Literary Techniques in Joyce Carol Oates' Where are you Going? Where Have you Been?

Connie, the main character in Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been" is a fifteen-year-old girl, just realizing her beauty. It is summer vacation, and she is spending her time either with boys or daydreaming about them. Connie is a typical teenage girl with a desperate need for independence. She does not get along with her mother, and her father is seldom around. He works a great deal of the time, and when he comes home, he likes to eat and go to bed. Connie has a girlfriend who she enjoys going to the mall with. While at the mall, the girls like to meet boys and watch movies. It is a place where the girls can express themselves in a way different from the ways in which they portray themselves at home. The story's

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” was published in 1966 by Joyce Carol Oates. The story follows a girl, Connie, who encounters a mysterious man. She catches him watching her walk away with another boy, but doesn’t bother to think of him. As the days pass, she is stuck home alone to do whatever she wants; she enjoys her day relaxing—daydreaming about boys—until a car drives up to her house. Who might it be? The man… the man we soon call as Arnold Friend. Connie’s failure to look beyond her fantasies makes her prone to manipulation and deception; so one of her major character flaws is naiveté.

In the American society, when individuals reach adolescence, they begin to search for their identity by exploring their interests and opening their mind to new notions and ideas. This is the psychological and physical human development that ultimately leads them to their adulthood. Joyce Carol Oates' short story depicts a fifteen year old girl with typical teenage concerns. She has to face the realization of the meaning of maturity in the American civilization when she is ripped out of her childhood by Arnold Friend. In the short story, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", Joyce Carol Oates suggests that when teenagers are in the coming of age, they are easily fooled and taken

Joyce Carol Oates plays upon the stereotypic female gender role through her adolescent character, Connie, in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” The story was written at a significant time in America’s history. It was a season when social and moral conventions were challenged. This period experienced the rise of women struggling for sexual freedom and gender equality in a patriarchal society. Oates portrays the protagonist, Connie, as naive, unaware and inexperienced; she has yet to find her identity and fully understand her place as a women in the world. She believes she has learned to play the game of the sexes and that she has the upper hand. This belief, though, is quickly subverted when she is confronted by Arnold Friend, a man who works to reinforce patriarchal standards by punishing Connie for acting outside stereotypic female role boundaries, she then realizes as a women, she has very little power.

Adolescence, the part of life we are most willing to forget. The awkward years of being stuck between, not yet an adult but certainly not a child. These years, however awful they maybe, are essential to the character that later develops. During adolescence we make decisions that shape the course of our life, from the personal interactions between friends and family to the academic decisions that impact future career, choices you make as a young adult impact you forever. Partially due to the importance of these short few years, it is not surprising how often children can make poor choices that derail their entire life. Increasing at startling frequency, these stories foretell of a dismal future. Due to this cautionary tales of adolescence have been rising in pop-culture. One of these is “Where are you going? Where have you been? By Carol Joyce Oates. This story tells of Connie, a young adult trying to make the leap to adulthood. Connie in her attempt to breach the gap ends up in drawing attention of Arnold Friend sealing the fate of her poorly executed coming of age. Connies ill fated coming of age in “Where have you been? Where are you going?” by Carol Joyce Oates acts as a cautionary tale about modern perils of adolescence.

The antagonist of “Where are you going, Where have you been” written by Joyce Carol Oates, is no ordinary guy. Arnold Friends,a dynamic, round character with a charming but controlling personality, seems to be the embodiment of Atropos. A greek deity known as the moirai who is said to be the controller of fate, or specifically, one’s death. He talks a lot but reveal nothing about himself, a sign of emotionally manipulative person, someone who is able to zero in on one’s weakness, like Connie’s romantic fantasies.) Like the typical bad boy archetype he offered to take her away from the dull drone of her suburban life. But that explain how it links to arnold being atropos lmao/how death takes you away. With the quality of a calm and deep, sing-song

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been is a short story originally written by Joyce Carol Oates. It was first published in 1996 and immediately faced sufficient criticism and public discussions. This story involves both surreal myth and deep psychological realism which obviously distinguish this writing among other works of the author. In the center of the narration is a young girl named Connie. She is fifteen years old and is experiencing quite a turbulent period of her life. Her mother constantly compares her to her older sister and this factor only intensifies Connie's feeling that her mother does not understand her. In the story, the world of Connie is quite contradictory as well as her character itself. Nevertheless, it remains interesting to explore until the very last page of Oates' writing.

