his car and at first, Connie believes that this is an act of harmless flirtation, so she plays along. Arnold was the type of guy she would normally go out with, she “liked the way he dressed” (409) and “She recognized...the singsong way he talked, slightly mocking, kidding, but serious and a little melancholy, and...the way he tapped one fist against the other in homage to the perpetual music behind him” (411), but something didn’t seem right with him. As the conversation progresses, Connie starts to realize that Arnold Friend knew all about her life even though they had never (apart from a brief meeting in a parking lot) had a conversation before this. He then demanded that she come with him, and threatened to come inside if she tried to call the

Connie is a fifteen year old girl who is confident and proud of herself, and almost feels as if she’s invincible, until she has a rude awakening when an unwanted visitor appears at her doorstep. The stories, "Lust" by Susan Minot, "ID" by Joyce Carol Oates, and "Where are you going, Where have you been?" also by, Joyce Carol Oates, describe the female coming of age. The female sexuality of these three young girls is that they didn’t understand their own reality, but yet wanted independence. The authors get across the message by using vivid symbols.