When I finished reading the story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? I couldn't believe the ending. The main character Connie is your average teenage girl, however, she is a little more conceited than others. In the story, the author describes that the setting is in the summer and that's why she is going out with her friends almost every other day. The author also gives a hint by foreshadowing the line "Gonna get you, baby," which shows what's going to happen in the near future. I think the theme of this story is that when Connie goes out with her friends, she is going through adulthood. For example, at the end of the story when she opens the door to go outside with Arnold, she is leaving her childhood and making a jump straight into…
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is the suspenseful tale of fifteen year old Connie and her situation with a strange man. Connie, who usually enjoys the attention of the older boys, sees the man randomly when she is on a date. Some time later, the man shows up to Connie’s house and asks her if she wants to go for a ride with him and his friend. The man introduces himself as Arnold Friend, claiming to be eighteen years old. Connie soon begins to realize the two men look much older than eighteen, and she becomes frightened. Arnold begins revealing an uncomfortable amount of information he knows about Connie, which surprises her. When Connie threatens to call the police, Arnold assures her that he will not come in the house unless she picks up the phone. Connie picks up the phone at one point, but puts it back after she cries into it and Arnold instructs her to be a “good girl.” A feeling of emptiness takes over Connie after she finishes sobbing, and she finds herself eventually being lured out of her house by Arnold.…
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is about a teen named Connie who is insecure and is looking for an escape from her household. The main antagonist, Arnold Friends main objective is to lure Connie out and take her on a so called “date”. He does this by trying to make small talk. Some of the things said can be very creepy as he seems to have psychic abilities and know everything. One of the more irrelevant things said was, “Leave me alone,” Connie whispered.…
The story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates shows the reader the self-created illusion that the main character Connie has created in order to better understand herself. Connie’s reality is altered as she has this dream that has manifested due to her desire for attention from others. Throughout the story there are many occurrences that support the idea that the entire story is a dream that was made up by Connie’s subconscious. Throughout the story, Arnold mentions many things that there is no way he could have known. Arnold knows what her family is doing.…
In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, the main character, Connie, is on the brink of adulthood and is experimenting with the sexual freedom that comes with it. On the weekends, Connie and her friend go to the mall or the diner and pursue older boys with which they will slip into dark alleys or cars. One night, when leaving the diner to go hang out with a boy, a man in a gold convertible catches Connie’s eye and says to her, “Gonna get you, baby”. Later in the story, Connie is tanning outside while her family is at a picnic. She hears a car pull up in her drive and she recognizes the gold convertible and the man driving it. This man, who she has never spoken to, immediately tries to get Connie to go for a ride. A little later he is…
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates. This popular short story made its debut in 1966. Dependent upon the interpreter, this short story may seem to be based upon many different themes, although my goal is to focus on analyzing the author’s use of stylistic devices such as a recognizable setting, and symbolism that Oates has effectively implemented in this story to convey the most important theme, which is maturity and coming of age. Oates uses many symbolic devices such as; words/thoughts, relationships amongst characters, and even objects to effectively symbolize Connie’s coming of age adventure.…
The first literary element in Since You’ve Been Gone is irony. In this book Emily, the main character, is left behind all summer without knowing where her best friend, Sloan, went. The only thing she has is a list of 13 tasks Sloan left that are extremely out of Emily’s comfort zone. Throughout her attempt to complete the list, Emily meets a guy named Frank and they become friends. One night they show up to Emily’s house to find her parents, two playwrights, in need of two actors to play parts in a production they have to put on later that night. Frank gladly agrees to be a part to help out her parents, but they still were missing one character. Completely out of character, Emily chimes in and says, “ I’ll do it” (Matson 216). The fact that…
She read the story halfway, and then she stopped reading in order for her imagination to take over and create the fictional tale. Transformed into fiction, this story was first published by the literary journal Epoch in 1966 and was included in Oates’s 1970 short story collection The Wheel of Love. Critical acclaim was so swift and certain that as early as 1972, critic Walter Sullivan noted that it was “one of her most widely reprinted stories and justly so.” Along with the story’s frequent appearance in textbooks and anthologies, Oates herself republished it in 1974 as the title story for Where are You Going, Where Have You Been?: Stories of Young America. This collection’s subtitle points to Oates’s ongoing interest in adolescence, especially the psychological and social turmoil that arises during this difficult period. Her preoccupation with these topics, along with her keen sense of the special pressures facing teenagers in contemporary society, is evident in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You…
This is a horrifying and haunting story that shows a girl who resulted in an awful situation. She rejects the role of being a daughter, sister, and a nice girl to refine her sexual personality. She has an obsession with her looks, loves to hang out with her friends and flirts with boys older than her. This award directly goes to Connie which is the main character of the book called, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol. Connie is a very attractive, inconsistent, and disobedient person.…
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.…
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…
The use of reflections is common in pieces of literature so that authors can incorporate hidden meaning behind simple actions in their works. For example the eyes are commonly known as the windows to the soul making the simple action of looking into another’s eyes much more complicated in a piece of literature(Schwartz). “Of course, the meaning of the words is that by looking into the eyes of a person one can see their hidden emotions and attitudes and thoughts” (Schwartz). Also when the author makes a point to mention in detail items that have reflective surfaces they are inferring that there is a deeper meaning behind the reflection. In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce…
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is a short story that brings many girl’s nightmares to life. The story is one about a young, naïve girl named Connie, and her deranged abductor, Arnold Friend. Oates uses the setting in Connie’s life to create a very realistic situation. Oates also uses descriptive language to create vivid images of the setting, charters, and the emotions Connie feels. By analyzing Connie’s home setting and the descriptive language Oates uses, we will be able to further understand how Connie’s thoughts and actions were effected by her setting.…
Growing up every person in the world loses the purity they were once born with and the moment when one realizes that not everything in the world is the way it was thought to be, the world crumbles into pieces, but how does it happen? Joyce Carol Oates portrays an amazing detailed moment of theft of chastity, or at least what is left of it, in "Where Are You Going, Where have You Been?" With symbolic imagery, major bibliomancy, and extreme personal conflict Oates easily manages to get her point across of the complete loss of innocence.…
Arising out of the ashes the phoenix came back to life again. In Greek mythology the phoenix is the symbol for idealism and hope. It falls only to arise and live again. The main character of Eudora Welty's short story, "A Worn Path", is much like this phoenix. She must overcome much adversity on her life path. Eudora Welty in "A Worn Path" uses the idea of the phoenix to characterize and symbolize the indomitable spirit of the main character, Phoenix Jackson, who though old, weak, and forgetful can conquer obstacles put in her way as she heads toward her goal.…