"Shopping" by Joyce Carol Oates

boys to live out her childish delusions of romance and allows herself to be swept away by this

A relationship between a mother and daughter may not be perfect at all times. There are many things that can make the job of being a mother tough and one of them is being a single mother. In the short story, “Shopping” by Joyce Carol Oates there is no exception to modern day hardships that come along the road of motherhood. The turbulence in Nola and Mrs. Dietrich relationship is shown during their shopping trip to the mall where Nola hardly speaks to her mother. Mrs. Dietrich refuses to let go of the child inside Nola.

A mother’s words are the ones that ring loudest in a child’s ear, are passed down from generation to generation, and the one’s that hold a special place in a child’s memory and heart forever. Expectations and guidelines are set at a young age. Morals and values are learned throughout the years, and life lessons are taught through the wisdom passed down from a mother to a daughter. Every mother has a wish for their daughter to be the best they can be. But at what point does instruction and wisdom become simply words that have been said one too many times? The short story “Girl,” written by Jamaica Kincaid is presented to the reader as a list of instructions from a mother to a daughter on how to live life to the

Not every story is 100% original. Many stories are inspired by older stories, fairy tales, archetypes, real life events, etc. There are thousands of stories in the world, so newer stories will likely be like at least a few of them. One such story is “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. In this story, a man who calls himself Arnold Friend tries to victimize another character, who is a 15-year-old girl named Connie. The inspiration for this story is clear. Arnold Friend is very similar to The Big Bad Wolf from 2 different fairy tales, “The Three Little Pigs,” and “Little Red Riding Hood.” for various reasons, including threats, acting, and disguises. Evidence of this is interspersed throughout the story.

In the story “Approximations” by Mona Simpson, Carol is the weaker parent due to the fact that she yells at, criticizes, and tells Melinda information that Melinda does not need to know and is materialistic.

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.

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.

Annie Dillard, in “A Christmas Story,” expresses the difference between seeing and understanding, and simply looking without understanding. She begins the story by describing an extravagant banquet. This banquet took place in a hall filled with chandeliers, decorated tables, and centerpieces. Young adults and adolescents were present, while musicians entertained the guests.

The relationship between a mother and a daughter is one of complications, heartaches, and sweet rewards.  This is no exception between Nola and Mrs. Dietrich, characters in "Shopping" by Joyce Carol Oates.  The tribulations of their relationship are shown during their annual shopping trip.  In the time spent together, Nola is obviously trying to break free from her mother and become her own woman.  This coming-of-age path is expressed by her "private thoughts" and  "answers in monosyllables" (Oates 834).  As Nola desperately tries to acquire her own self, her Mrs. Dietrich desperately tries to hang onto the child in Nola.  She tries to stay in her

When the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have you Been?” written by Joyce Carol Oates was first published, there were many controversies to the theories and interpretations regarding the story. According to the author Oates, the inspiration of the story was based on “the tale of Charles Schmid, a twenty-three-old from Tucson who cruised teenage hangouts, picking up girls for rides in his gold convertible. Eventually, he murdered three of them, while other teenagers served as accomplices” (Coleman et al. 211). With knowing such fact of where the author got her inspiration, there is a clear understand to why many critics have suggested that the antagonist in the story, Arnold Friend, represents: feminist allegory, fear of the adult world, rebellion against the conformity, and symbolism of monster or even Satan.

such as " I toldja shut up, Ellie," and "your deaf, get a hearing aid,

The Martha Rules follows in the footsteps of Martha Stewart, where she analyzes and suggests many strong features in the business world and in life as well. Looking into the business world, I saw it from a student point of view; scary, intimidating, and uneasy to figure out. Analyzing the title, The Martha Rules, I expected a book with a multitude of rules that would be explained minimally with little experience and background. From watching Martha Stewart, I understood her fame account and her role in television shows, news, and cooking. The Martha Rules brought to my attention the impact Martha Stewart brought to the business world as well as television, real estate, and other areas while learning through different experiences what it

The mother-daughter relationship is often scrutinized, publicized, and capitalized on. Whether from tell-all biographies, to humorous sit-coms, or private therapy sessions, this particular relationship dynamic gives some of the most emotion-activating memories. When female authors reflect and write about their relationships with their mothers, they have a tendency to taint their reflections with the opinions they have as an adult, reviewing the actions of their mother when they were young. These opinions set the tone of the story independently and in conjunction with the relationship itself and manifest in creative literary styles that weave an even more intricate story. Case in point, when reviewing the two literary works “I Stand Here

- Not just daughters, but all children usually seek affirmation and approval growing up. If they didn't get such things or if someone was always critical of them they will carry it with them through their adult life, often causing many insecurities.

In the pieces “The Eye” by Alice Munro and “Girl” written by Jamaica Kincaid, both writings go into depth explaining the relationships between mother and daughter on how much it impacts the roles of women in society. In Alice Munro’s story, the mother and daughter's relationship starts to change once she starts to gain siblings in her life. Once this occurs, the mother tells her how she's supposed to feel. Unfortunately, she does not feel the same way that leads her admiring someone else who makes her own choices in life. In Jamaica Kincaid's piece, it shows us on how to follow these specific rules, to be able to live life as a woman that is being told by the mother to her daughter. Both of these pieces show how much these mother and daughter relationships affect their child's on what their women role will be in the future.