Summary Of Where Are You Going Where Have You Been
Lurvin Magana-Calles
Heidi Kozlowski
English 1B
September 28, 2014
Where Are you Going, Where HaveYou Been? Analysis “Where Are you Going, Where Have You Been? Is a short story by Joyce Carol Oates about a fifteen year old girl’s that lives a dual life for self-importance, an unforgiving desire for irresponsibility, yet doubtfulness to leave the security of family and the comfort ‘of sleeping on her bed again’ ( Oates 77) . Connie is a young girl that likes listening to music ‘that made everything so good” (Oates 66) and watching movies and also she spends a lot of time going out with friends and meeting boys, until she experiences been harassed and threatened by an older guy, leading her to go with him.
From the beginning of the story,
Connie’s mother reprimanding and recognizing her weakness and so her difference from her daughter, because Connie’s mom and sister are not nice-looking anymore “her looks were gone and that was why she was always after Connie’ (Oates 65) and her father, who is not been there for Connie and who devotes most of his time at work and “he didn’t bother talking much’ to her (Oates 65).
Even though Connie works hard to show the looks of being a mature female who is expert with males, her flirtation with other boys and Arnold reveals that this is only a routine for her. She desires to be a gorgeous adult character through the way she dresses, how she style her hair using excessive hair spray, and common behavior from a teenager girls to get the attention she desires from boys but, ‘everything about her has two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere else that was not home’ (Oates 66).
The feeling of rebelliousness against her mother make Connie to get confused about her capability to get attention from boys with her desire to actually have them hunt her in an erotic and dirty way as Arnold said it “I’ll come inside you where it’s all secret and you’ll give in to me and you’ll love me” (Oates 74), she was not ready to hear nasty dirty words because even though she was playful, flirtatious girl, she was still an innocent little girl. Arnold Character is very interesting and scary at the same time, knowing where her family was and what they were doing at that precise time, knowing her friends names and neighbors is kind of disturbing. It seems this man, Arnold has powers of hypnotism that makes Connie disable to use the phone to call for help, it is supernatural to feel ‘the telephone clammy and heavy” (Oates 77)
Oates uses musical metaphor in her description of Arnold. ‘He spoke in a simple lilting voice, exactly as if he were reciting the words to a song” (Oates 71).
In conclusion when Connie walks towards Arnold, the last image the story gives us is Arnold Friend, controlled by "vast sunlit reaches of land."(Oates 78) How I understand this image limits how I read Connie's final action, as either an act of liberality or a kind of downfall.
“Works Cited”
Oates, Joyce Carol. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Introduction to Literature. Pearson Custom Library. 2011.
Heidi Kozlowski
English 1B
September 28, 2014
Where Are you Going, Where HaveYou Been? Analysis “Where Are you Going, Where Have You Been? Is a short story by Joyce Carol Oates about a fifteen year old girl’s that lives a dual life for self-importance, an unforgiving desire for irresponsibility, yet doubtfulness to leave the security of family and the comfort ‘of sleeping on her bed again’ ( Oates 77) . Connie is a young girl that likes listening to music ‘that made everything so good” (Oates 66) and watching movies and also she spends a lot of time going out with friends and meeting boys, until she experiences been harassed and threatened by an older guy, leading her to go with him.
From the beginning of the story,
Connie’s mother reprimanding and recognizing her weakness and so her difference from her daughter, because Connie’s mom and sister are not nice-looking anymore “her looks were gone and that was why she was always after Connie’ (Oates 65) and her father, who is not been there for Connie and who devotes most of his time at work and “he didn’t bother talking much’ to her (Oates 65).
Even though Connie works hard to show the looks of being a mature female who is expert with males, her flirtation with other boys and Arnold reveals that this is only a routine for her. She desires to be a gorgeous adult character through the way she dresses, how she style her hair using excessive hair spray, and common behavior from a teenager girls to get the attention she desires from boys but, ‘everything about her has two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere else that was not home’ (Oates 66).
The feeling of rebelliousness against her mother make Connie to get confused about her capability to get attention from boys with her desire to actually have them hunt her in an erotic and dirty way as Arnold said it “I’ll come inside you where it’s all secret and you’ll give in to me and you’ll love me” (Oates 74), she was not ready to hear nasty dirty words because even though she was playful, flirtatious girl, she was still an innocent little girl. Arnold Character is very interesting and scary at the same time, knowing where her family was and what they were doing at that precise time, knowing her friends names and neighbors is kind of disturbing. It seems this man, Arnold has powers of hypnotism that makes Connie disable to use the phone to call for help, it is supernatural to feel ‘the telephone clammy and heavy” (Oates 77)
Oates uses musical metaphor in her description of Arnold. ‘He spoke in a simple lilting voice, exactly as if he were reciting the words to a song” (Oates 71).
In conclusion when Connie walks towards Arnold, the last image the story gives us is Arnold Friend, controlled by "vast sunlit reaches of land."(Oates 78) How I understand this image limits how I read Connie's final action, as either an act of liberality or a kind of downfall.
“Works Cited”
Oates, Joyce Carol. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Introduction to Literature. Pearson Custom Library. 2011.