story‚ Oates writes about Connie who is a fifteen-year-old girl who‚ like most‚ notices her good looks in the mirror. Her mother has never approved of her and her actions and compares her to Connie’s older sister‚ June‚ who is twenty-four. June lives at home and works at Connie’s high school as a secretary (Oates‚ 1). Connie and her friends enjoy going to the movies‚ at least that is what she tells her father. They really go to a restaurant across the street to meet boys. Connie met a guy‚ Eddie‚ and
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described as a “…pilgrimage through the wilderness…” (Woolson 1). The diction is very specific to suggest the importance and possibly the spiritual nature of the trip as something that would cause a perspective alternation to the world around Javris. Connie‚ in “Where are you Going‚ Where Have You Been?” encounters the transition in a much different and darker way. She is brought to a very direct confrontation between childhood and adulthood by Arnold Friend‚ who may be an actual person‚ but better serves
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In the short story “Where are you going and Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates one of the main things that readers find is the suspicion surrounding the character Arnold Friend. Supporting this is Friend’s words which are so impactful on Connie‚ and why she didn’t just pick up the phone and call nine-one-one to end the whole conflict in the first place. Much of the research I found was based off this question pointing out how a person would react to this scenario. From this information I
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represents Satan in the story. Indeed‚ Arnold Friend is an allegorical devil figure for the main reason that he tempts Connie‚ the protagonist‚ into riding off with him in his car. Oates characterizes Arnold Friend at first glance as "a boy with shaggy‚ black hair‚ in a convertible jalopy painted gold"(581). She lets the reader know that Arnold is not a teenager when Connie begins to notice the features such as the painted eyelashes‚ his shaggy hair which looked like a wig‚ and his stuffed boots;
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Analyzing Fiction In “Where are you going‚ where have you been”‚ this story makes me frustrated with the main character Connie. She comes off to me as an immature little girl who wants to live the life of a mature woman‚ but when faced with reality she is still just a little girl. I felt Connie feels the need to rebel or act a different person when she leaves her house and in a sense lives a double life and has two personalities. In the story the author writes‚ “She wore a pull-over jersey blouse
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perception of self drastically changes within minutes because of a brutal reality breaking into her life and destroying it. Connie is a protagonist of the story. She is a fifteen year-old self-centered teenager‚ who “knew she was pretty‚ and that was everything” (626). Not showing a deep personality‚ she concludes that her mother is “simple” and fools her with a little remorse (627). Connie considers her twenty-four year old sister “plain and chunky” ‚ “poor old June” (628); and draws a “thick line“ between
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The number sixty-nine has been deemed as a sexual number‚ which correlates with Arnolds sexual demeanor towards Connie (Hurley 63). At the end of the story‚ it is to be suspected that Arnold takes Connie and rapes her‚ so I can see how Hurley believes that the numbers added up can be correlated to that ending (Oates 5). Another conclusion that can be made is that the numbers are derived from chapters of Judges
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Connie’s “two-sided” nature is apparent throughout the story‚ but the origin of that nature is less clear. Connie is this seemingly innocent pretty girl from a mundane family‚ bored with her home life. She often goes to town with her friends‚ where she reveals herself to be this haughty‚ almost cocky teen. Connie’s “two-sided” nature stems from what exactly? Who is she expected to be in the home? The story holds evidence that she is pressured to be more like her sister‚ June. Oates states‚ “If June’s
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You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is about a teen named Connie who is insecure and is looking for an escape from her household. The main antagonist‚ Arnold Friends main objective is to lure Connie out and take her on a so called “date”. He does this by trying to make small talk. Some of the things said can be very creepy as he seems to have psychic abilities and know everything. One of the more irrelevant things said was‚ “Leave me alone‚” Connie whispered. “Hey‚ you know that old woman down the road
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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
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