What Is The Theme Of Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

In the short fiction Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? tells a story about a young 15-year-old girl named, Connie. Connie spends her time meeting boys, lounging around the house and going out with her friends. One night an unusual man makes a threatening gesture to her in the parking lot of a local drive-in restaurant. Until, one day the unusual man pulls up in her driveway in a gold colored car. The man introduces himself as Arnold Friend and asks Connie to join him for a ride. During their conversation, Connie is aware that Arnold is dangerous; his language becomes more sexual and violent, and he warns her that he will hurt her family if she calls the police. In the end, she leaves the house and joins Arnold. Connie is stuck between the lines of her sexual daydreams and reality up until she is entangled among by Arnold Friend and his infatuating music playing in his car. Everything about her had two aspects to it, one when she was at home and one for anywhere but home.

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.

Suddenly her house and kitchen looked like a different place. She tried to call out for help, even tried to call someone on the phone, but Arnold Friend would not let her. As soon as she picked up the phone she felt like Arnold Friend was stabbing her, even though he was standing outside for he promised he would not come inside unless she called someone. This eerie part of the story shows that Arnold Friend is a demonic figure by him just being inside possibly hurting Connie all while standing outside. He threatened her saying that he could hurt her family, or burn her house down which could have meant that he would bring them all to Hell.

In the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, 15-year-old Connie spends most of her time lounging around the house, hanging out with friends, and meeting boys. Connie can be described as someone who rebels against her family. She worries about her looks and appeal while looking to others for approval when she didn’t get it at home. She only knows about the love they sing about in her songs, and not the reality and truth about the world. She thinks nothing of it when a strange guy makes a threatening gesture to her in a parking lot, until one Sunday when he shows up at her house. He introduces himself as Arnold Friend and asks Connie to join him for a ride. During

Throughout the story, Arnold Friend blatantly displays a sense of evil and the devil in disguise. He also maintains the idea that he is sinister and dark and has no business being around Connie. The hidden figure within Arnold Friend is the devil himself in disguise. His manipulation and keen sense of words lures Connie out into the evil. The numbers and the detailed description of

Gillis points out the theme of invasion of space that is displayed throughout Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” The invasion of space plays an important role in Connie’s life. Her home symbolize how vulnerable she is. However, Arnold Friend invaded both Connie’s home and family. Nonetheless, Arnold Friend did not only invade Connie’s home and family, he violated her life, innocence, and private thoughts. In other words, Arnold Friend has closed all the doors of childhood, identity, and innocence in Connie’s life by seducing her into entering the dangerous world of adulthood (66-67).

Was the response Arnold Friend gave to Connie when she questioned who he was and who he knew. At this stage in the development of the story Connie continues to fabricate a barrier between her and the intimidating

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is a short story about a 15-year old girl named Connie that falls in the trap of Arnold Friend. There are many interpretations to this short story, and many arguments have fought back and forth to find out the true inside meaning to find out what the reason was for Joyce Carol Oates to write this story. There are hundreds of analyses for this story out there, but I am going to just be talking about three; “Existential Allegory” by Marie Urbanski, “A Psychoanalysis of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Cameron Lee, and my personal interpretation of this short story.

In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?,” the short story by Joyce Carol Oates, the setting takes place in the suburbs in the 1960’s. During the time period when the story was written, the world was perceived as being more innocent and nobody was as aware of the evil that surrounded them. In the short story, the main character, Connie, spends her summer admiring herself, going out with her friends, and acting way older than her age when she isn’t home. When she comes face to face with her mysterious follower, Arnold Friend, she soon realizes that her way of acting has landed herself into a troublesome situation. The short story is important to read because it shows that even though times have changed, teenagers now still act the way Connie does in the story. Teenagers still sneak around, do things they aren’t supposed to, and have a different personality at home than they do in public.

In the short story “Where are you going,Where have you been”,the author uses three types of imagery techniques throughout the short story. The author makes the story much more appealing by integrating kinesthetic,visual,and auditory. The author creates movement in the short story by adding words for movement. Joyce Carol Oates writes, “They must have been familiar sights, walking around the shopping plaza in their shorts and flat ballerina slippers that always scuffed the sidewalk, with charm bracelets jingling on their thin wrists; they would lean together to whisper and laugh secretly if someone passed who amused or interested them”(pg1). In this quote from the short story,the author uses action verbs like scuffed,walking and lean to describe what the two character are doing in the story.

Joyce Carol Oats demonstrates the theme of fantasy vs reality through imagery, symbolism and allegories in the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been.” Connie a beautiful, wild girl growing up and is wanting to experience the idea of love and freedom from her parent’s nest, but is challenged when met with a “boy” who has no good intentions with her. He knows way too much about her life and challenges her search for independence by challenging her to leave her childhood behind and get in his car. The theme of fantasy vs reality comes into play throughout the story because Connie’s coming of age with Arnold is not what it seems.

he power that the female cultivates in her adolescent years during the prime of her sexual awakening is alarming. The theme of adolescent females not realizing the power that comes with their sexual awakening can be noted in two different short stories, An Ounce of Cure and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

The theme of, “Where Have You Gone,” is about how love is force that guides people together but may not always be present in a relationship mutually. Creating one’s pain even to the reach were the of thought of survival is lost by the dedication of oneself to another, concluding to the progression of life of one, but in the other hand, it will mean the destruction of the other. First of all, the poet choice of title, “Where Have You Gone,” conveys the sense of confusion of the loss then, leading to the poem amplifying the growing confusion, tearing her apart from the inside after her partner left her. Creating the visualization of the emotional pain the poet is going through after dedicating herself to her partner while realizing how miserable

Imagine not feeling comfortable within the body that was given, and having two sides to everything. Well just ask Connie in the short story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? The story was published in 1966. Joyce Carol Oates is not a novelist, her area of expertise are short stories. Some other work of hers would be “By the North Gate” and “The Wheel of Love”. Oates is known for incorporating many symbols and themes throughout her stories such as religion, romance and identity. In Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Connie is faced with multiple obstacles, some that will determine her fate forever. There are predators throughout this gothic story, that test Connie’s morals. Within this story the audience will be exposed to a variety of relationships. Oates depicts the characters of the story as vain, evil, and jealous. The symbolism of religion is extremely significant throughout this story because