Foreshadowing In Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

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Dreams are extremely realistic imagery or memories depicted by the brain to seem like reality while you sleep, or in some cases, while you are awake. In the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, the author uses Connie’s experiences, foreshadowing, and Arnold Friend’s character to reveal that the short story could all be a simple trashy daydream. To begin, the author uses the experiences of Connie to portray to the readers that this could, in fact, be a trashy daydream. This is shown through the quote “But all the boys fell back and dissolved into a single face that was not even a face, but an idea, a feeling, mixed up with the urgent, insistent pounding of the music and the humid night air of July” (Oates …show more content…

“He wagged a finger and laughed and said, “Gonna get you, baby.” The quote foreshadows future events in the story because of the fact that Arnold says, “Gonna get you, baby.” There’s no actual reasoning behind why he chooses her, but it states he might try something later on. Oates also uses small wording to kind of hint at the readers. “Her mind was filled was all filled with trash daydreams.” (Oates 1). This quote tends to shape the short story. This quote leads readers to the possibility that Connie’s experience with Arnold could have all been a foreshadowing to a trashy daydream. In the article “Oates’s Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by David K. Gratz, he also points out the quote. “Both Rubin and Winslow note that seems to be falling asleep just before he arrives, and Rubin points out the nightmare quality of her being unable to act in the end.” (Gratz). This article more or less solidifies the fact that Connie might of fell asleep and dreamed up the whole encounter. In all, Oates uses multiple accounts of foreshadowing to further the possibility of the encounter being all just a bad dream of …show more content…

“Oates’s Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”. Taylor & Francis, 9 July 2010, 1987. Accessed 31 Oct 2017.

Oates, Joyce Carol. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”. 1966, pp, 1-9.

Rubin, Larry. "Oates's 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'." EXPLORING Short Stories, Gale, 2003. Research in Context, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=MSIC&sw=w&u=avl_madi&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CEJ2112200150&asid=cbab0f9a10d83577dfebdd9906fb0f99. Accessed 31 Oct. 2017.

Urbanski, Marie Mitchell Olesen. "Existential Allegory: Joyce Carol Oates 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'." Studies in Short Fiction (Spring 1978): 200-203. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Vol. 11. Detroit: Gale, 1979. Literature Resource Center. Web. 31 Oct.

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