What The World Has Done... In "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" the author, Joyce Carol Oates, essentially asserts that the nuances of one's personality are not generated from within, but rather shaped by external circumstances. This is an argument whose justification is abundantly clear in the inner conflict of Connie, the protagonist of the book. The source of that struggle is her unstable relationship with her family, which ultimately results in her identity conflict. As one who always been deprived of father-figure, she feels the need to acquire attention from boys in order to fill that void. The realism and characterization with which Oates makes this point in the story have garnered much praise. Connie is presented as the quintessential teenage girl. Like any other female adolescent, she is preoccupied with make up, boys and music. Great characterization is seen in Arnold Friend - described by Oates as one who appears at first glace as "a boy with shaggy, black hair, in a convertible jalopy painted gold"(427) - who employs manipulative conversational tactics to gain psychological control of Connie. Later, he even changes his apparel in order to draw Connie to himself, an act which makes him reminiscent of an enticing devil. Connie is a girl whose perception of the world has been shaped by her family and "culture," causing her life to be literally split into two. At home, she acts as if she were an Zabakolas 2 innocent child that is unconcerned with the dynamics of the opposite sex. But once she ventures into the "real world" she screams for male attention. In her domestic life, she has virtually nobody and nothing upon which to depend (a fact that she e... ... middle of paper ... ..., shows what happens to the psyche of the individual who is shown no love in the larger environment or in the "safety" of her own home. Connie was influenced by many damaging sources that prohibit her from achieving a proper self-identity. As a result of being neglected by her father, denigrated by her mother, compared to her sister and her desire to be loved by her family and others, she developed an identity problem that ultimately led her to the devil. It is not until the very end, through her acquaintance with Arnold Friend, that she is able to achieve some sort of happiness. Even then, her happiness is a tragedy as the devil wheels her in. Works Cited Oates, Joyce Carol. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Literature and the Writing Process. Eds. E. MacMahan et al. 7th Edition. Upper Saddle River(NJ):Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005.
The first time Arnold Friend is mentioned in the story is when Connie is leaving the restaurant and walking through the parking lot with a boy named Eddie. She sees a man in a gold convertible that is watchin...
Arnold Friend takes advantage of Connie’s teenage innocence for something of a much more sinister purpose. Connie thought she had it all figured out until Arnold Friend came into her life and up her driveway on one summer, Sunday afternoon and made her realize how big and scary the world can be. Arnold embodies everything that Connie has dreamed about in a boy, but is in the most malevolent form of Connie’s dream boy. She always wanted to get away from her family because she has always felt as if she didn’t belong and Arnold can make this possible just in the most predatory way. She always thought sex would be sweet (and consensual) and that she would be in charge of how it progressed, Arnold strips her of the authority she’s held in any other encounter with a boy. The moral of the story is always be careful what you wish
Arnold Friend could possibly be a symbol of the devil. Friend tries to be kind and tells Connie he will take care of her and everything to try and get her to come with him. Oates says, “His whole face was a mask, she thought wildly, tanned down onto his throat…”; this could symbolically be connected with the devil. The devil would never be out in the open he would be in disguise. McManus also talks about how Friend is related with the devil. “Friend’s suggestion is that if Connie’s house was on fire, that she would run out to him, may also suggest symbolism. Fire being associated with devil.” This is a great symbol of Friend and the devil because fire is most definitely associated with the
Connie was tired of the life she was living and, she was ready to make decisions for herself and to deal with the consequences for them. She knew that if her parents found out about her going to the diner that she would be in trouble. Connie did not care about the consequences for her actions. She felt like it was time to grow up and be a woman. She wanted to start to experiment with her sexuality. Connie wanted boys to start to notice her and talk to her. Connie thinks that guys could be her savior by helping deliver her from the pressure and anxieties from her sister and mother. Her going out on her own makes her realize that she does not have to please anyone, only herself. When Connie and her friend went to the diner she met this guy Arnold. Obviously being with Eddie for three hours in a dark alley and diner was not the best first move for her. This is the one decision that will change her life forever. This was probably the first guy that gave Connie some attention. So obviously she is going to soak him up and just...
