Marilyn Oates Three Girls

“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.

Unfortunately, such a quality is present in many young girls of this generation as they may not receive any attention from individuals in their lives, which leaves them to be fascinated by people, even strangers, who give them such desired attention. Arnold Friend also gets Connie to notice him through his flamboyant gold convertible and his mysterious yet stylish physical appearance. However, with a closer look, Connie realizes that Arnold Friend’s flashy car is just a “convertible jalopy painted gold”, his shabby black hair is likely a wig, his tall stature likely simulated by stilts or heels, and his fashionable clothing articles unlikely his as nothing fitted him properly. Nevertheless, this attribute from the piece demonstrates how not everything is as it seems from its first glance. Such a literary text also highlights how beauty impacts an individual’s impression and actions as Connie notices Arnold Friend’s “beauty”, at first, and Connie’s youthful beauty compels Arnold Friend to want to pursue

Marilynne K. Roach is a resident of Watertown, Massachusetts. She went on to graduate with a BFA from MCA (Massachusetts College of Art) but she uniquely gives credit to the public library systems for the rest of her education. This is very interesting to me because she says that libraries are what she owes to her education to. Because of all the books she reads she later turns out to be a great book writer herself. The library system really did impact Marilynne’s life drastically. But besides illustrating other writers work in history she also has written and illustrated many books of her own, this including “Six Women of Salem”.

Evaluation: This article is useful to me because Barstow effectively shows the theme of loss innocence by using thorough examples to show Connie’s carelessness. Barstow seems to enjoy Oates’ use of childish aspirations, violence, and suspense and relates most of her main points in the article to these ideas. The way she expresses these ideas are very clever and she helps show deeper meaning.

O'Brien's writing style is so vivid, the reader frequently finds himself accepting the events and details of this novel as absolute fact. To contrast truth and fiction, the author inserts reminders that the stories are not fact, but are mere representations of human emotion incommunicable as fact.

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

            Joyce Carol Oates' message of life and transitions is best understood when the reader brings his or her interpretation to meet with the author's intention at a middle ground. This type of

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.

Stanton also discusses how the audience needs to like the main character as well in his quote, “another fundamental thing we learned was about liking your main character.”from his Ted Talk. Within her story, Oates pulls on the heartstrings of the reader by making the main character a naive teenage girl attempting to get home who stumbles into the wrong situation. In the quote, “she was seventeen years old...walking there, alone, her shoulders hunched against the wind...she was asked by this man” from Oates's story,

In the beginning of the story, the way Oates describes Connie’s behaviors help construct Connie’s state of mind as a doubtful and vulnerable young girl. The author perfectly capture the essences of Connie’s character by illustrates how Connie has, “a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right,”

her household she resorts to outside sources, making herself a victim to boys, which creates a

O’Brien also shared another quality that a good story is striking and dramatic. He informs readers that “even if one’s goal is to depict ordinary human beings in ordinary human settings, a story must find striking, dramatic, and unexpected ways to accomplish

During the dawn of the Second World War, a new era began for women across America. As men departed to fight the war, women were left to fill their void in the workplace. Familiar role models such as “Rosie the Riveter” radiated strength and know-how traits historically emphasized only in men. As woman’s role in society broadened, new visions of attractiveness developed to accommodate this unprecedented aspect of femininity. Raymond Chandler’s portrayal of women in The Big Sleep (1939) highlights these changes in social construction of female sexuality and appeal in the setting of a male dominated society.

One artistic aspect of the book is that Stockett chose to tell the story from three different women’s perspectives. Using this stylistic technique helps keep the reader more engaged in the book. Each woman, whether it be Aibileen, Minny, or Skeeter, uses a

Throughout American Literature, women have been depicted in many different ways. The portrayal of women in American Literature is often influenced by an author's personal experience or a frequent societal stereotype of women and their position. Often times, male authors interpret society’s views of women in a completely different nature than a female author would. While F. Scott Fitzgerald may represent his main female character as a victim in the 1920’s, Zora Neale Hurston portrays hers as a strong, free-spirited, and independent woman only a decade later in the 1930’s.