Summary Of The Story 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'

Another prominent broad subject of mockery throughout the play is women. Specifically, Wilde jokes on the supposed “morals” that women claim to have and their tendency to be easily deceived and manipulated. For example, women’s principles during this time states that they were supposed to have religious motivation for their courtships. However, both Gwendolyn and Cecily only wanted to marry their man if his name was Ernest. This comical situation demolishes the morals that women claimed to have in their relationships and expressed that as shallow, clueless, and untrue to their word.

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” In the short story written by Joyce Carol Oates “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, the main character is Connie. Connie is a typical fifteen year old, she acts older than she is and has a split personality when it comes to how she acts around certain people. In the story Connie's mother resents her because she was once pretty just like Connie.

Instead she has high hopes that Shep Huntleigh will take her away. They play along with her illusion saying "She's going on a vacation"(168). knowing that she is so delusional that she truly believes her own lie to distract her from knowing what is actually happening. Blanche's constant dependency on men and her infatuation with Shep Huntleigh makes one question if her so called savoir is real or imaginary. Blanche's "[dependency] on the kindness of strangers"(178).

Another example where setting comes into play is the mood created when Mabel tries to kiss Dr. Ferguson after he rescues her. He doesn’t want to kiss her. It takes everything he has just to look at her, but at the same time he can not turn away and escape the look in her eye (Lawrence 463). This creates a sympathetic mood because Dr. Ferguson feels bad for Maybel who has just become poor and attempted to kill herself. The fact that he feels sympathy for her shows that he does not view her as a strong woman that can handle living alone but instead a breakable doll that will fall apart if he stops holding her.

(365) She might see herself as the man in the story, who when asking for a second opinion gets told that he is ugly instead of getting any actual advice. Perhaps since she is not beautiful, every time she asks for advice she is dismissed. Zoe also likes jokes that are predictable and funny. (376) This could be because one can guess the outcome, whereas in life one cannot.

Lady Macbeth’s signs of guilt first surface in Act 3 Scene 2, where her sanity begins to deteriorate. Thinking out loud she says, “Nought’s had, all’s spent, where our desire is got without content.” All the trouble they went through to get what they wanted was a waste because it cost them their peace of mind. Fear and anxiety are taking over Lady Macbeth to the point of bringing out the humility from deep within her as she refers to her husband as “my lord.” Earlier she spoke at Macbeth and challenged his manliness.

The strong effects of love makes Helena a bit foolish and blind in the ways she reacts to it. In scene one of act one, the readers learn that Helena still loves Demetrius even though he loves her friend, Hermia, now. When Helena is first introduced, she demonstrates her jealousy and insecurities by asking Hermia for some of her beauty to win Demetrius back. Hermia and Lysander inform her that they are running away, and that Helena will be able to have Demetrius since he will never see Hermia again. Once Hermia and Lysander leave, Helena gives her soliloquy which reflects the mood of anger and jealousy; she also talks about how she’s going to tell Demetrius the two lover’s plans, so that Demetrius will love her again.

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.

Initially, Clarisse frustrates Montag with her quaint and unconventional thoughts and ideas but she soon intrigues him. He is defiant when she rubs the dandelion under his chin and it does not reflect, or leave “a yellow powder”. She tells him that it means that he is not in love but he insists that he is. One reader could interpret this as a connotation that he is in love with her because he is very clearly not in love with his wife.

This aids the lack of empathy that Stanley has towards her. Stanley is always questionable about her situation and does not get “swindled” by her methods of seduction or her lies. This resilience to Blanche allows Stanley to remain the “king around here”. During a majority of the play, Blanche attempts to break Stanley’s resilience to her slutty character by flirting with him. Stanley only once breaks this resilience of her sexual tendencies by raping her.

Arnold’s way of talking could possibly even have a sexual connotation that Connie does not pick up on because she’s young and oblivious to the world of sexual pleasures that Arnold lives in. Oates chooses words very carefully to show that Arnold is a devious snake. Connie sees Arnold many times as

She says after they find out that the Inspector was nothing but a hoax, “but now you’re all beginning all over again to pretend that nothing much has happened.” Sheila being the most intelligent out of the characters is aware that even though the Inspector wasn’t a real one, they still did break moral values and acted callously towards a person. The pronoun and repetition of “all” suggests Sheila is removing herself from her family of capitalists and is becoming her own person. Sheila towards the end of the play says, “And it frightens me the way you talk, and I can’t listen to any more of it.” The adjective “frightened” shows to the audience that she is shocked at how her parents seem to think of it all as a joke rather than events that have actually taken place, this is the process as role reversal as Sheila (and Eric) are admitting to their faults whereas her parents’ morality has not changed.

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.

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).

“She thought, I’m not going to see my mother again. She thought, I’m not going to sleep in my bed again”. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been is a short store by Carol Oates. In the story, Connie was a 15 year old girl, and lived she out in a rural area. She lived with her parents, and her sister June.