The dramatic irony of “Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?” conveys the tone of warning about temptation. Connie’s situation is that she does not feel appreciated at home and uses her looks and actions to get attention and appreciation from boys even if it is short-term. She is self-conscious about her looks and is constantly worried about how other people perceive her. Friend’s fantasy is that Connie will willingly go with him and be his “lover” (605) even before he officially met her. The
Premium Woman Gender Female
Sin: Vanity In "Where are You Going‚ Where Have you Been?" Joyce Carol Oates uses an allegorical figure of evil to illustrate the theme of temptation. Oates alludes to hell through the character Arnold Friend‚ as the devil‚ and his victim Connie‚ who invites him in by committing one of the devil’s favorites sins: vanity. The narrator implies that Arnold Friend is Satan by giving certain clues that the reader can easily deduce. The name that Oates gives to the character is one hint to the reader:
Premium Joyce Carol Oates Devil Hell
topic for my speech is where you would like to live ──in the city or in the countryside? I think I am the very person to offer the answer because I used to live in the countryside and I am now living in the city. So it’s easy for me to make a comparison. As the saying goes‚ every coin has two sides. When you hear this question you may be aware that there are advantages and disadvantages of living in either place. What’s good about living in the city? First‚ it’s very convenient. You don’t have to travel
Premium Charles Dickens City Sky
experiences changes in their life. Some of these changes are small such as the passing from one grade to another in school. Other changes are more intense‚ such as the transition from childhood to adulthood. In Joyce Carol Oates’ "Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?" Oates goes into depth regarding the transition from being a carefree‚ innocent child to adulthood. In the short story "Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?" two separate worlds are drawn to the reader’s attention. The first is the normal
Premium Joyce Carol Oates Coming of age English-language films
“Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?” Paper “Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?” is a short story that poses many questions centered around the protagonist‚ Connie and the antagonist Arnold Friend and his “comrade” Ellie. The fate of Connie at the end of the story is still up for debate after all these years after the story was published in 1966. The main question posed is who actually is Arnold Friend? Is he the devil or something else? The answer may never be fully known but in
Free Short story Woman Female
In the 1960s‚ when Oates wrote “Where Are You Going . . . ‚” a social revolution was happening. American women were asserting their rights and independence from men‚ and they were claiming their sexuality in a way they had never done before. One frequently discussed topic was adolescence and the struggles and anxieties that many young girls endured as they lost their sexual innocence and became adult women. Feeling undervalued in their homes and relationships with men‚ women questioned their role
Premium Joyce Carol Oates Protagonist
Connie’s Paradigm In Joyce Carol Oates’ short story‚ “Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?” we follow the main character Connie as she faces an inner transformation. The author introduces Connie as a vain and inexperienced adolescent who seems to daydream about things she doesn’t quite understand as she has more of a naive idea of what adulthood is all about. She takes pleasure in having control over everyone and everything around her. These ideas as well as her security are shaken when the
Free Joyce Carol Oates
Are You‚ the Best You? People everywhere are faced with the unanswered question‚ “When am I working too much?”‚ “When do I stop?” Due to the constant increase in our cost of living‚ people believe they are forced into working longer and more demanding hours. People need to learn how to split their time and energy between work and the other important aspects of their lives. In the two essays‚ “Hit the Brakes”‚ by Christopher Dewolf and “Stupid Jobs”‚ by Hal Neidzviecki‚ it is shown that spending
Free Personal life
childhood dreams. The journey between childhood and adulthood is frustrating and confusing‚ and in most adolescents‚ is filled with apprehension and anxiety. For the protagonist Connie‚ this distress is expressed in her dreamlike encounter with Arnold Friend. In the short story “Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?‚” Joyce Carol Oates used the interaction between her two main character‚ to reveal the internal fear and conflict of a fifteen year old girl maturing into a young woman. Oates
Premium Joyce Carol Oates Dream
nostalgic recirculation than political inspiration…” This revolution consisted of women demanding their own rights so they could become more and more independent. There were significant shifts in social attitudes‚ behaviors‚ and institutional regulations at the beginning of the 60’s and also lasted through the 70’s. The sexual drive increased majorly and the amount of women that had sex before marriage also sky rocketed. In Where Are you Going‚ Where Have You Been‚ Connie wants sexual attention from men
Premium Gender Sexual intercourse Human sexual behavior