When the character, Arnold Friend, was introduced I did not expect that he would play the role of the enemy in the story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been.” When he arrives at Connie’s home, I began to question my hypothesis. Similarly, Connie’s view of the mysterious man is reformed as Arnold’s true nature is revealed. The realization begins when he discloses all the information he knows about Connie and the whereabouts of her family. This is when I, the reader, and the character begin to suspect that Arnold is not a respectable guy. She then notices his eerily pale skin, aged appearance, unsettling remarks, and seemingly stuffed shoes. These suspicions were confirmed once he spoke of his intentions.…
Connie’s “two-sided” nature is apparent throughout the story, but the origin of that nature is less clear. Connie is this seemingly innocent pretty girl from a mundane family, bored with her home life. She often goes to town with her friends, where she reveals herself to be this haughty, almost cocky teen. Connie’s “two-sided” nature stems from what exactly? Who is she expected to be in the home? The story holds evidence that she is pressured to be more like her sister, June. Oates states, “If June's name was mentioned her mother's tone was approving, and if Connie's name was mentioned it was disapproving” (3). Did Connie not feel comfortable enough in her home to be her true self? Connie was dissatisfied with her home life with a jealous mother and barely present father; she felt ignored to the point where she felt that she had to go get the admiration she craved elsewhere. This created her other persona that “lured” something darker in. Later in the story, we are introduced to Arnold Friend, a shadier, stalker-like figure who Connie glanced at a local diner.…
Connie is a beautiful, self indulgent 15 year old girl. Her mother is very overbearing and praises her 24 year old sister, June, more than her. June is everything that Connie isn’t. She works hard to make money on her own, helps her parents around the house, and is mature and independent. Connie strives to receive attention and praise that her family never gives her, which is why she secretly hangs out with older boys without her parents knowing. Her insecurities and rebellion puts her in an extremely vulnerable place to be taken advantage of.…
This is obvious in Connie's situation through her actions. She endangers her own life to spare her family from the wrath of Arnold Friend, "You don't want them to get hurt,' Arnold Friend went on, Now get up, honey. Get up all by yourself.' She stood." (p. 510). If she had refused to go, her family would have been put in danger, yet, through the story Connie appears to be very unattached from her family. There is a large amount of tension between her and her mother, "her mother, who noticed everything and knew everything and who hadn't much reason any longer to look at her own face, always scolded Connie about it," (p. 499). Connie's father is uninvolved in her life, "their father was away at work most of the time and when he came home he wanted supper and he read the newspaper at supper and after supper he went to bed. He didn't bother talking much to them " (p. 499) and Connie shows no appreciation for her sister, "she was so plain and chunky and steady that Connie had to hear her praised all the time by her mother and her mother's sisters," (p. 499). She is leading a typical rebellious teenage life where she avoids parental guidance but still has a deep appreciation for them and would risk her own life to spare…
In this classic tale, Connie is very young and naïve and it certainly doesn’t help matters that she has negative influences in her life. Her own mother was a negative influence who corrupted her and led her to the path of the dark side, which would lead to her downfall. Considering the circumstance that "her mother had been pretty once too, if you could believe those old snapshots in the album, but now her looks were gone and that was why she was always after Connie." (Oates, 312) It has been demonstrated that Connie reminded her mother of herself when she was young, which made her own mother dislike her and favor the younger daughter, June.…
Throughout the story the author conveys Connie’s relationships with her immediate family members as being relationships that are dysfunctional, especially the relationship between Connie and her mother. "Why don 't you keep your room clean like your sister? How 've you got your hair fixed—what the hell stinks? Hairspray? You don 't see your sister using that junk." (Oates 1). The constant comparison the mother makes between Connie and her sister June, is symbolic of Connie not yet having an identity of her own. I don’t think her mother is aware of the negative effect that the comparison will ultimately have on Connie, but without a doubt, all the comparison does is make Connie more rebellious and defiant against her mother’s wishes. These comparisons also motivate Connie to quickly become her own person. Connie’s relationship with her father is also portrayed as being a negative relationship. He is explained as the type of father who goes to work every day and comes home to eat and go to sleep. Connie didn 't seem to have a lot of attention from her father, which may have been what was encouraging her to find male attention somewhere else. Does this have an effect on the…
In Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Arnold Friend, a conniving antagonist, charms a naive teenager named Connie into believing he will rescue her from her inattentive family. However, at the story’s climax, Connie fears for her life yet cannot resist Arnold’s temptations. Although details of Friend’s appearance, speech, and actions should warn Connie of his evil intentions, through Oates’s portrayal of Friend as a devil-figure, Connie is easily “conned” foreshadowing her deadly fall. Many times throughout the story, Arnold reveals supernatural qualities that he possesses, foreshadowing the spell that Connie is put under and cannot break.…
She was her own person and was nothing like her sister June; she’d only wished her mother would see that. Connie mostly kept to herself while at home and often listened to music; listening to rock music was Connie’s way of escaping from the real world into her fantasy world. It set her at ease rather than listening to all the bickering and nagging. While out with friends her persona was totally different; Connie was very gregarious, “she had a high, breathless, amused voice” (Oates 200). Connie’s father on the other hand, was a workaholic, mostly absent; he never really did tell Connie what to do. Being that Connie’s mother always compared her to her sister she felt worthless; but when she went out, she felt a sense of belonging and worthiness. Connie became rebellious; while going to the “movies” with her friends, she was really going to the drive-in where the older kids hung out. Her appearance changed when her parents weren’t around. Clothes would be changed or modified. For example, when Connie would leave her house with her friends, she would be dressed appropriately in a pull over jersey; but when she would be out, where there were no parents around, the jersey became shorter than normal being brought up…
Connie was a young, fifteen-year-old, attractive girl who worked hard to show the appearance of being mature. She created a personality through expressing…
A close reading of Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" reveals many layers of possible meaning, which makes it a fine example of literary merit.…
The Protagonist Connie meet a conflict between the antagonist, Arnold Friend. Arnold Friend decides to show up at Connie’s house with Eddie his wing man uninvited when her parents left the house for a barbecue at an aunt’s house. Connie is forced to fuse two-sided violently. Connie is not fully sexual until Arnold Friend’s intrusion into her home- until then, her sexuality was outside of her “exact” self, the self that she allows her family to see. Her indecent clothes are what attracts older men, but when an older guy like Arnold Friend gives her the attention that she wants, she is frightened and is overpowered by Arnold Friend. She breaks down and is conquered by Arnold Friend. In that moments, she proves to herself that she is still a child by screaming for her mother. As a young child, we should not force our self to want to grow up fast by wearing indecent clothes, there are ways to look attractive and mature without looking sexual and giving wrong…
Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” conveys the theme of good vs. evil through Connie and Arnold by creating a sympathetic character and using symbolism, creating a fine line between the protagonist and the antagonist. In this short story, the antagonist Arnold Friend is a seducting creep that seduces young, innocent girls to “go on a date with him”. While he is at the protagonist, Connie’s, house, he is persuading Connie by telling her all about herself, including his “Sign. And he drew an X in the air, leaning toward [Connie]” (Oates 325). The “X” is implied as a symbol of evil and death. “X” is used as the antagonist’s sign to mark himself as evil and deadly. This conveys the theme of good vs. evil because…
In Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where are you Going, Where have you Been?” the characters Connie, who soon finds herself traveling somewhere she has never been as well as not knowing where that place is or what it means for her, and Arnold Friend , who Connie believes to be an ordinary 18 year-old boy, demonstrate duality through not only their actions, but their appearances as…
In the beginning of the story, Connie is said to have a habit of observing herself in mirrors, which isn’t abnormal for teen aged girls to do. Regardless of the normativity Connie is criticized by her mother for doing so. Her mother then proceeds to heavily suggest that Connie should be more like her sister by commenting “What the hell stinks? Hair Spray? You don’t see your sister…
In Joyce Carol Oates’s short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (1966), Connie is an adolescent that faces literal and psychological challenges. Within the conflicts of the story, there are two compelling questions that allow you to take a special interest of a deeper meaning. Taken from the title, where has Connie been? Where is Connie going?…