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 chooses narrate her story in the third person
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“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
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what the lines mean. 1. Everything about her had two sides to it‚ one for home and one for anywhere that was not home...." The first quote is from “Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?”‚ written by Joyce Carol Oates. It is in reference to Connie‚ who is a teenager. She is no longer a girl‚ yet she is not a woman. She would leave home she looking one way and arrive at her destination another way. 2. She would have been a good woman . . . if it had been someone there to shoot her every minute
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"Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?" Music is one of the symbols mentioned in this story. The author mentions the music played in everywhere in the story. The author says that "The Music was always in the background". The music comes from restaurants‚ homes and cars. Music symbolizes the feeling and the emotions of the characters. For example‚ music for Connie is a pattern for romantic relationship. When she is happy‚ she hears music in everywhere. On the other hand‚ when she is sad‚ she
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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 daily life of Connie‚ a fifteen year old girl living in a home with
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In Joyce Carol Oates’ “‘Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?’ and Smooth Talk: Short Story into Film‚” Oates writes that Connie “An innocent young girl is seduced by way of her own vanity” and that “she confuses death for erotic romance” (419). Oates clearly defines her point when Connie first discovers Arnold Friend at the drive in diner. She catches Friend staring at her with a big smile and Connie “slit her eyes at him and turned away‚ but she couldn’t help looking back” (409). The fact
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The Devil’s Favorite 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
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Innocence “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” presents many themes and symbols to the reader. One that jumped out at me while reading the story was the overall feeling of innocence. Joyce Carol Oates shows us innocence from the very beginning of the story to the end where Connie loses self-control and power. From the first paragraph of the story we learn that Connie is a young fifteen year old who longs for attention and acceptance. I was able to relate to the story better when I paused
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The character in “where are you going‚ where have you been?” Connie is affected by the role she plays in modern society. Fifteen year old Connie has the confusing‚ often exterior behavior typical of those girls who are facing the difficult transition from girlhood to womanhood in the 1960s. She is caught between her roles as daughter‚ friend‚ sister‚ and object of sexual desire‚ uncertain of which represents her real self. The sixties were the age of youth‚ young people wanted change. The changes
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horrifying situation where the outcome is unpredictable many physical and emotional changes take place. Joyce Carol Oates’s story "Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?" places Connie‚ a typical teenager‚ in this situation. Throughout the story‚ occasionally using religious undertones‚ Connie’s language of a typical teenager gradually changes‚ from calm and somewhat curious to nervous and terrified. Early in the story on a Sunday morning‚ Connie’s family leaves to go to a family barbeque
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