Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Identity Analysis

Maddie Kramber
8 April 2016
Dual Credit English
Per. 3B
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”: The Search For Self Still to this day in our lives, we struggle to figure out who we are, and what we are put here on Earth to do. In our society today, we have trouble with searching with who we are. In the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?,” by Joyce Carol Oates, the author’s background as well as her usage of characterization and internal conflict, develop the theme of identity and the search for self. During the summer, Connie spends most of her time hanging out with her friends or hanging out with boys. One night when Connie and her friends came out of a movie, she was greeted by a strange man who made a threatening
gesture to her. As shown in the picture, Arnold Friend has a nice car, but he looks very suspicious when luring Connie in (Arnold Friend). He begins to greet her with an odd saying that would seem strange to young girls like her, “Gonna get you, baby” (Oates 206). Connie is freaked out just a little bit, but ends up carrying on with her night on the town with her friends. When she got home later that night, her parents and sister were at her aunt’s house for a barbeque. After Connie takes a shower, she hears a car pulling into her driveway. As soon as she looked outside the window, her worst nightmare occurred, it was Arnold Friend. When Connie and Arnold Friend started talking outside of Connie’s house, he asked her to come with him and take a ride. After Connie talks to Arnold Friend for a while, she realizes that he was not trying to be her friend, but is a major threat. When Arnold starts to use sexually explicit terms when he talks to Connie, she struggles on what to do. He threatens that if she were to call the police, that he would then kill or harm her family. Connie comes to the realization that she has one last chance to save her life, so she makes one last effort to call the police. Her emotions got the best of her and she is unable to make the call. In the end, Arnold Friend ends up luring Connie into the car and drives away with her; which leads the reader to believe that she will never be returning. Throughout Joyce Carol Oates’s short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?,” Oates develops a theme of identity and the search for self.
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
pretty”. On the other hand, Arnold Friend who is a mastermind at sweet talking. He has some background of what people to believe as a rapist, or a murderer. Arnold uses manipulation to lurer Connie in his car for a “ride.” He appeals to most girls Connie’s age because he still looks young and has a nice convertible car. Arnold tries to also use some psychological techniques when he speaks to Connie. He tries to incorporate some romance when he is speaking to girls so they start to feel more comfortable with him. Using these appealing tactics when speaking to his victims, he is able to lure more possible suspects in. Often in the short story, Oates describes Connie as a beautiful girl with brown hair that anyone would be drawn to.
Many articles state that she was the perfect target for Arnold Friend and all of his mischievous plans. Connie’s personality traits made her “vulnerable to Arnold Friend” (Wilson 259). Connie often showed her interest in boys throughout the story, which also made Arnold Friend even more attracted to her (259). Connie’s personality is pretty common for her teenage self. She comes across as rebellious, vain, self-centered, and deceitful. With experience with this behavior, I feel that this is a big reason to why Connie has some trouble with figuring out who she really is. Many of the times, Connie is too worried about what her mother and family thinks of her to really discover herself. After Connie’s encounter with Arnold Friend outside of the movie theater, she did not think too much of it. Later on though, when Arnold Friend shows back up, she realizes that her encounter was not just a coincidence. He was not just a nice guy complimenting her, she realized that “she has attracted a menacing force”
(259-260). Oates tends to write at her best when she is most “...conventional, when she relies on her impressive skill as an omniscient third-person narrator who...refines details in such a way that a story is rendered with dramatic immediacy and intensity” (Creighton). With this story, Oates does a tremendous job at capturing the “vacuousness, cheapness, and narcissism of Connie and her” friend’s lives; and how they have nothing better to do than stroll up and down the mall or hang around the movie theater (Korb 267). Oates does her best to be realistic when writing her stories. Some people comment on her stories as the “bleak nature if her fiction and on the many unpleasant things that happen to her characters.” Oates notes that,
People frequently misunderstand serious art because it is often violent and unattractive. I wish the world were a prettier place, but I wouldn’t be honest as a writer if I ignored the actual conditions around me. She has very often than not explained her interest in the “richness of pain and chaos” (Korb 267).
Many authors and other readers describe her interest in “richness of pain and chaos” to be disturbing, or unentertaining, because they feel that stories should have a good story line and what everyone expects at the end of a story, a happy ending. What makes Oates a great author, is that she is not afraid to speak about the true problems we have in our society and creating awareness for these topics. The fight to find individualism and the search for who we are in today’s times is an eternal struggle for mankind. Joyce Carol Oates skillfully shows through Connie’s struggle for her image and having to deal with her parents in her short story, “Where Have You Been, Where Are You Going?.” Despite her interaction with Arnold Friend throughout the story, Connie symbolizes to young teenagers, especially girls to find out who you are and to be careful when seeking for attention.