CATCHY TITLE HERE Why are women idealized only for their body? WAYG, WHYB, by Joyce Carol Oates is a fictional shorttory. Through Joyce’s display of femisinsm, a pedophile seduces a young female to come with him and use her for her body, which reveals society’s expectations of a woman in this time period. Connie is seen as a sex object, which shows how women are dominated by men during this time. In this shortstory, Joyce states, “Gonna get you baby” which shows how women are more than likely to be approached when they are by themselves and men tend to think they can talk to a woman any way they please which is a sign of pedaphinilia when there is such a huge age difference. Arnold Friend thinks he can approach Connie in that manner because …show more content…
In the story it states, “Connies mother kept picking at her until Connie wished her mother was dead” which shows how women tend to think men will make them feel better when really the man is using that power to his advantage. A women’s insecurities can cause them to seek attention from the wrong people which she does with Arnold Friend by communicating with him when she should’ve walked away when she had the chance. In the story it states,”She drew her shoulders up and sucked in her breath with the pleasure of being alive” which shows how connie is enjoying life for all the right reasons. Pedphiles look for vunerable girls like Connie so it is easier to take advantage of them. Connie looks for attention and when she gets it from the wrong person like Arnold Friend, she realizes she had made a mistake. In the story it states, “She spoke sullenly, careful to show no interest or pleasure” which shows how she realized she didn’t like the attention when it was from the wrong person. Arnold Friend used this to his advantage to take control of Connie. Women are drawn to a man’s attention because it makes them feel better about …show more content…
In the story is states,”The car came to a stop at the side door and the horn sounded four short taps, as if this were a signal Connie knew” which shows how Connie immediately responded to the honking as if she was use to is. Arnold was showing no respect to Connie by honking at her as if she was some piece of meat and not with respect. The story also states,” He opened the door carefully” which shows how he invaded Connie’s privacy to get what he wanted not even thinking to respect her. Arnold Friend had no other intentions but to seduce Connie for his personal beings. The story states, “We ain’t leaving until you come with us” which shows how Arnold is forcing her to do something she doesn’t want to do (basically any man in society at that
Another character is Connie’s mother. Connie and her mother argue and bicker on a regular basis. She seems to be constantly getting after Connie "Stop gawking at yourself, who are you? You think you’re so pretty?” (Oates 308).
Connie is in a constant battle with her mother about the way she looks and how she behaves, often comparing Connie to her older sister. Her mother, once like Connie, realizes she is no longer the beauty she once was and takes it out on her daughter. Connie has a “highly charged relationship with her mother” which shows the reader “both her mother's attempt to control and protect her youngest daughter, and her feelings that Connie is developing into a younger version of herself” (Caldwell). Due to this continuous judgment towards Connie from her mother, Connie
She presented herself in public as a young woman, but she was only fifteen years old. She wore her shirts “one way when she was at home and another way when she was away from home”. Everything about her was different when she’s away from home. Connie thinks that what she was doing was okay, but in reality she was drawing bad attention to herself. It resulted in Arnold Friend noticing her and visiting her.
Oates explains how Connie is always “dreaming about the boys she had met” and all the boys “dissolved into a single face…” which portrays her creating the perfect boy (Oates 2). Arnold knows Connie is desperate for love and he is willing to give it to her if she comes with him. Clifford J Kurkowski says in his article that Connie is “joining someone who… cares about her more than either of her parents or her sister has” which displays the isolation and neglect Connie had in her life (Kurkowski 5). Clearly, Arnold was the not the only one who had made Connie a victim. Her parents have prevented Connie from ever having that sense of care in her life and was always insulted and compared.
Arnold was a stranger to Connie when he had barely arrived at her house. Connie appealed to Arnold when she heard his car radio stream the same program she loved: “Hey, Ellie's got a radio, see. Mine broke down. He lifted his friend's arm and showed her the little transistor radio the boy was holding, and now Connie began to hear the music. It was the same program that was playing inside the house.
