“Connie would raise her eyebrows at these familiar old complaints and look right through her mother, into a shadowy vision of herself as she was right at that moment: she knew she was pretty and that was everything.” Much of who Connie really is surrounded by her physical beauty. She gets criticism from her
She is obsessed with her looks and often fantasizes about all the boys she meets. Even taking pleasure in the feeling of rejecting them. Connie knows that she is always being compared to her sister June who her mother is
The short story doesn’t give us much background on the characters; so their names tell the rest of their story. First off, Connie, the main character, has a very subtle, and somewhat controversial, hidden meaning. From my perspective, Oates named her Connie due to the fact that she always conjures up something. When she’s at home, she often conjures up conflict concerning her mom and sister. She does not do her chores, unlike her perfect sister, who always does her’s; she gawks at herself in the mirror, much to her mother’s disapproval; and she is filled with “trashy daydreams” that have done wonders to corrupt her mind.
What Oates might be trying to sound out by Eddie being confident that Connie’s friend will find a guy shortly after Eddie found her, is that girls live a life full of expectations. And that these expectations are for them to turn into obedient wives, who learn to care for children, and be nothing more than inferior companions to men—that the patriarchy that exists in the 1960s leaves no room for women, only hungry
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
For instance, she went out of her way to meet her family even though it was her “first time in the United States” (Ortiz, 2). This exemplifies how much she genuinely cares despite the fact that she doesn’t know English or her way around the country. Moreover, she also cares more about her family than Connie because she raised ten kids despite the fact that she was alone and by herself. In addition, Abuela is also a very religious and sensitive person. When she came back from church, “she [pointed] her finger” at Constancia because she felt like Connie did not respect her feelings (Ortiz, 16).
In this movie Carmen role as a mother was not what I was used to seeing or having contact with. Carmen continue to criticize Ana about her weight. When I was growing I was told I was beautiful no matter how big or small I had gotten. I would consider Ana to be a rival. Regardless of what her mother said and believe Ana decided that she was going to make her own decisions which is not unusual for young adults that have just
It is shown in the story that Arnold Friend has had a lot of experience doing this. He tricks Connie by disguising himself to look younger than he actually is, playing the same music as her, and telling her he knows who her family and friends are. Connie may be an easy target for Arnold because she is very boy crazy, but Connie realizes Arnold really isn’t who he says he is. The reasons that Connie doesn’t run away when she realizes this is because Arnold Friend threatens her and her family, and there are two people against her. In conclusion, all these things describe how Arnold Friend shows an obvious masquerade, and how he
For instance, Connie states, “sometimes they did go shopping or to a movie, but sometimes they went across the highway, ducking fast across the busy road, to a drive-in restaurant where older kids hung out (665).” By hanging out at a restaurant surrounded by older kids, Connie attempts to fit in by molding her identity around how she believes she should act around them. Therefore, Connie’s differentiation of self is superficially based off of her observations of how her peers
It could be at that moment you where have to decide or later on as a dream. Connie, in Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” encounters this experience, and falls victim to danger. Connie’s conscience will place her in a dream to help her see the threat that will be coming her way if she does not stop. Connie is a fifteen year old girl filled with insecurities, and depends on others’ reactions to her to make