One story from the short story unit that depicts impossibilities is “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been.” Connie’s vanity is not abnormal; many teenagers who are her age and attractive act the same way. The impossibility of the story appears in the form of Arnold Friend. Whether he is Satan, a serial killer, Jesus, Bob Dylan, or none of the above, his presence seems odd. Arnold Friend seems to know too much about Connie’s life to simply be a stalker. He know that the rest of Connie’s family is at her aunt’s house. Arnold says while “squinting as if he were staring all the way to town and over to Aunt Tillie’s backyard,” that her family is sitting around and “right now they’re -- uh -- they’re drinking” (Oates 413). He also claims to be…
“Where are you going, where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates represents emotional abuse in relationships and how easy it is to manipulate young minds.…
Tierce and Crafton’s theory that Arnold is a savior is flawed because they misunderstand Arnold Friend’s intentions of freeing Connie from the limitations of a child. Tierce and Crafton believe Arnold Friend was conjured up by Connie’s imagination. Tierce and Crafton believe that he is a manifestation of all the desires Connie holds in her heart. Her wish to be a grown woman created a messiah named Arnold Friend, who came to her to take her away from her father’s home and set her free, saying to Connie, “we’ll go out to a nice field, out in the country here where it smells so nice and it’s sunny”(Joyce Carol Oates, 515). Taking the innocence and limitations that her age brings allows her to leave and go with Arnold Friend (Connie’s Tambourine Man: A New Reading of Arnold Friend). He…
“Where are you going, Where have you been” is a famous story that was written by Joyce Carol Oates. In this story, Connie is fifteen years old girl and the main character. She seems to have always lived in her sister’s shadow, June, who was apparently better all-around. Connie seems to be the more attractive of the two due to which she felt that her attractive personality would succumb to pleasure in the arms of a random boy. One day, she decided to stay home as opposed to going to a barbecue with her family. At that time, Arnold Friend, the antagonist in Oates’ story drives up to Connie’s house. Connie is a character that represents the nature of epiphany in literature. Through Connie, we learn how a character can have a highly significant impact on an important work of literature and the person reading the story. Connie’s naïve understanding of the world and her immaturity led to her downfall in “Where are you Going, Where Have You Been?”…
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.…
The story deal with the terrifying contemporary girl named Connie who at the end of story was abducted and probable murder. Oates created this villain man who is the devil. Oate, added to many mystery at the end of the story which it was so engaging. It was a modern interpretation of the evil tempting the innocence of Connie. The author of this story is appealing to us the knowledge of…
Impulsive behavior is common in our modern society. That impulsive behavior is controlled by a person’s id. Lots of people let their id control all of their decision making. This can eventually lead to a person’s inner darkness to be revealed. This concept is exemplified in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”. In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie’s impulsive behavior along with the symbolism behind Arnold Friend in order to express how her uncontrollable id eventually caused her downfall.…
Arnold is warning Connie of his coming when he wags his finger at her and says "Gonna…
In Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?,” Oates uses imagery to show the antagonist, Arnold Friend, as frightening and portrays many qualities of the devil. From the beginning Connie is shown as selfish and promiscuous and what easier target for the devil than a sinful teenager that’s only living for fun. Throughout the story, Arnold Friend has a Rock & Roll vibe that attracts Connie, yet the second she sees the slightest bit of confusions with him she starts to back off. Arnold Friend’s manipulation of Connie, an image that projects off of the pop culture, and knowledge of Connie’s life and surrounding gives the…
Some say he is the devil, others claim he portrays the godly image of Bob Dylan, or that he is just the mere imagination of a salacious daydream in a young girl's mind. In Joyce Carol Oates acclaimed short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, a 15-year-old girl named Connie, with ever growing feelings of attraction toward the opposite sex, has a vexing encounter with a middle-aged man who goes by the name Arnold Friend. You can’t talk about Arnold Friend, his train of thought, and intentions without talking about and understanding Connie’s character. In the story, Connie is vain, self-centered, and fabricates the truth of her whereabouts to her parents. She and her friend both tell their parents that they are going to the mall…
In conclusion, Oates utilizes Connie’s setting to create a deeper meaning behind what would be a simple story. The setting encourages the reader to look past the surface meaning, and realize the motivation behind Connie’s actions. The descriptive language paints a clear and vivid image that not only provides a strong tone but also pertinent information to the…
Vanity can be exposed as one 's greatest weakness. "Where Are You Going, Where have You Been", a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates, describes Connie 's misconception of beauty as her only value, and also the ways in which Arnold Friend, a potential rapist and murderer, manipulates and takes advantage of Connie 's vanity. Connie is a fifteen year old girl who knows the extent to which her beauty can be used to her advantage. Connie "knew she was pretty and that was everything." However, beauty causes Connie to become vain, and thus gives Connie the misconception that she is more powerful than the boys that are attracted to her. This proves that Connie believes her beauty allows her to transcend above other people, especially boys. As a result, although her beauteous physique can be…
Telling the story from a distant and limited perspective makes the story more interesting since it leaves readers little clue as to how people around Connie would act. This makes readers unable to know what happens next unless they go on reading. If the story was narrated in the first person, the narrative would revolve too closely around Connie so that other characters will fade in the backdrop. A short story is narrated within a certain time and place to make it coherent. Oates’ story is set in the 1960’s, which is implied by the kind of music the teenage characters listen to: “‘Bobby King?’ she said. ‘I listen to him all the time. I think he's great’” (54).…
In a surprising twist, the story is not only about a naïve girl that gets lured out of her home by an older gentleman, but can also be taken as a symbolization of the transition from childhood into the harsh realities of adulthood. In a literal sense, where Connie has been is not a difficult question to answer, but if you look into the symbolization of the story you will realize that Connie has been in her childhood. When considering Connie’s childhood, you start to make an observation on how she was treated by her parents and how that has built Connie up to make the mistake of going with Arnold Friend. Connie’s mother is quite cruel to Connie and makes sure June, Connie’s sister, is the only child getting positive…
Her confidence is only shaken when a man tries to oppress her in a sexual way. It is then when Connie realizes that she was not as strong as she thought she was. Due to the panic, Connie started to confuse reality from fantasy. Arnold Friend, takes advantage of Connie’s naïve personality, and tries to control her by threatening her. Joyce Oats describes oppression here as a form of sexual oppression, where woman are constantly being sexually assaulted because society has portrayed and symbolized women as sexual…