Abuela Invents The Zero Analysis

The character Connie in Joyce Carol Oates short story “Where Are Going, Where Have You Been?” has a lot of issues. The problems Connie has with her social life, family, and the people that she talks to come to control her future which anticipates the development of her character, this correlating to her unfortunate death. The Bob Dylan song “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” perfectly describes her situation which was the inspiration for Oates 's story. In 'Where Are You Going Where Have You Been ' music is a big influence on Connie and Friend specifically rock ‘n ' roll music. Throughout this story, there are plenty of references to music becoming a lifestyle and characters mimicking their favorite artists ' clothing trends. The revolution

“We all decry prejudice, yet are all prejudiced,” said Herbert Spencer, a famous philosopher. Prejudice is frequent everywhere and difficult to stop. It is very difficult to destroy something in someone’s mind, and it will inevitably be expressed through various methods with different degrees of subtlety. Any expression of this can hurt. Subsequently, in Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, the main theme is that prejudice is everywhere, and can be of varying degrees.

“Don 't make a permanent decision for your temporary emotion”. This quote speaks volumes when analyzing one’s daily activities and how decision making is an influential piece to those activities. Human beings are obligated to make decisions every day--some that are made impulsively--but they do not at all reflect one’s actual character. Many people often often predetermine one’s character/morality based off of an incautious decision, but remain oblivious to the reasoning behind the choice that was made. Although one’s choices can be either detrimental or benign to their lives, they have no correlation with their true disposition.

In Abuela Invents the Zero by Judith Cofer, a common theme would be respect. If you don’t respect others, you can’t respect yourself. To begin, Constancia, Abuela’s granddaughter, shows disrespect toward her grandmother multiple times throughout the story. In the beginning of the story , when connie was waiting for her grandmother at the airport, Constancia doesn’t feel like she is close to her grandmother. She is constantly embarrassed to even be seen with her grandmother.One piece of evidence that points to this is,”Right up to the time when we’re supposed to pick up the old lady at the airport, my mother is telling me stories about how hard times were for la familia on la isla, and how la abuela worked night and day to support them after their father died of a heart attack” (Cofer 2). This shows that from the very beginning constancia has no respect for her grandmother and is ashamed of her. She calls her “the old lady” instead of her grandmother. She also does not have much sympathy for her grandmother considering her difficulty at home.

The “heroine” of the short story Where Are You Going Where Have You Been written by Joyce Carol Oates has been interpreted in many different ways by many different authors across the globe. They all have their own opinions on why Connie had left her home and walked into the arms of Arnold Friend. Larry Rain makes the argument that Connie was a noble heroine that “chooses the side with the devil [to save her family]” (Rain Gale). It seems like a valid argument and paints Connie as a much more heroic figure than many believe, but it begins to fall apart once her character is actually examined. Through her actions and emotions, Connie shows traits of a passive victim by completely submitting to Arnold, being mentally broken by him, and by barely attempting to retaliate

The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates can be interpreted in a multitude of ways due to its ambiguity. A psychological lens, however, provides the most accurate viewpoint for analyzing the story as it clarifies certain obscure scenes and actions of Connie.

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” is about a teenager named Connie who is trying to come to terms with her transformation from childhood to adulthood. Through this process, Connie attempts to act older than she is an tries to gain the attention of boys. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Oates portrays Connie as obsessed with men to symbolize how one’s obsession and narcissistic attitude can cause danger to seem surreal.

As I was growing up, I would adore going shopping and spending time with my family. But at times, my parents would do something odd and bizarre, such as talk really loud or argue with an employee. Their ridiculous actions would make me feel embarrassed and just want to stand somewhere far, far away from them. In the fictional short story “Abuela Invents The Zero”, Judith Ortiz’s main character, Constancia, feels the same way as me, humiliated. In addition, when she had to take her Abuela to church, she started to pray really loud and make a fool out of herself. At that moment, she just wanted for her grandmother to go away. In the end, Abuela is infuriated and enraged at Connie for treating her so incompetently. Because we both had similar experiences and thoughts, we both learned the same moral. Unlike the way we both acted, family should be valued because it is more important than pride.

A good person is someone who is compassionate and shows honesty and integrity, while an evil person is someone who does not care about the needs of others. In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, the main character Connie encounters a mysterious man in the parking lot of a diner. He later shows up at her house, tells her to go for a ride in his car with him, and introduces himself as Arnold Friend. After Connie speaks to him for a while, she realizes that he is a threat. Oates uses Arnold Friend to convey evil through symbolism and figurative language. In this story, Arnold Friend is evil and acts like the devil because of how he manipulates Connie and uses of temptation.

As the wise philosopher Albert Camus once said: “The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding” ("Albert Camus."). In the captivating short story Where Are You Going, Where Are you Been? Joyce Carol Oates is trying to show the readers that beauty and vanity can be sometimes harmful. Bored and tired of being ordinary, and still being treated as a child, the main character engaged in a rebellion that think will make her look older, more like an adult. The author also shows the readers how Connie’s obsession with her beauty, her dreaminess and carelessness of the world made her more ignorant and lack awareness. That also made her become more vulnerable to the real dangers and the evilness that exists in the world. That danger was represented by an old man who pretends to be an eighteen year old boy that seduced and kidnaped Connie. The end of the story Joyce Carol Oates leaves it open to the readers, because that way it makes the reader think of what might have happened, whether she got raped or whether she is killed, after the main character leaves with the antagonist of the story. Oates shows that ignorance, narcissism and the lack of

Smooth Talk is slightly based on Joyce Carol Oates’ story titled “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” but isn’t as straightforward and frankly gruesome. The story focuses on the 1960’s suburbia from a teenagers perspective. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” focuses on topics relevant in the 1960’s including the Sexual Revolution. Oates’ focuses on major issues and topics such as feminism, sexual freedom, and adolescent sexuality.

Apparent in the beginning stages of the short story, Connie despises her sister, June, for the glory she receives for being the reliable child. She hates her mother for liking her sister more than her,

Back long ago before we had books or even computers we socialized with each other, We sat around the dinner table or a fire and told stories from start to finish. We didn't just speak to tell the stories, we also used visuals such as pictures. The pictures were used to engage the audience into the storie. During the book Yellow Raft In Blue Water the author Michael Dorris covers many different topics, he goes over the struggle with racism, the power struggle, the struggle with appearances, and the struggle of an inescapable reality. The author Michael Dorris, who is Native American, writes this book so it focuses around the lives of three Native American women. Each women has there own section that they narrate

The main principle of utilitarianism is happiness. People who follow this theory strive to fulfill the “ultimate good”. The “ultimate good” is defined as ultimate pleasure with out any pain. It is said that the pleasure can be of any quantity and any quality, but pleasures that are weighted more important are put at a higher level than others that are below it. This ethical theory also states that if society would fully embrace utilitarianism then people would naturally realize their moral standing in the

In what ways would you transform when presented with a life or death situation? In the prevailing and fast-paced short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joan Carol Oates we find out how much a person can change when crucial and demanding situations arise. In this short story the self-indulged protagonist, Connie will have to face her worse nightmares that she believed would be her ultimate fantasy. Connie is a fifteen-year-old girl who, like most young women, are ruled by their hormones and budding sexualities. She is a flighty teen who does not get along with her family and wishes to be an adult. At first glance, we are made to believe that Connie is a static character through her infuriating naivety and cliché persona. When we delve into the story we see the altruistic and sincere characteristics, which