Review Of Oate's Story 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been'
Oate’s story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” examines a young girl that is caught up, in a religion of her own making leading to the worship of a false idol or image. As she approaches an age of not quite a woman but, yet not a child she faces many challenging choices. As she relies on her own form of religion she lacks the guidance to make moral decisions with any certainty. Arnold Friend enters her world and portrays himself as a friend and lover however, this seems to be a trap for the young girl. There are many signs that Connie is at a crossroads in her life and must choose a path to follow. Oates illustrates that the lack of a strong religious foundation leads to her to follow a path that could be considered death.
When Connie escapes her home life she chooses to flee to the local dinner. The outside is described with the same reverence that might be used in the description of a temple. Conner enters the diner “pleased and expectant as if they were standing in a sacred building.” Oates goes on to describe the posture of these two girls, which is reflective of a young woman that has entered a sacred area and is in awe of the environment that surrounds her. We further see that Connie is using music to fill a void “listened to the
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It is Sunday and Connie chooses to isolate herself from the family activities of the day. Alone Connie awakes from a nap in the yard of her home to a world that seems changed. She fills the silence with her music played by the disc jockey Bobby King. The choice in name is very symbolic, for Connie the music is a religious experience and the disc jockey is the figure head of the religion. Connie worships the music “paid close attention herself, bathed in a glow of slow-pulsed joy that seemed to riser mysteriously out of the music itself”. Arnold Friend appears during her time of worship, possibly called forth unknowingly by
Arnold Friend Character Analysis
1137 Words | 5 PagesA repetitive notion made in the story, as June is used as a meter to compare Connie too; which naturally, no one would like: “June did this, June did that, she saved money and helped clean the house and cooked and Connie couldn 't do a thing, her mind was all filled with trashy daydreams” (308). Ellie 's character, even as quite as he remains, presents a conflict with Arnold. First when he over steps his boundary with Arnold and asked "You want me to pull out the phone?" (318), then being told by Arnold to "Shut your mouth and keep it shut" (318), only to ask about the phone again. To which Arnold responds with more conflict: "you 're deaf, get a hearing aid, right?
The Night Waitress Analysis
1041 Words | 5 PagesHer inner self craves for freedom to drive past and achieve something. She envisions her song as a luxurious Cadillac, where she now wants a materialistic world. She is in her imaginary world until the heat of the urn in her hand bring back her to reality, where she starts comparing to her real life, hallow and vapid. She attempts to find comfort in her room, as she says “coffee cruises my mind visiting the most remote way stations, I think of my room as a calm arrival each book and lamp in its place.” She starts to reflect her possessions and the security they give her and what they represent in her life.
Archetypes In Where Are You Going Where Have You Been
1428 Words | 6 PagesAgain, the reader sees traditional values placed against changing times, reinforcing Connie’s internal struggle to define
Symbolism In 'Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?'
700 Words | 3 PagesIn 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.
Literary Analysis: Flannery O Connor
1068 Words | 5 PagesLiterary Analysis ENG2106 Student name: Li Michaela Bernice Student ID: 4002551 Word count: Grace and sins Flannery O’Connor was a Southern author from America who frequently wrote in a Southern Gothic style and depended vigorously on local settings and bizarre characters. Her works likewise mirrored her Roman Catholic faith and regularly examined questions of morality and ethics. She created violence in the end of both “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Everything that Rises Must Converge” to put the stories to the end. She asserted that she has found that violence is strangely capable of returning her characters to reality and preparing them to accept their moment of grace, and also violence is the extreme situation that best reveals who
Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Arnold Friend Comparison
1190 Words | 5 PagesIn Joyce Carol Oates fictional short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” the majority of the story lies beneath the surface. More specifically than just the story, you realize that there is more to the character Arnold Friend than what may appear. The author has always remained silent and ambiguous about the real meaning of Arnold Friend’s true nature and she leaves room for the readers to make their own interpretation of him. Readers can analyze Arnold Friend and see him as the devil, he could just be the personification of popular music imagined by Connie in a dream, but Arnold Friend could also be the result of drug use.
Analysis Of Where Are You Going Where Have You Been
1203 Words | 5 PagesThe short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is about a teenage girl named Connie who is in the mist of her adolescent rebellion. She wants to prove her maturity to others and herself. In the story, Oates describes that Connie always lets her mind flow freely in between her daydream. She even creates and keeps dreaming about her ideal male figure in her mind to make her happy and satisfied. Oates allows the reader to step into Connie’s “dream world” through the appearance of Arnold Friend.
A Literary Analysis Of 'Where Is Here' By Joyce Oates
620 Words | 3 PagesThe story “Where is Here” ,written by Joyce Oates, begins when a man goes to look at the house he grew up in. He knocks on the door and the dad invites him in, but he declines and just walks around the outer parts of the house. While he is walking outside, the mom of the house tells him to come inside and walk around. The house brings back many good and bad memories that help the reader piece together the strange man's past. The short story, “Where is Here,” has a bleak setting, tortured characters, and supernatural events which help make it an American gothic piece.
Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Psychological Analysis
657 Words | 3 PagesThe 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. One psychological issue of Connie that is easily inferred from the beginning of the story is her insecurity about her looks. Connie constantly worries about the way that she looks and takes any opportunity to do so, “craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right” (1).
Analysis Of Carol Joyce Oates Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?
1777 Words | 8 PagesCarol 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.
Character Analysis Of Connie In 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been'
984 Words | 4 Pages“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. In the short story, Carol Oates describes Connie as having two different personalities, one being a narcissistic attitude.
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been: Analysis
460 Words | 2 PagesIn Oates’ story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” , the story mainly focuses on the conflict and main plot of Smooth Talk. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” explains Connie’s relationship to her family members, basically describing that she’s a basic adolescent that desires to be treated like an adult but lacks the maturity and doesn’t want the responsibilities, still claiming her freedom (or at least attempting to). One Sunday her family leaves to a barbeque Connie refused to go to and a familiar stranger drives up to her house.
They All Just Went Away Summary
1368 Words | 6 PagesOates reminisces back to when she was a child wandering the fields and abandoned buildings behind her home. As she explores these abandoned structures, she takes notice of the “remnants of a lost household” within this “absolute emptiness of a house whose
Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Literary Analysis
694 Words | 3 PagesOates’s biography explained her fiction writing as a mixture violence and sexual obsession. The writing style definitely fits the plot point of this story with both of her literary ingredients being present in not only Arnold Friend but in Connie as well. The Protagonist Connie is presented in a very self-centered way. She is obsessed with her looks and often fantasizes about all the boys she meets.
Cat's Cradle: A Film Analysis
1242 Words | 5 PagesAngela from Cat’s Cradle plays clarinet to keep herself from breaking down and crying. Hearing the beautiful music floors John with an overwhelming sense of awe and leaves him “flabbergasted by “the depth, the violence, and the almost intolerable beauty of the disease” (104), as she plays with harrowing emotion that rocks him and amazes him, as if she was “rolling on the floor, foaming at the mouth, and babbling fluent Babylonian” (105). This is truth. You experience it and it is real to you. It feels real, it looks real, it sounds real, but none of it is.
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