Joyce Carol Oates's 'Life After High School'

Contemplating back on my high school journey, I began to recognize and appreciate the life changes I experienced and the imperative lessons I learned throughout those four years. If I had to choose several words to describe my high school experience, I would begin with eventful, challenging, and memorable. High school afforded me many experiences that continuously led to stressful and challenging encounters. Being involved with the Ambassador Program and the National Honor Society was one of the greatest decisions I made in high school. Both clubs provided me with numerous life-changing opportunities that will continue to have an impact on me for a lifespan.

“Life After High School” by Joyce Carol Oates is a brilliant demonstration of the tragedy that follows when individuals refuse to be true to themselves. The protagonist, Sunny Burhman, must reconcile her high status and the ensuing idolization of her character with the pursuit of her hand in marriage by the antagonist, Zachary Graff, whom she does not love. As Zachary presents her with a ring, she finally realizes that she no longer can lead him on; she rejects him. He commits suicide as a result, and Sunny assumes she was the solo motive for his actions, though it is later revealed she was not. Consequently, she draws upon the reader’s pity by renouncing her cheery demeanor and devoting her life to accomplishments rather than the pursuit of

Identity defines the many aspects that make us who we are. It can be determined individually or by society, but in order to achieve true happiness identity must be established by one’s self. The novel Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood reveals this truth by displaying the unhappiness that results from society determining an individual’s identity. This is seen in multiple forms such as the demands placed on woman to behave in a “ladylike” way. These stereotypes contribute to the struggle placed on many women in this novel to abide to society’s expectations. Unhappiness is also caused by judgement. When characters in this novel are judged by others, it often leads them to question who they are and what they stand for. Lastly, individuals in this novel rebel because they do not like being identified by their social class. These are all examples of restrictions that affect the characters in Alias Grace, and prevent them from living a fulfilling life. A major theme explored in this novel is that unhappiness is often a result of one’s identity being determined by society.

In the three short stories “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, and “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, each author provides insight into the complexity of human nature through the internal struggles faced by a main character within each story. In “The Chrysanthemums” Steinbeck paints Elisa in a way that displays her lack of feminine identity, highlighting her personal sexual views of herself and ¬¬the internal struggle it creates, then in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Oates also presents a female who struggles with her sexual view of herself which we see throughout the story as Connie hides her sexuality at home but lets it run wild for the rest of the world, ultimately leading to her demise, and lastly in “Sonny’s Blues”, Baldwin introduces Sonny and the complex issues he goes through as his brother doubts his

Even as the “peace and love movement” arose, a series of murders occurred in Tucson, AZ. Charles Howard Schmid Jr., a 23-year-old man, brutally murdered numerous girls and made national headlines. A creepy predator was Oates 's inspiration to create the unscrupulous character: Arnold Friend. Oates creates the perfect picture of a 1960’s typical teenager that gets caught in the middle of the revolutionary era; and eventually becomes a victim of Arnold Friend. Connie is a 15-year-old girl who lives an ordinary life; confused about the girl she is, and the woman she is becoming. Being a teenager is not an easy thing overall, for any girl, in any era. Furthermore, she lives in a fast-paced, transitional

Sex and relationships are recurring themes throughout the genre and are essential elements teen narrative. Their portrayal ranges from comic interactions to serious exchanges and emotional liberation from restrictive forces. Timothy Shary explains the significance of these two thematic threads: “Romantic longing and sexual curiosity take on heightened intensity and profundity for youth in the adolescent years struggle to recognise and cope with the emotional and psychological changes”(2002). The character’s experience with sex are usually comedic and linked to sexual discovery and loss of virginity, which are continually present topics in the narrative. It is is often a determinant that shapes teen identity, as well as providing a commentary on societal questions regarding a desire of intimacy. The sexual exploits between the teen male and female investigates teen behavior and the conceptualization of feelings and emotions in their discovery of identity.

Sexual Revolution and Changing Adolescence The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates can be viewed as both a metaphor of the sexual revolution and its consequences on youth in the 20th century and a thematic image of the struggle to understand sexuality and vanity as an adolescent in modern society ruled by sexualized media. Oates published this short story in the 1960s, in a climate of post-war celebration and sexual revolution with the rise of birth control and the decline of sexual abstinence due to a less uber-religious America. This world context gives insight to the extended metaphor that is this story and also shows how this seemingly horrific story of a pedophile attacking a young woman is not what it appears.

