Analysis Of Miss Oates 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been'

In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, Miss Oates created a cautionary tale that shows the consequences of being selfish and self-absorbed. Although this short story is completely original, the protagonist and antagonist characters seem to resemble a well-known fairy tale.

The protagonist of the story, Connie, reminds me of Little Red Riding Hood. Like Little Red Riding Hood, Connie is naive and childish in her ways, unaware of the dangers in the real world. Connie still believed that when she met a boy, they would have a “Cinderella” like kind of romance where a boy rescues her from her family and, like a Disney fairy tale, live happily ever after. This was evident in when she began “wondering about the boy from the night before and how nice he had been...the way it was in movies and promised in songs”. Connie believed that “Eddie” was her “prince charming”, letting her all the easily be fooled by Arnold Friend.

Arnold Friend, often perceived as the antagonist, was Connie’s “prince charming” when she first met him as Eddie.

When “Eddie” started talking to Connie and her friends, they thought of him as cool. However, after he asked Connie for a bite to eat and she obliged, Connie thought of him as a hero who drove golden jalopy convertible, whisking her off her feet. Like the story Cinderella, Connie told her family nothing of “Eddie”, including her sister, probably because she would get in trouble. When “Eddie” appears in her driveway and introduce himself as Arnold Friend, Connie becomes cautious of him. Then, Connie notices, in like Little Red Riding Hood, Arnold was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. For instance, she began to take note of his unshaven face that made him look older. Then, he pulls his sunglasses back carefully as if he were wearing a wig, which did happen to be a wig. Finally, when Arnold Friend’s fake smile faded, Connie could see he was a lot older than what he told

her.

As the story progressed, Arnold Friend became more aggressive in trying to convince Connie to leave with him. Connie, who didn’t have a good relationship with her family, was trapped, everything that used to define Connie, her smile, walk, hair, clothes, no longer mattered to her. Instantaneously, everything that defined Connie was gone and as a result, she became a hollow version of herself. Like the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, Arnold managed to “devour” everything that originally defined Connie by making her realize that in the end, there was no one to save her.

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” is incredibly symbolically similar to the familiar fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood. Even though Oates may not use the same wording, the values and themes are still the same. If Connie had been close with her family, better friends or more focused on other things besides her looks and how others perceived her, she may never have met Arnold Friend. If Connie’s family had gone together to the barbecue, Arnold Friend would have never arrived or Connie’s Dad could have fought him off. In the end, Connie’s family may have annoyed and scrutinized her, but they could have saved her from her fate.