Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Arnold Friend’s layers of deception. Connie’s blindness is the pretext of her loss of innocence

In Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" it portrays the confusing nature of sexuality. A story set in the America of mid-1900s. A conflict of morals characterized this time, especially sexually related ones. There was a hot debate on the topic of sexuality among adolescents. The roles of women were being challenged and quickly changing. This story describes a psychosexual episode between a male predator and the protagonist, a female

Once Arnold Friend unexpectedly arrives to Connie’s house, “her fingers snatched at her hair, checking it, and she whispered, ‘Christ. Christ,” wondering how bad she looked” (3). Connie thought she recognized the mysterious man in the driver’s seat, the kind of guy she is used to attracting. She saw his hair as

Winslow. “For Arnold proposes to become her lover and to initiate her fully into sexuality.” (Winslow) Connie does not respond willingly to Arnold’s proposal, she calls him crazy and regresses into her house and covers her ears in an attempt to block something she was not meant or ready to hear. “Her feelings cause her to associate Arnold with danger, nightmare, and death... Connie is moving tentatively toward an experience she...will be unable to handle emotionally.”

When Connie first hears a car pulling up in her driveway, her attention is immediately directed to her hair and looks. She isn’t concerned as much about who is outside or what they want, but how see will look to them. When she initially sees Arnold she is attracted to his style and car. He is muscular in tight faded jeans and a drives a bright gold jalopy. His image is everything that Connie has fantasized about and can relate to. Arnold is even playing

The Cultural Revolution and Sexual Desires in Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”

These factors allow her to successfully hide a dual life style. As the story begins to unfold, the reader learns Connie begins to assert her will and independence, by making tentative moves towards womanhood by developing a second, more adult persona to complement her growing independence. The arrival of the antagonist of the story Arnold Friend, begins the tumultuous, and nail biting climb to the climax of the story and the ultimate theme. As the image of Arnold Friend becomes clearer, the reader becomes more suspicious possibly, because the antagonist could be seen as the main character’s subconscious version of her own desires and dreams. However, as reality hits, and all the characteristics that she recognizes in him: his muscular physique, shaggy black hair, and hawk-like facial features, do not come together the way they should.

Figuring out who you are as a teenager can be very difficult. In the story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? By Joyce Carol Oates this is evident with the main character Connie. Connie, a young fifteen year old, has a split personality that while at home seems like a normal teenager, yet outside of her home she is very sexual; she manages to keep them separate until Arnold shows up at her home unwelcomed. In the story Connie is a young girl who is trying to feel alive and be popular, in the process she discovers that trying to be popular can be scary and not worth losing who you are in the process. Connie has two personalities; while at home she is the normal teenage girl but once out with friends she is very sexual, and when two are

Through its contrasting reality and dreamlike scenes, Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” uses details from a true American horror story to convey a message about society, youth and a loss of innocence. Arizona native Charles Schmid murdered Alleen Rowe on May 31, 1964. Schmid was considered a serial killer and was subsequently arrested and convicted of the heinous crimes that he was accused of. The profile of Schmid as a short man who wore makeup, wigs and altered boots to make

In Joyce Carol Oates’s short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” the author sets the feeling of danger and uncertainty stemming from events occurring throughout the story with the utilization of themes from Thomas C. Foster’s “ How to Read Literature Like a Professor” specifically with references to seasons, the bible, and significant symbolisms.

After coming to the realization she is not safe, Connie utters “What are you going to do?”, which is her last word. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates and Connie portrays the protagonist. Connie’s parents were present in her life, which made her stray away and become independent. She wants attention from boys, until she realizes that may not be a good idea when Arnold Friend shows up at her house while her parents leave the house. Friend, around the age of 30, tries to get her to come with him until she ends up being taken out into the woods by him and his friend to be possibly raped and murdered.

During the conversation between Connie and Arnold Friend, she experiences a dramatic moment so intense that it cannot be avoided or ignored. Her attempt was creating a sexy appearance and fascinating the boys in the local diner delivers as her experiment to analyze new fields as well as a new side of herself. However, until Arnold comes into the story, her expeditions have always been closed into security. She may go into an dark alley with a boy for a short period, but no matter what happens there,

Arnold then starts listing details of her life that no stranger would know about her. Connie panics as she notices that there’s something wrong with this man. “His smile faded, she could see then that he wasn't a kid, he was much older—thirty, maybe more. At this knowledge her

A short story titled "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" tells a tale of an adolescent girl who suffers consequences of growing up in the unsupportive environment and the society preoccupied by the media. It is considered to be the most famous work of Joyce Carol Oates, an American writer, the winner of many significant literary awards and a two- time candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. The story was first published in the fall of 1966. It is dedicated "to Bob Dylan", as though, after having heard Dylan's song "It's all over now, Baby Blue" Oates got inspiration for the story. She was also influenced by the article about Charles Schmid, a twenty-

In the short story "Where are you going where have you been?" by Joyce Carol Oats and the song Wake Up by EDEN, the author and the artist both show the thematic concepts on how fantasies come to an end, and when reality hits, it hits hard.