“Where are you Going, Where have you Been” by Joyce Carol Oates is a short story that tells of the horrors that are possible when a child is rebellious and secretive. The story’s action begins when the main character, Connie, secretly visits a restaurant when she said she was in the movies, here she sees a man and he waves at her. Later, the same man shows up to her house when her family isn’t home and is trying to convince her to ‘go for a ride’ with him, and the reader learns his name is Arnold Friend. Connie talks to him for a bit, and eventually is manipulated into going with him, and it is assumed that Arnold kills her. Arnold Friend is a creepy, demanding older man, and his true personality is highlighted by the way the author writes
Connie has a difficult relationship with the men in her life, and distant because of how she was raised as well as norms of society. Connie’s father is absent in Connie’s life, he minds his business and ignores what the rest of the family is doing, Connie’s mother kind of does both roles. Connie’s mother tells her what she shouldn’t wear, and doesn’t have that father figure in her life. Connie only has learned to respect the man of the house, didn’t interact with her father. Also, when she would go out with her friends she would do what the boys tell her to do, like little commands.
Joyce Carol Oates uses physical characterization to foreshadow early on what truly is going to happen to Connie. Arnold is hiding things about his physical appearance. No matter what Connie says or does, Arnold keeps talking, and yet he reveals nothing about himself. He never physically asks Connie to join him, but his words have the same force and pull as the actions he only threatens to take. "Soon
Connie is a typical fifteen year old girl. She is obsessed with her appearance, does not get along with her family and develops emotional issues towards the end of the story. At the end of the story, she becomes an adult when she is face to face with the enemy. Joyce Carol Oates developed this character and story after listening to Bob Dylan's song called It's All Over Now Baby Blue. Connie has long dark blonde hair that people were drawn to.
He could have seen her only once before and decided to find her. It does not seem that he is human, as he knows too much, even for a stalker. Most stalkers cannot see that “your mother’s helping some fat woman with the corn.” He may represent the harsh reality of going from childhood to adulthood, or a possibility of what could happen to Connie if she continues her sexual behavior. It would not be her fault, it is simply what might
There are heavily emphasized themes of femininity and masculinity in this short story, as well as Oates’s many novels. In Ellen G. Friedman’s article, “Feminism, Masculinity, and Nation In Joyce Carol Oates’s Fiction” (2006), she affirms, “Oates’s male characters, especially but not exclusively her father figures, help to chary how changing ideologies of masculinity serve feminist purposes.” Connie, as a girl, places a high emphasis on her outside appearance whereas Arnold, as a man, falls for Connie due to her looks alone. Connie’s relationship with her mother, her desperation to be pretty, and her desire to be wanted all contribute to her ultimate
She emotional language at the beginning of the story when Connie has an altercation with her mother , Connie tells herself that she wished her mother was dead and so was she and often whined to her friends that her mother “makes me want to throw up sometimes”(453). Connie’s language takes a turn when she receives an unexpected visit. Oates uses phrases such as, “Who the hell do you think you are?” , “pretended to fidget”, and “Reluctantly” (457). At that point Connie grows suspension and realizes something is fishy.
Connie’s first encounter with Friend was at a diner when he stated to Connie, “Gonna get you, baby”(pg.1142). Because Connie was use to this type of attention, she did not view it as strange that an older man was calling her in such away. However, if Connie had seen Friend as dangerous instead of just another man, her kidnapping might have been prevented. Later in the story when Friend showed up as Connie’s house, she walked outside and talked to him instead of questioning how he knew where she lived or calling the police. Oates described Connie's interaction with Friend by stating,“Connie liked the way he was dressed, which was the way all of them dressed: tight faded jeans stuffed into black, scuffed boots, a belt that pulled his waist in and showed how lean he was, and a white pullover shirt that was a little soiled and showed the hard muscles of his arms and shoulders”(pg.1145).
Culture is an embodiment of a society’s values. The representation of American culture is rapidly changing, showing a plethora of beliefs over the decades. Every change comes with controversy, new radical ideas of the upcoming generation challenging the previous. Once deemed taboos become socially acceptable and ideas once thought absurd are altered to become social norms. For example, when rock and roll debuted in the late nineteen sixties it caused conservative Americans belonging to the fifties to believe the new music of the generation was causing internal decadence.
Jack Carrigan Mr. Racioppe English 11 HH 10 February 2015 Lady Brett Ashley in The Sun Also Rises Written by world renowned author Ernest Hemingway the novel, The Sun Also Rises, gives view to the reader a more modernistic view on women. Lady Brett Ashley in the novel exemplifies the key aspects of a modern women. She delineates what a modern woman would do in that time period. Lady Brett is the “love interest” throughout the novel.