Character Analysis Of Connie In 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'

Fantasies, Frustrations, and Failures

“Araby” by James Joyce is the story of a young boy growing up in bleak and dim Northern Dublin. He is completely captivated by his friend’s sister and spends a majority of the story waiting for a chance to go explore the Bazaar for the first time. He is planning buy a gift for her hoping that she will feel the same admiration for him. Another story that shares a character with similar qualities is “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. In this story the protagonist is Connie a stereotypical teenage girl who is in the midst of an adolescent rebellion. She spends her days daydreaming about boys, while she is constantly in conflict with her mother for not being as responsible

and mature as her sister June.
Both works are both coming of age stories, in which both the protagonists are going through the phase of puberty and are eager to explore their independence, and sexuality.

Some differences between Connie and the unnamed boy such are that they’re different genders, and Connie desires the admiration of all boys and the unnamed only wants the love of one girl. Although, there are some differences between Connie and the unnamed boy there are many similarities. First, Connie is displayed as a very naïve character because she thinks that it is perfectly fine for her as a fifteen-year-old girl to walk around drive inns flaunting her body. She does not contemplate possible dangerous consequences. Connie thinks that she is invincible when she is out looking for boys. Also, she is very credulous meeting a boy at the restaurant for the first time and lets him take her out for dinner, and then goes with him into an alley. She was not alarmed whatsoever when Arnold friend pointed at her and said ‘Gonna get you, baby” (Oates 325). Connie clearly didn’t think anything of it because she just turned away and didn’t mention it to Eddie. She barely remembered Arnold Friend when he showed up at her door because she didn’t think anything was to come of the encounter. Connie simply thought that the appreciation and attention of a male was what she needed to make her happy. “But all the boys fell

back and dissolved into a single face that was not even a face, but an idea, a feeling, mixed with the urgent insistent pounding of music and the humid night air of July.’’ It wasn’t even the boys that fulfilled her fantasies it was the music she loved and the sensation of feeling alive and experiencing the world instead of being cooped up in her house. The boy in “Araby” is also very naïve because he thinks that this girl who he has barely ever talked to will love him back just because he buys her a gift from the Bazaar. He comes to believe that the Bazaar is some kind of enchanted place that will bear a gift that he can buy to sweep his love off her feet. He is childishly naïve expecting everything to go as planned since he does not have much experience in the real world. The unnamed boy wishes to “annihilate the tedious intervening days” (Joyce 318), waiting for his plan to unfold but as the story unravels his expectations for having enough money for a gift, having time to explore the Bazaar, and the setting of the Bazaar itself soon crumble.
Both characters create fantasies, as a way to escape from their dull lives.

When you are going through a tough time it’s much easier to have something to believe in. Both Connie and the unnamed boy use fantasies to remove their minds from their struggles at home or monotonous lives. The unnamed boy in “Araby” wants to escape from his dreary day-to-day life of hiding in the shadows. So he developed his own fantasy of winning over his idealized love (Magan’s sister) hoping she would bring light to his life. He watches her from a far and sees this Bazaar as an opportunity to take her on a date and win her over. But, she cannot go since she has to go on a religious retreat. Therefore, he fantasizes about going to this amazing exotic fair and getting her a gift that he promised and winning her heart. He is soon faced with the grim reality that his uncle forgot about him. Since the unnamed boy had to wait to receive money from his uncle he arrives late to the Bazaar. His family is also faced with poverty, which is evident when did not give him enough money to buy her a gift. Then, the boy realizes that his slight chance of making her fall for him is over. Next, Connie sought to escape her everyday struggles at home by daydreaming of boys and music that fill her head with romance and love. She dreams of meeting boys that will make her feel how the songs and movies do. “She wore a pull-over jersey blouse that looked one way when she was at home and another way when she was away

from home. Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home” (Oates 324). She would dress how she pictured herself in her fantasies to attract all the boys’ attention when she was out with her friends. “Connie couldn’t help but let her eyes wander over the windshields and faces all around her, her face gleaming with a joy that had nothing to do with Eddie or even this place; it might have been the music” (Oates 325). It was not the attention of Eddie that was making her happy it was the fact that she was finally out living her fantasies instead of just sitting home dreaming of them.
Both characters cope with extreme frustration whether it’s caused by a family member or from family issues. Connie faced frustration from always being compared to her elder sister who was much more mature; she would save money and help around the house while Connie didn’t do much but daydream. Whether it was how clean Connie’s room was or how she did her hair, Connie was always scorned by her mother claiming she should be more like her sister. Similarly, Connie’s mother was always disapproving when she saw Connie looking at herself in the mirror because her own wicked mother was jealous of Connie’s good looks because she was once that beautiful like that as well. “Connie wished her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it was all over. ‘She makes me want to throw up sometimes’ she complained to her friends” (Oates 325). Connie did not get much love or attention at home, being chastised by her mother, and her own father ignoring her. Connie’s father would come from work eat his dinner and go straight to bed paying no attention to his daughter. Additionally, since she did not get love and attention at home she went out with her friends and sought it from random boys that would make her feel valued. Her going out and charming boys made her feel like a woman and made her feel mature like her older sister. This kind of pretentious behavior eventually led to her demise when she enticed the wrong boy. One day, when her family leaves for a barbecue Arnold Friend shows up at her house and threatens to hurt her family if she does not come with him. This led to Connie resisting and being raped and taken by Arnold. The unnamed boy also encounters many hindrances like his uncle staying out late drinking, forgetting that he wanted to go to the Bazaar, and family financial matters. “ When I came home to my dinner my uncle had not yet been home. Still it was early. I sat staring at the clock for some time and, when its ticking began to irritate me, I left the room” (Joyce 319). Since his uncle was late getting home he was late to the Bazaar and discovered it to be nothing how he imagined it. It was not enchanted or exotic at all. He soon realized his uncle did not give him enough money to purchase Mangan’s sister a respectable present, and before he knew it the bazaar had closed. He was left sitting there alone in the darkness and his chances or capturing his crushes heart was gone.
To summarize, although the unnamed boy and Connie were different genders, came from different backgrounds, and had different ideologies of what they wanted. They were much more similar in the fact that they were both naïve, dealt with frustrations from their families, and created a fantasies of a better life. Connie naively thought that she was invincible, and fantasized that the admiration of boys would make her happy. But, essentially it wasn’t the boys that made her happy it was the music and freedom she felt. She was able to get away from always being reprimanded at home. The unnamed boy childishly believes that his plan to win over his fantasized lover will go as planned and she will be his. But, complications from his uncle being late and poverty issues hinder his plans and he is left with nothing. Both of these characters failed to grasp possible obstacles in their fantasies, which left them with nothing. You can’t always get what you want in life, but if you don’t expect too much you get what you need.