Anna Garcia Was a hispanic lady of age 38, and suffered of diabetes. One day the police got a phone call from Anna´s neighbor reporting her death. The call came in at early in the morning and police arrived shortly after. Anna Garcia was found dead in a hallway. She was faced down. Doug Anna's neighbor was recently involved in a romantic relationship with Anna but she ended the relationship. Alex and Anna were married, and got a divorce. Alex saw Anna the night before. He went to her house to talk about some paperwork. Along with Alex was his new wife Erica piedmont. She was sitting in the car, it was parked in front of Anna's house. Anna's best friend, Lucy Leffingwell said that she had been in the hospital.…
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.…
Dahl, builds a sense of foreboding in this story about a man named Billy on an innocent business trip and an old Landlady running a "Bed & Breakfast". The story in the beginning makes the Landlady seem creepy, but the story also makes the Landlady seem so nice. Through out the story she drops hints about how scary she really is. At the end of the story it all comes together, and we realized that this lady truly isn't harmless.…
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…
The novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, focuses on a woman named Janie Crawford and her adventure for love and her struggle for independence. Since both of Janie’s parents were not in her life, she is forced to live with her grandmother. One day, Janie meets a boy and kisses him; this single action dictates where the rest of her life…
Joyce Carol Oates uses powerful imagery in the short story, such as the idea of love, dishonest smile, and Connie’s dissociative state. In the idea of love, she uses vivid language to explain Connie’s daydream. The actual desires where not yet tied to concrete the acts or a specific man. Connie’s is being attracted to the idea of love and sex confusing fantasy and reality. The author helps the reader to visualize on how girl’s discrete experiences fading into a deeper impulse. Connie being in the puberty is being pulled by natural forces by the desired that she is not conscious about it and doesn’t have an explanation for it. Another language that Oates uses is she focus on Arnold Friend physical. Connie got to recognized most of the things about him since the moment she met him. Words like thighs and buttocks were mention to show his sexual nature. Arnold friend smile was emphasized as a slippery friendly smile in other words as a dreamy smile. Oates used this term to communicate with Connie to entangle her and easily get her. Finally, she also describes Connie beating heart, this help Connie express her dissociative state. She felt isolated with her physical body, which it perceived it wasn’t really her either. The state of separation she was feeling demonstrate how she was slipping out of control over her own actions and decisions she was making. At…
As you read through this short story written by Joyce Carol Oates, you will read about the story of a normal teenage girl, Connie, that loves to believe that she is far more mature than she really is. Her maturity that she longs for throughout the story is then forced upon her and, then her true colors show. They show that no matter how mature she thinks she is, she is still pretty far from full adulthood and is well in the middle of adolescence. Fantasy against reality is what is really going on with Connie.…
Even when going to the mall then being sneaky and crossing the road to go to the drive in, her “sanctuary” that often played background music “like a church service”, another religious parallel that Oates gives the reader that her church service is the drive in resurant where all the older kids hang out. Connie is displaying youthful innocence and naive immaturity in realizing the danger she could be in, she is the lamb, young , pure and innocent. Connie rarely goes to church and her father is not a father at all, a mere figurehead that has no interaction with the family at all. The relationship with the mother is not much better, they often fight because Connie is always doing her hair or dressing up while the mom usually wears her robe and slippers. Connie and her sister are as well complete opposites, one is a rule follower and never says a word out of place and Connie is the rebellious young pretty one. Although with the sad relationships Connie had with her family, she made the ultimate sacrifice when Arnold Friend threatened to kill them if she did not come outside. Connie also fails to realize the power she has for through Arnold Friends long and convicting list of threats and remarks, Arnold never, not once, takes a step inside the door. That is also a religious parallel, the devil cannot enter a…
The story is based in 1960s American suburbs and is told through the eyes of a teenager named Connie. The theme of the story revolves around Connie and her feelings as it is basically told through the eyes of a teenager. The reader is first introduced to the main character Connie and the theme of innocence is established. The first parts of the essay tell us how Connie does not get along with her mother or her sister. It is shown in some ways how Connie dislikes her sister June as her mother keeps praising her. It is very clear through some parts that her mother prefers her sister June to Connie because June is organized and cleans her room. “June was twenty four and still lived at home” and “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” shows how much her mother liked June’s habits and disliked the way Connie kept self-obsessing which was normal for any teenager. The way Connie keeps checking herself in the mirror and in people’s eyes shows how her sexuality is developing. She is shown to use hair spray and like her mother refers to her “Trashy daydreams” is seen obsessing about her appearance and her looks by the author.…
Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have you been?” is a coming-of-age short story that depicts the virtually invisible barrier between adolescence and adulthood. Connie is a feisty fifteen-year-old girl that doesn’t intend to ride in the backseat for the duration of her younger years, unlike her older sister June, who her mother tends to favor throughout most of the story. Her mother causes most of the friction in the house between the two, mainly because “[e]verything about [Connie] had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home” (Oates 552). One critical attribute Oates gives Connie is her undeniable infatuation to sexual curiosity and her willingness to explore. Oates paints Connie identical to average…
Connie is so use to the ridicule and criticism, that her natural defense mechanism allows her to ignore the hurtful comments. However, the negative comments sometimes become so overwhelming, that Connie wishes for the demise of her mother and herself. “Connie’s mother kept picking at her until Connie wished her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it was all over.” (2/16) This relationship is clearly unhealthy with the woman that should be her first role model, her mother. It is believed that a daughter’s “first love” is her father, and that every child should have a strong male role model in their life. Contrary to belief, Connie’s father has limited to no influence on her or the household. He is not involved with them and has no interest to be. The story states…
Connie and her mom never get along. It seems if though her life is centered around boys. There are secrets and innuendos. Connie hides a lot of things from her mother about who she really wants to be. “But the two of them kept up a pretense of exasperation, a sense that they were tugging and struggling over something of little value to either of them.”…
Joyce Carol Oates’ short story is a complete fiction in the sense that it utilizes all its elements without deemphasizing one for the other. Oates uses point of view, setting, conflict, character, and symbol equally well to convey her theme. Oates applies these elements of fiction to give readers a better understanding of the American teenager and to show how a girl is psychologically manipulated by predators.…
Connie who is a fifteen year old girl, is more vulnerable to Arnold Friend’s manipulations because she still has yet to figure out who she really is (Wilson 261). Connie seems to always get compared to her sister June, “Why don’t you keep your room clean like your sister? How've you got your hair fixed—what the hell stinks? Hair spray? You don't see your sister using that junk" (Oates 205). Connie’s older sister, June, who is twenty-four years old, still lives with her parents as for she works at Connie’s school as a secretary. Connie’s mother is so infatuated by all of June’s accomplishments and wishes that Connie could accomplish everything June is. This made Connie wonder what she could do to be as good as June. Connie often stated that she “wished her mother was dead” (206). With all of the comparing Connie’s mother did, affected Connie majorily. Connie often didn’t really understand who she was because her mother always told her that “she was not good enough” or that “she was not…