The transition of turning into a teen from a preteen is an unpredictable…acne, voice changes, puberty all are parts of growing up and for some happen beautifully and others not so much, Connie was a lucky one. Teens were especially struggling during the Sexual Revolution, a social liberation movement in the 1960’s and 1970’s that challenged the ideas of sexuality and what was considered “sexually deviant” in the Western world. In Joyce Carol Oates’s, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” the theme of a “coming of age” is expressed through the main character, Connie, a young girl who struggles with her own sexuality and tries to understand how the nature of sexuality works during the Sexual Revolution. Oates conveys

The sound of construction crews and the smell of wood, plaster, and paint was so common placed now that it had become just another aspect of everyday life. With so much constant damage being done hourly, the only choice that could be made was to remove everything of value and replace them with easily replaceable and worthless copies of the originals. Not only was seeing Nate at the movie premiere was bad enough to cause the destruction of another room, but Quinn Holden was now openly dating Kendra Paisley’s best friend. Worst of all (if that were possible) the girl was being touted as a better actress then my daughter and had revived his musical career with only a few words. A knock came to his door and it was extremely long over do.

Throughout the story Joyce has a keen awareness to detail and vivid dialogue in order to accurately portray the struggles that an ordinary teenage girl may face, both with the family, and with their own inner self. In addition, the story uses Connie’s naivety and the fact that she is stuck between wanting to be an adult and her innocence as something that the readers can relate to, before delivering a sinister twist and ending to Connie’s fate. In the end, Joyce’s story leaves the reader with a much better understanding of some of the struggles that females face. Whether it may be establishing a true identity, finding the true value of one’s character, figuring out what makes one attracted to one another, or maintaining a communicative relationship with parents, all are vital in the daily life of a young female. The reality that this is a problem that massive amounts of young females face on a daily basis creates a dramatic effect at the end of the story.

This story is a glimpse of the behavior and conditions of the youth of the time as represented by Connie in the story. Though Connie is represented as somewhat naïve and vain, the story’s treatment of her is mainly sympathetic. She is obsessed with her own beauty, spends her time mulling over “trashy daydreams” in her head and flirting young men. Yet Oates recognizes and sympathizes with Connie’s excitement over her growing freedom and entry into adulthood.

It was an warm sunny day I was dabbing it ,four boys were strolling down woods street. There four boys names were Mac,dope boy ,devin and Shaddy. Devin was the smartest one out of all of them hood boys,the rest was the same.Devin was ready to start his own business selling shoes.Dope boy,Mac and Shaddy were going on the wrong path selling drugs,robbing and beating up people. Devin would hang around with them often and conversed with them, but he would not do any bad things. Mac has been a dad already, he had to take care of his 2 year old. Dope boy had an older brother, but, he go shoot a couple weeks ago. Dope boy was reckless, everyone was scared of him even his own mother feared for his life .Shaddy was the slickest one out of all of then, he would get away with everything he did.Shaddy was a only child ,no mother, no father living with his grandparents and living in the worst part of town.

The boy told you what he was going to do- had his plan laid out and all. You took it as a joke, not ever thinking he would have killed three of your best friends along with four other people, and one just so happens to be your brother. What if you could have prevented that? What if you told a trusted adult ahead of time? What if you would have talked to the boy himself? A lot of teens ask these questions whenever it’s already too late. We don’t tend to think about things like that though because we never want to think that we could be involved in the situation. We say, “Oh, no big deal. He probably told someone else the same thing too. They’ll take care of it if they think it’s something serious.” The truth is, according to research within

I’ve just entered my senior year of high school. I know that this is a very important year. I have a lot of decisions to make and not much time to make them. These decisions will either make or break my life, and I want to make sure that I make them to the best of my ability because there is no turning back. I need to make sure I definitely want to attend college. The decision is totally up to me. There are many positives and negatives of attending college. Go over them, and then decide. I know myself better then anyone else, and I won’t let anyone else tell me what to do. I will make sure if I am going to attend college that I have something in mind that I will want to do, to succeed in. Choosing a major can be a

It’s the end, high school is finally over. It’s finally graduation day, and a wave of emotion hit, and I’ve never been hit with a wave quite this hard, not even at the beach. I’m not the type to get sad, but as I walk around in my long draping gown, my cap the doesn’t quite fit because of my abnormally large head, and my state championship ring I can’t help but be overwhelmed with emotion. Being the guy that I am I ignore it as always and I continue going around to teachers and give them hugs, thanking them for the help they’ve given me. Watching everyone take pictures, crying, talking about their futures, and how “they’ll have to meet up sometime” as if they’re moving to another country when they are just really moving to the next town over. I swore the day before, the week before, even months before I would be sad, and wouldn’t know what to do with myself when today actually comes, but I can’t seem to find the emotions. All of them are on the inside and won’t come out. On the inside I feel sad, and upset and I want to just hug everyone and cry, but I can’t. I don’t have time to think about crying, because of all the chaos going on around me. We only got one practice in ahead of time, just about nobody actually listened to what we are supposed to be doing, so everyone’s doing their own thing. I walk through the halls and realize this is my final last. I’ve had my last soccer game, I’ve attended my last football game and cheered them onto another loss, and now in