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Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Decent Essays

Joyce Carol Oates' short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Connie struggles with the complexities of adolescence and her challenging interactions with the world. Connie's rebellious spirit frequently clashes with her mother's expectations, setting the stage for a fateful encounter with a man named Arnold Friend. Initially appearing charming, Arnold's true intentions gradually reveal themselves to be darker, catching Connie off guard and leading her down a dangerous path. Through a psychoanalytic lens, Oates’ story sheds light on the complexities of individual identity and desires. Psychoanalytic criticism is heavily based on the ideas of Sigmund Freud, a neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis. Many of his ideas center around sexuality, and …show more content…

Unable to physically leave, Connie begins to dissociate herself and her surroundings. She screams and cries, until eventually “she was hollow with what had been fear but what was now just an emptiness” (Oates 10). Connie is disconnected from herself, and makes the unconscious decision to go with Arnold. As she leaves her house, “she watched herself push the door slowly open as if she were back safe somewhere in the other doorway, watching this body and this head of long hair moving out into the sunlight” (Oates 11). Her fate is left up to the imagination of the reader, though it is clear Connie does not have a happy ending. By employing ideas and concepts of psychoanalytic criticism, it is evident that “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a story about unconscious desires and individual struggles. Connie represents young girls everywhere, wanting to escape the constraints that society has placed on them, but struggling to figure out who they are and what they really

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