Analysis Of Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

In Jamaica Kincaid’s Girl, a mother simultaneously berates her daughter with instructions and teaches her what society expects from her. Kincaid uses repetitive details frequently throughout the story. For example, the mother tells her daughter “how to hem a dress” and “behave in the presence of men” so that the daughter can avoid “looking” and being “recognize[d]” as the “slut” she is “bent on becoming” (437-8). Her mother’s message of avoiding acting ‘slutty’ exposes modern gender stereotypes. The repetitive details suggest that a girl must dress and behave a certain way to avoid being branded a slut.

“Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?” Essay Interpretations regarding the short story “ Where Are You Going ? Where have you been ?” by Joyce Oates have been widely voiced in various critical articles.

Mister wanted Sofia to be inferior to his son by trying to beat her, but Sofia as strong woman manage to fight back and even to Harpo. Sofia moved out with her children due to the rudeness of Mister and Harpo, while Harpo had another girlfriend named Squeak. Sofia was lead to meet Miss Millie, the mayor’s wife who put Sofia to jail due to her insubordination. When Mister’s mistress Shug falls ill, he took her home and made Celie nurse her. The two women initially have quarrels but they turned having intimate relationship with each other.

When she is old and dying, she runs away again to struggle against being sent to a nursing home. Hagar shows woman’s sheer will-power and self-identity. Marian Mcalpin,in Margaret Atwood’s The Edible Woman(1969),who has the engagement with a young lawyer, feels that she is losing herself. Marian is coerced into a more feminine role, which she takes pains to resist so that she keeps running away from her fiancé and the future

“I wish you could persuade Mary not to be always fancying herself ill” (Austen 42). These are Charles Musgrove’s exasperated words to Anne Elliot concerning his valetudinarian wife. Throughout her novel Persuasion, Jane Austen writes much about Mary Musgrove’s grievances against unsuitable conditions, ranging from supposed illness to mistreatment by others. By infusing the caricature of Mary with an unwavering obsession and discontent with her health, reputation and situation, Austen shows that victim mentality leads only to childish and self-serving behavior.

The fact that the Nurse is the one to call out Capulet for his misbehavior clearly shows

Connie is a fifteen-year-old who is trying to make the best of her life by seeking attention from others. Having the attention, she wants makes her feel superior, and make her feel like no one can tear down her ego. The only one trying to tear down her ego is her mother who wants her to be like her older sister June who is the opposite of Connie. She is mature and even helps the family out. For Connie to be taught a lesson of her conceded qualities, she encounters meet Arnold.

These characters lead to a thick plot, narrated by Scout Finch. Because Scout is a mere 8-year-old girl, the reader doesn’t have much insight as to what’s going on. Harper Lee uses innocence in Scout and the other characters in the book to introduce racism, hatred, love, family, unity, and other ideas into the minds of readers. Scout’s family is made up of three people: Calpurnia, Atticus Finch, and Jem Finch.

However, she is unhappily trapped in this new society she advocated for, where her hands have to endlessly knit for wool scarves and also touch flowers that mock her sterility. She has no choice but to support Offred’s and the Commander’s Ceremony for the future of the household. Through illustrating women who do not show solidarity to their gender, Atwood wants the reader to realize how they are also a product of their society, caught in their gender

These images show young girls that cleaning, cooking, and doing the laundry are “female” tasks. In almost every Disney fairy tale, the princess, with minimal effort, manages to capture the heart and affection of a handsome and wealthy prince so they will never have to obtain such duties as cleaning and cooking. In her book, The Sexualization of Childhood, Sharna Olfman explains the various images Disney princesses convey to children. She argues, “The female ideal is a rich white girl who lives in a big house with servants who do the work” (Olfman). Cinderella and Snow White both attain a wealthy lifestyle through marriage, after being saved by a prince.

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.

Karlea Belsey Mrs. Ham English 1302 23 February 2016 “Two Kinds” of Girls “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, written by Joyce Carol Oates in 1970, the main character, Connie, is put in the shadows of her older sister, and she feels as though her mother does not care for her as much as her sister. Connie acts and dresses different when she was away from her family; she tried to fit in with her friends whenever they went to the shopping mall, movies, or to the restaurant across from the mall. On the other hand, in “Two Kinds”, written by Amy Tan in 1989, the main character, Jing Mei, was a Chinese-American whose mother wanted her to be a prodigy in something, and believed that she could be anything that she wanted to be since she was in America. Both of these characters, Connie and Jing Mei, had someone pushing them to do something, but in the end, Connie agreed to her persuasion, while Jing Mei refused.

Connie, the main character in Joyce Carol Oates’ short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a young woman with palpably low self-esteem. This vulnerability allows Arnold Friend, the main antagonist of the story, to successfully attract and manipulate Connie. The story begins by highlighting Connie’s daily rituals of self-assurance (369). In order to feel secure with herself, even for a fleeting moment, Connie looks at herself in a mirror to make sure that she is satisfied with what she sees; this ritual is coupled with her tendency, when in public, to scan the area in order to make sure that no one is making any disgruntled looks about her appearance (369).

In one moment it’s ripped away from them: the only thing keeping them young; the only thing keeping them shielded from the world. It’s the mother watching her fatherless daughter cry over his coffin. It is the boy being slapped by his loving father for the first time. I That thing is known as “loss of innocence”, but is it really a loss? All one loses is their naivety and artlessness.

The Treatment of Women in Literature Since the beginning of time, women have always been considered less than or inferior to men. Although, the treatment of women has improved tremendously and women are seeing more opportunities than ever before, we still have a long way to go. Until recently, the majority of published writers were men and the depiction of women in literature was mainly one sided. No matter what time period or culture, women in literature usually take the back seat to men. The once popular TV drama series, Twin Peaks, which was created in 1990, and Joyce Carol Oates’s short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?,” which was published in 1970, but was probably written in the 50s or 60s, are perfect examples of this.