Be Careful What You Wish For For Connie and Dave to desire to be mature and free is one thing, for them to get it and end up not wanting what they wished for is another and not knowing what to do with it is also another thing as well. Connie the main character in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, and Dave the main character in “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” by Richard Wright have similar hungers but have been put in different circumstances to want such liberation. Connie, age fifteen craves to be mature though at home she acts pure, “she wore a pullover jersey blouse that looked one way when she was at home and another way when she was away from home” (Oates page 5). Connie has a two-sided personality a brat at home and a loose goose at night. Not very close to her family members, she sort of ignores them and does her own thing and she also has very little conversation. Her mother and she have tension and her father rarely sees her, he works and sleeps “Stop gawking at yourself, who are you? You think you’re so pretty” (Oates page 4). Connie mostly keeps up with her own personal life more than …show more content…
Whut’s the use talkin wide m niggers in the field” (Wright page 25). The other field hands obviously do not treat him with respect due to his age as he thinks, so he then decides he wants to be a man to receive respect he believes he deserves. Dave who has a similar background as Connie such as having little conversation with family members; his mom sees him when he is done working the field and while eating supper and his dad only cares about what Dave’s boss thinks of him and if he the boss is not pleased with Dave, then that is when the father steps in, so the closeness in family from both characters are not presented
The line comes from the Joyce Carol Oates' story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? " I believe the author is referring to how her family and her friend perceive here. Connie sees herself while at home as dull and quiet compared to the rebellious and outgoing look she presents to her friends. It appears that that neither groups, family or friends, know who she really is. I believe its natural for you to act one way with you friends and another way with your family.
She begins to notice positive aspects about Maggie and learns to enjoy her company. She does not pine over Dee because she knows that she did not really care for her family so it is not Mama’s loss but Dee’s. Connie however, when faced with a threatening man thinks, “I’m not going to see my mother again… I’m not going to sleep in my bed again” (Oates 463). Here is when she realizes that her mother is important to her because she is the first person she thought of when in this dangerous
From the beginning, a tone of disappointment and oppressiveness covered the story. Connie always has to deal with criticism from her mother, ignorance from her father, and comparison with her sister. The author gives the readers a tone of suffocation and struggles from within her own house and how her family members treat her. As the story progresses, the author is changing his tone from oppressive to suspenseful and anxious. At this time, Connie's meeting with Arnold Friend is taking place.
The reason why Connie lies to her parents about where she is going to spend time with her friend is because she wants to be having fun going out to places and act older. By her going out makes her feel like she finally has freedom and living the life how she think she is supposed to
The story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, is a one where the idea of how girl who struggles with wanting to be a mature woman, faces her demon full form. The protagonist of the story is Connie, a 15-year-old rebel girl, obsessed with her look; and through fault of her own, meets the antithesis of herself, the antagonist of the story, Arnold Friend. Connie seeks to be a mature adult and desires an emancipation from her family. Seeing herself as mature woman through the desires of her attraction by other boys and men, as well as her mother. Its this same desire which acts as the main fault for her character.
Connie in Joyce Carol Oates’s story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” desperately wants to be independent from her family, while Gregor Samsa in Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” pathetically yearns for inclusion. In this story, Oates pays special attention to the mother-daughter relationship and the lack of meaningful communication between them. Connie's mother is an image of the future Connie doesn't want – the life of a domestic housewife. Connie has a love-hate relationship with her mother, with whom she identifies, but at the same time she has to distance herself from her mother in order to establish her independence. On the other hand, The Metamorphosis, a story by Franz Kafka, is about a man who has been transformed into a giant beetle
Similarly, her dad does not have much of a relationship with her either. “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 didn’t bother talking much to them…(Chopra).” This lack of Connie’s parents playing positive roles in her life led to her trying to seek attention elsewhere, causing her to become more susceptible to predators. “...but sometimes they went across the highway, ducking fast across the busy road, to a drive-in restaurant where older kids hung out.
William Fairbairn is known for postulating that libido unlike what Freud said is object seeking and not pleasure seeking. He said our search for relationships is more primitive than the desire to gratify them. Fairbairn’s structural model proposes, “that the libido is not primarily aimed at pleasure, but at making relationships with others.” Fairbairn’s internal objects are formed directly from actual experiences with external objects. For Fairbairn, badness is the internalization of parents who are actually depriving or rejecting.
In the coming of age story “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates uses symbolism, conflict, and the third person to foreshadow fifteen-year-old Connie’s unfortunate, yet untimely fate. While one may think that the conflict stems from Connie’s promiscuity, it is clear to see her promiscuity is only a result to a much bigger conflict, her mother’s constant nagging and disapproval, alongside the lack of attention from her father. the author paints a vivid picture of what happens when a fifteen-year-old girl such as Connie goes elsewhere to find to find the love, attention, and approval that she lacks at home. All which is vital for her growth and wellbeing as a person.
A need or want for power has always been prevalent in humankind. In Richard Wright’s “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”, the protagonist, Dave, of the short story is on a quest to acquire power and respect. Dave tries to acquire these values through the owning of a firearm in which he is met with obstacles and complex situations. These obstacles and complex situations express Dave’s struggles to become a man through the symbolism of the gun, the imagery of both Jenny’s death and the night Dave left, and the characterization of Dave’s struggles for manhood and his decision to board the train. Symbolism is a very strong and emphasized theme in “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”.
Connie does this because she needs to be reassured that she is in fact pretty. On top of this, Connie acknowledges that her beauty is “everything”(1). This statement implies that if perhaps Connie was not beautiful, she would have nothing. Furthermore, when Arnold Friend pulls up at Connie’s house, her heart begins to pound not because there is a stranger at her door, but because she is “wondering how bad she looked”(2). Even when faced with possible danger,
In Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Connie is a fifteen-year-old girl, who does not necessarily get along with her family. During the week, she often times goes to a shopping plaza with some of her friends. However, they sneak across the highway to go to a popular diner where the older crowd hangs out at. At home, Connie is often times arguing with her family. One day her family is invited to her aunt's barbecue but Connie refuses to go.
“But now her looks were gone and that was why she was always after Connie.” (Oates ). Also, there is another opportunity for friendship within the family, between Connie and her sister, however, that is lost in their rivalry and hostility. “Her sister was so plain and chunky and steady that Connie had to hear her praised all the time – by her mother and her mother's sisters.” ( ).
Connie’s first encounter with Friend was at a diner when he stated to Connie, “Gonna get you, baby”(pg.1142). Because Connie was use to this type of attention, she did not view it as strange that an older man was calling her in such away. However, if Connie had seen Friend as dangerous instead of just another man, her kidnapping might have been prevented. Later in the story when Friend showed up as Connie’s house, she walked outside and talked to him instead of questioning how he knew where she lived or calling the police. Oates described Connie's interaction with Friend by stating,“Connie liked the way he was dressed, which was the way all of them dressed: tight faded jeans stuffed into black, scuffed boots, a belt that pulled his waist in and showed how lean he was, and a white pullover shirt that was a little soiled and showed the hard muscles of his arms and shoulders”(pg.1145).
That is the main reason why Connie wants to leave with the first person who asks her to do so. From him she feels the attention that likes very much and does not receive from her family members. She does not feel supported by anyone in the family; everyone only criticizes her, tells her that her own sister is much