Reaction Paper

Reaction Paper The story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is an exciting story. I would explain it as a car crash; people want to turn away but they keep looking. No one ever wants to hear a story about a young girl being kid napped or raped but when people do see it in the news they want to know all the details and that’s kind of how I felt reading the story. I felt that it was exciting because I didn’t see what was coming next; I thought the story would have been about a daughter and her problems with her mother but it turned out to be about a lot more. The story never really tells you exactly what is happening; it is a story that you have to pay a lot of attention to while reading it. I believe it is a simple story, even though it isn’t direct, it is something that could happen any day and anywhere. Since I am a girl myself, I could relate to the story because every girl should pay attention to their surroundings and who they are around but most of us girls think we are invincible and some are naïve. Just like, Connie, the main character in the book; she cared more about her looks than the stranger in the driveway. I also liked how there are hidden messages in this book that are never said at all. I looked up the meaning of the title and found this: “One important connection that it seems most here were unaware of, is the numbers written on Arnold Friend 's car: 33, 19, 17. These numbers refer to the biblical passage Judges 19:17: "And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, where do you go? and from where do you come?" (Lea’s) When seeing the title and then finishing the story, the title didn’t make too much sense to me because her parents didn’t really care too much about her but after reading the meaning of the title, it made a lot more sense. I like the hidden symbols because it allows the reader to have an imagination and this story has a lot of room for personal imagination.
It had so much detail and I can picture myself in Connie’s world. I saw her at the movies, at the diner, and definitely at her house at the screen door talking to Arnold. I think all girls could relate; we all want to be seen as attractive but at a young age we don’t know much past that. We only want the attention from the guys we approve of, not the creepy ones who show up at our front doos. The only thing I didn’t like about the story is the ending, even though it gave me the opportunity to come up with my own ending of the story, I would have loved to know what really happened to Connie, it left my thoughts hanging. I wonder if she went with Arnold and Eddie, what they did, if her family came home and was worried, and if she ended up okay. Other than that, to me the story was intriguing; it kept me interested and I didn’t get bored with reading it. I wanted to keep going until I found out who the creepy guy was and what was going to happen to Connie.
The last thing I liked about this story is the dedication. In the beginning, under the title, it says “for Bob Dylan” and I wondered who Bob Dylan was and why someone would dedicate this kind of story to him so I researched it. Bob Dylan is a song writer and she dedicated this story to him because one of his songs influenced Joyce Carol Oates to write it. The song was called “It’s all over now, baby blue” and the story mostly reflected this song: “The vagabond who’s rapping at your door / Is standing in the clothes that you once wore / Strike another match, go start anew / And it’s all over now, Baby Blue.” Joyce made Arnold to reflect Bob Dylan; I’m not sure who would approve of themselves as being a reflection for a rapist though. There wasn’t much to dislike about the short story, it is now one of my favorites (Sparknotes).
Works Cited
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2007. Web. 17 May 2013.
"Lea 's Review of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?: Selected Early Stories ByJoyce Carol Oates." Goodreads Mobile. 1 Sept. 2012. Web. 20 May 2013.

Cited: SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2007. Web. 17 May 2013. "Lea 's Review of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?: Selected Early Stories ByJoyce Carol Oates." Goodreads Mobile. 1 Sept. 2012. Web. 20 May 2013.