Relationship Between Arnold Friend And Connie In Joyce Carol Oates 'Smooth Talk'

In the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You been?” by Oates Connie's mother appears not to care about her daughter because she's envious of her daughter's beautiful looks. Chopra instead portrays the mother being concerned about Connie, and the daughter who is against her. This difference is noted in a review by Oates about the film when she states that the film mostly revolves around Connie and her mother instead of Connie alone and this is how the film differs from the story. Oates also notes that the jealousy towards Connie is missing

A door to the beginning of her outcome is all that divides Connie in, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” from Arnold Friend, the devilish predator. Symbolism takes a big part in this story that gives a deeper meaning to Connie’s choices that ultimately extent to giving herself to Arnold. The author, Joyce Carol Oates in the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” represents Arnold Friend as the real world by being challenging and malicious, and Connie as the innocent world by being defenseless and naive.

"Where are you going where have you been?" is a short story about a young 15 year old girl who is trying to fit in with the rest of the world, and is very preoccupied with her appearance and living in this pop cultural fantasy. Connie is always ignoring her mother 's criticism about wanting her to be more like her older sister, June, who is no longer living a life of fantasy and has her act together.. One night, a boy named Eddie invites Connie to eat dinner with him, and Connie leaves her friend at the restaurant’s counter to go with him. As Connie and Eddie leave the restaurant, she sees a man in a gold convertible in the parking lot. He smiles at her and says, “Gonna get you, baby.”. Connie confused, walks away quickly confused not really knowing what actually happened, and Eddie notices nothing. They spend three hours of their night at dinner, and end up going to a nearby alley living in that fantasy of being that mature woman who knows what a man wants. One day, Connie 's parents and June leave her at home to go to a family barbeque leaving her all by herself. While she was at home alone, she was listening to her radio when out of nowhere she hears a car pull up to the front of her house. Startled, she looks out of the window to see

The tone of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is very serious and ironic, starting as she daydreams to the tone when the violence rises in Connie’s encounter with Arnold Friend, which is kind of ironic since his last name is friend but he is no “Friend” at all. And how the title of the story emphasizes how Connie’s parents never asked her those question or cared where she goes. From the symbols to the imagery being used it shows how the tone escalates later in the story when Connie meets Arnold, from a calm to a serious tone.

One of the differences is the father. In the short story the father is not involved in Connie’s life as much as he should be. “Their father was away at work most of the time and when he came home he wanted supper and he read the newspaper at supper and after supper he went to bed. He did not t bother talking much to them” (Oates 1). They changed in role in the movie. He is more involved in her life in the movie. He talks to Connie about her and her mother's relationship, he is concerned about Connie being on the side of the road, and he tried to steer Connie in the right direction.

Connie, the protagonist of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, is a character who goes through a traumatic experience in her life. Her encounter with the antagonist, Arnold Friend, permanently changes her selfish innocence and challenges her way of thinking. With an unsupportive family and shallow friends, Connie lacks a strong moral foundation and is self-absorbed. Connie’s character, by the end of the story, changes through her encounter with Arnold Friend. Connie transforms from a selfish, shallow character to one of self-awareness.

In the story of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” the main character Connie, is always caught up in her appearance. She is nothing like her sister who is said to be the “perfect” child. The mother always says how she wishes she could be like her sister, and Connie wishes that she and her mother were dead. Connie’s friend’s father drives them to a shopping plaza but they always end up going to a restaurant and meet with boys. She then finds a boy named Eddie where she eats with him and goes to an alley with him, where Connie sees a man say to her, “Gonna get you,

Each author designs the characters to stand out in the culture around them. Connie, in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” is a vein, conceited, teenage girl who frequently fibs to her friends’ parents about what they have been doing and their whereabouts. Even though this probably seems pretty ideal to your definition of an unruly American teenager, Connie is much more

Before we can analyze Connie’s interaction with Arnold Friend, we must first look at how immaturity affects her behavior on a daily basis. Since she is only able to focus on her social status, Connie often acts vain. She is consistently glancing back at her reflection to make sure is still pretty. She wants to remain young and beautiful, two qualities that are important to her. This demonstrates her immaturity by illustrating how she is afraid to become an adult. As Connie turns to check her appearance in every mirror, she is looking back into the past rather than the future. She is

Connie, the girl that every guy wants but only a few are lucky to get, is quite possibly one of the most cliche characters in literature. She’s a two-faced, insecure girl with a smart mouth and resentment towards her family members. In the beginning of the story, Oates sets the scene with Connie out with her friend, whom she then ditches to hang out with some random guy she met at the diner. Everything seems to be going predictably, until the unimaginable happens when Arnold Friend pulls into her driveway, beckoning her to come outside since he knows her family isn’t home. He knows this because he has convinced himself that Connie is in love with him, and he wants her so bad that he has been stalking her for who knows how long. In Where are you going, Where have you been?, Oates uses the cunning and charismatic Arnold Friend along with the insecure Connie to foreshadow the horrible fate that is met.

In Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’, the main protagonist Connie is displayed as a person with split personalities. She defies the roles of being a daughter and sister, and acts as a “nice” girl to hide her sexual persona. A side of her that only shows when she is away from both her family and home. She’s your average teenager, mainly concerned about her looks, music, her friends, she flirts with boys, and even explores her sexuality. Because of the fact that she is one way at home and an entirely different way elsewhere, when Arnold Friend arrived at her house both her personalities were forced to merge. By Arnold’s coming into her home, it is realized that Connie is not as mature as she believes she is, and once

Although both the movie and short story showed the harsh mother-daughter relationship Smooth Talk added a very small twist. The twist was that Connie and her mom got along and painted the house together and also hugged. The biggest family difference is that in Smooth Talk June and her dad were a part of Connie’s life. A small connection formed between Connie and June. Especially in the end when the sisters danced together. Connie’s dad was in the house physically, but not mentally. He did not do a good job of being a father, which caused Connie to choose a path of exploration.

We all know what Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? tells us in black and white, but the real debate however is what it implies. There are many theories of what the underlying meaning of Where Are You, Going Where Have You Been? In this great debate there is only one real world situation that could have actually occurred in the story. That theory is that the entire part about Arnold Friend is a dream. The section of the story I have chosen unquestionably proves that Connie is in fact dreaming.

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” perfectly portrays the average adolescent’s awkward ascent into adulthood. Connie shows quickly that she works hard to improve her physical appearance so that she can attract

Joyce Chopra and Tom Cole adapted the film. A great deal of emotion was focused on the relationship between Connie and her mother (Johnson 150). The original story had little to do with that relationship. Chopra found it necessary to alter want she called the story’s “unfilmable” conclusion (Wesley 255-62).