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.

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.

In the story, “Where are you Going, Where Have you Been?” the author, Joyce Carol Oates, uses literary devices to convey a message about the loss of innocence. To be more specific, Oates’s characterization of the protagonist, Connie, specifically shows the actions leading to her innocence being taken from her. The literary device of characterization gives a clear picture Oates thoughts at the time she wrote the story, expressing concern for young girls who are at risk of having their innocence taken from them.

There are some stories that capture the reader’s attention and which keep us riveted from the beginning to the ultimate line of the tale. ‘’Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’’, a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates in 1966, is one of those. Inspired by the mythic song of the phenomenal singer Bob Dylan entitled ‘’It’s all over Now, Baby Blue,’’ the author describes the main character as a 15-year-old girl named ‘’ Connie’’, who is obsessed by her beauty and does not get along with her family. The heroine of the story ‘’Connie,’’ engages in an adolescent rebellion against her entourage by acting to appear older. This increases her vulnerability through the story and at the end

In Joyce Carol Oate’s, “Where are you going, Where have you been”, a young teen by the name of Connie is in a stage of what appears to be rebellion. Along with many other teens, Connie’s parent’s oblivion to what she does outside of the house allows it to continue and worsen. Since Connie not being held accountable for her actions, it leads her down paths of destruction. Are Connie’s bad decisions really her fault? Typically, teens do not rebel for fun but there is a deeper meaning behind the actions. In this story, Connie goes out and rebels in search of better things than what she has at home.

Joyce Carol Oates's short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is the story of a fifteen-year-old girl named Connie, a pretty girl who is in the middle of a rebellious adolescence. She alienates herself from her family, preferring to spend her time with her friends at the local restaurant looking for boys. She enjoys the popular music of the day and tries to appear older and sophisticated beyond her years when away from her home. In many ways she is a typical teenager caught between adolescence and adulthood. She avoids sharing too much information with her parents for fear they will not approve of her activities and curtail her freedom. She likes to go to the shopping plaza and hang out at the drive-in across the highway. One evening, she agrees to go for a ride with a boy named Eddie. Connie notices another boy with shaggy black hair in a gold convertible looking at her. "Gonna get you, baby," (Oates, p.37) he tells her. On a Sunday, while her parents are at a picnic at her aunt's house that Connie refused to attend, the boy in the gold convertible drives to her house. He introduces himself as Arnold Friend. Despite her reservations, Arnold eventually persuades Connie to leave her house and go with him. "Now come out through the kitchen to me, honey, and let's see a smile, try it, you're a brave, sweet little girl"¦" (Oates p. 53). Though we never find out exactly who or what Arnold is, he is the

Joyce Carol Oates is an American short-story writer noted for her depictions of violence and evil in modern society. In her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” , she blends a realistic treatment, with horrific portrayal of violence directed to the main character of the story; Connie. Fifteen-year-old Connie spends most of her time hanging out with her friends, and like any other normal girls, she cares for her appearance and seeks acceptance which she can hardly get from her family. Her mother always put her down and praises her sister; June. Her father ignores them in daily life. Connie never feels close to any of her family members, and she prefers life out of home with her friends where she feels free. One day, Connie meets a stranger in a restaurant that tells her “Gonna get you, baby”. Horrified by this encounter, Connie rushes back home and forces herself to forget about that act. On a Sunday, Connie stays at home while her family decides to go out for a barbeque. Connie is shocked to find the stranger who she met the other day, Arnold Friend, driving up to her house and asking her to go for a drive with him. Connie is startled and tells the stranger to go away, but he laughs and tells her that he knows a lot of things about her. The stranger, Arnold Friend, insists on taking Connie for a ride and threatens her that if she did not comply, he would do “terrible things” to her family. He becomes more threatening when he tells her that he would break

In the story Where Are You Going Where Have You Been, the author Joyce Carrol Oates tells about a young girl named Connie who is insecure because her mother constantly compares her to her “perfect” older sister. Connie does not get much attention at home from her family which leads her to become more of a target. Connie goes out with her friends in the beginning of the story and Arnold Friend, a stranger to Connie, watches Connie and her family’s every move and soon learns everything about them. In Where Are You Going Where Have You Been, Oates uses characterization of Connie to foreshadow her eventual kidnapping by Arnold.