Beauty By Joyce Carol Oates Analysis

A couple weeks ago I was left home alone. My mom went out to Los Angeles and my brother slept over his friend's house. I went down stairs to get a glass of water. I heard the sound of the garage being opened . I gave it a second before checking to see what is was because the person who would have opened the garage should have came in already.There was no one. The garage continuously opened and closed for a good 10 minutes but eventually stopped. To this day I still don't know what or who opened the garage.  This was supposed to be a nice and relaxing night by myself , but it quickly transformed into a aggravating night I do not want to have again. Transformation obviously creates fear. This can be seen in the following three stories as well. Oate’s “Where is here”,Arthur Tress’ “Dream Collector” and Julio Cortazar’s “House Taken Over” uses transformation of an ordinary person and an ordinary setting to show us how easily circumstances can change .

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

“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.

Carol Joyce Oates’ “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” presents how falling into temptation leads to giving up control and innocence. Though her mother is unapproving of her actions, Connie spends her time seeking attention from male strangers. Home alone, Connie is approached by a compelling creature who convinces her to leave her life and join him on his unknown journey. Through disapproving her family, having multiple appearances, listening to music, and her desperation to receive attention from boys, Connie gives up control of herself losing the purity of adolescents and contributing to her detrimental fate. It is imperative that one should not be controlled because of a desire to impress others.

Folktales have been told for generations and are part of many cultures. Parents use them to teach a moral, to give a lesson to their children and to entertain them with a good story. The original folktales have been censored for the pleasure of the public while still keeping the moral. From “The Little Riding Hood” to “Rapunzel”, folktales all share common traits and structures which can easily be seen throughout their stories. Similarly, the writer of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Joyce Carol Oates uses many elements commonly known folktales to develop her story, using their characteristics to create connections with the readers’ past knowledge from folktales. While she uses different qualities of folktales, the archetypical Innocent, Vilain, and

In the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie met another character named Arnold Friend. Throughout their interactions Connie evolves in the story. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Connie evolves as a character through Connie's relationship with her mother, interactions with Friend, and her emotional and physical status.

To initiate, people maintain their power by having control over bodies as shown in the book “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates and the short story “Where have you been? Where are you going?” by Joyce Carol Oates. Coates describes how white people have maintained their power within society through the following quote: “As for now, it must be said that the process of washing the disparate tribes white, the elevation of the belief in being white, was not achieved through wine tasting and ice cream socials, but rather through the pillaging of life, liberty, labor and land; through the flaying of backs; the chaining of limbs; the strangling

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. Consistently presenting a self-absorbed attituded (like a typical teen), while still presenting the want

Joyce Carol Oates’ story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” includes several aspects that could easily be analyzed and interpreted in different ways. One of the most important and perhaps more obvious aspects is Oates’ character Connie. Connie’s home life, safe place, and epiphany moment are all key components to understanding the story and its meaning.

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

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

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.

Parents play a very important role in the lives of their children. If parents do it in the right way, it positively impacts children’s mental and emotional condition. One of the main characters from the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie, does not have that kind of relationships with her parents, with who she can share her thoughts or who to get a good advice from. The main reason of all Connie’s mental and emotional problems is that her parents do not play a good role model for her and compare with the older sister.

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.

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