herself, and how she was brought up, as I think this has had a big
Further, She had been pretending to be this old mature lady but when Arnold Friend started to sexually flirt with her, she was frightened and so "sick with fear that she could do nothing but listen to it - the telephone was clammy and very heavy and her fingers groped down to the dial but were too weak to touch it. She began to scream into the phone, she cried for her mother"( 431) However, when Connie started to call for her nobody was there to help, She even called for help from her mother as a child does, but she didn’t get any help. By that time she felt so weak and the only safe place she was seeing in front of her was going with Arnold Friend. To come to a conclusion, Connie 's experience with Arnold Friend had put her in the adult world where she finds out that she is on her own
Connie constantly had to listen to her mother complain about how her sister was one way and Connie was another; “June did this, June did that, she saved money and helped clean the house and cooked and Connie couldn't do a thing, her mind was all filled with trashy daydreams.” By not conforming to her mother’s wishes this shows a certain level of independence achieved. Connie and her friends would often be dropped off at the mall by her friend’s father and they would be by themselves until eleven at night. Sometimes they would watch movies or walk through the stores which was what they would say they were doing. Sometimes they would walk across the street to the diner that was earlier mentioned. At the end of the night the father wouldn’t even ask what they had done, not questioning their actions. This leads the young adults to believe they’re mature and not think about the consequences of their actions by going to the diner with the older kids. They didn’t think about their actions of hanging out at “…the maze of parked and cruising cars to the brightlit, fly-infested restaurant, their faces pleased and expectant as if they were entering a sacred building that loomed up out of the night to give them what haven and blessing they yearned for.” They didn’t care if it was a low end restaurant, they just wanted to hang out with the grownups to act as if they were mature as well. The final act of independence Connie shows was at the end of the story when Connie has to make the choice of going with Arnold Friend or risk her family being hurt by him. In the end, in her dazed confusion of being pressured, she decides to go with Friend. “She put out her hand against the screen. She watched herself push the door slowly open as if she were back safe somewhere in the other doorway,” during this moment of her walking out she
Stories have an opportunity to leave the reader with many different impressions. When you look a different characters within the stories the ones that leave the greatest impressions are the ones that tend to scare us. The figures in Bob Dylar’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have you been?”, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”, and Stephen King’s “The Man in the Black Suite” all instill a bit of fear in the reader. They are symbols that represent the devil or devil like attributes in people and the uncertainties of human nature.
Connie's haughtiness additionally portrayed as Connie would raise her eyebrows at these old objections and look directly through her mom, into a dark version of herself as she was comfortable minute: she knew she was pretty one out there and that was everything.Her absence of regard and discourteousness toward her family, particularly her mom and sister, is indicated with her state of mind, "...Connie wished her mom was dead and she was dead, and it was everywhere. "She influences me to need to hurl once in a while," she grumbled to her friends. She had a high, short of breath, interested voice that made all that she said sound somewhat constrained, regardless of whether it was true or not."
Connie has the need to be viewed as older and as more mature than she really is, all the while still displaying childlike behavior. She shows this childlike behavior by “craning her neck to glance in mirrors [and] checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right” (Oates 323). This shows that Connie is very insecure and needs other people’s approval. Although on one side she is very childish, on the other side she has a strong desire to be treated like an adult. This longing for adulthood is part of her coming of age, and is demonstrated by her going out to “bright-lit, fly-infested restaurant[s]” and meeting boys, staying out with those boys for three hours at a time, and lying to her parents about where she has been and who she has been with (Oates 325, 326). “Everything about her ha[s] two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home” (Oates 324). Even her physical movements represent her two-sided nature: “her walk that could be childlike and bobbing, or languid enough to make anyone think she was hearin...
Joyce Carol Oates uses the description of the characters to reveal their purpose in the story and their affect on others. June portrays the family environment Connie lives in and the differences between her and Connie. This leads to Connie’s need for attention from others and acknowledgement of her beauty. She desires attention and to be an adult, but she is stuck in between childhood and adulthood with her daydreams about fanciful romance supplied by music. Arnold Friend causes Connie to confront reality and her struggle between childhood and adulthood. Oates is able to portray Connie’s move from childhood and fantasy to reality and adulthood through her willingly leaving with Arnold Friend – sacrificing herself for her family.
got herself into a situation that she could not escape. Arnold Friend is a prime example of the
Oates’ use of the way Arnold looks and acts so similar to the devil, her use of the words on the car meaning something foreign and her subtle symbolism with Connie’s attire make the story’s theme of evil and manipulation stand out so much more. Connie’s clothing symbolizing
In a world where labels determine much of a person’s identity, gender and culture have a strong influence on a person’s life. Uma tries to please her parents’ Hindu expectations of her, and fitting into American society. In the short story “Devadasi”, by Rishi Reddi, gender and culture based societal standards impact the protagonist Uma and how she sees her surroundings. These standards shape both Uma’s relationships with those around her and how she sees her place in the world. Today, too many people let every piece of their lives be dictated by gender and culture based expectations.
she has become aware of what happened to her race and as a result she has over