The dark symbols within Joyce Carol Oates’ short story “Where are you going, where have you been?” and their meanings. Joyce Carol Oates uses gothic elements to make the reader feel frightened, because what happens in the stories could happen in real life. The main character of this story, Connie, is an ego-filled, fifteen-year-old teenage girl living in the suburbs of the United States in the 1960s. She focuses most of her attention on the usual teenage worries: boys, her vanity, and whatever is popular with fashion and music. “She knew that she was pretty and that was everything” (Oates 323). Connie pokes fun at her older sister, fights with her mom, and hangs out with her friends as they try to attract the attention of the older, high-school …show more content…
It was a boy with shaggy black hair, in a convertible jalopy painted gold…He wagged a finger at her and said, “Gonna get you, baby…” (Oates 325). At first, the reader might think that this short story is about a stereotypical teenage girl but there are a few symbols that hint at a more gothic, or grotesque nature. For example, after the main antagonist, Arnold Friend, shows up at Connie’s home unannounced and uninvited, he gives her a secret code. The passage states, “He read off the numbers 33, 19, 17 and raised his eyebrows at her to see what she thought of that, but she didn’t think much of it” (Oates 328). But why was this code given? Arnold was unsuccessful with his hidden innuendo to Connie. If the numbers that were given are added up they make the number 69. This is a sexual act, so therefore Arnold Friend is dropping hints of wanting to perform sexual acts with Connie. With her consent, or without it. The antagonist’s name and physical characteristics can be seen as a hidden message of danger. "Arnold Friend", if one were to take out the “R's”, the reader is left with is "An Old Fiend". This is a reference to the …show more content…
His hair is shaggy, black and it resembles a wig. This signifies a phony cover-up of Arnold. It is the opposite of Connie’s golden blonde hair which symbolizes innocence. His sunglasses help to reveal another symbol, they reflect mirror images and do not show his eyes. This suggests a disguise, as if Arnold is trying to hide his appearance, as well as, who he really is. “Not only does Friend represent the rebellious outsider in his choice of dress, but his very facial features already suggest a predatory nature” (MacInnes De Nittis 14). Arnold’s car is an extension of himself. It serves as a contrast between the real Arnold and who he is camouflaged as. The car symbolizes the fantasy and reality aspect of Arnold. Oates uses the old jalopy to symbolize the truth about Arnold. The new paint job is used to symbolize Arnold’s fake disguise that he puts on to lure Connie in. Arnold’s car becomes an example of all that is dark about his appearance and nature. The color gold represents a sort of flashy appearance as if he is trying to attract a younger crowd. Connie asks Arnold how old he is and she realizes that he is not a teenager her age, he may possibly be older than thirty. Oates explains that Arnold has a “nose long and hawk-like, sniffing as if she were a treat he was going to gobble up and it was all a joke”
Oates uses a great number of symbols in her short story "Where are you going? Where have you been? to create an aura of unease and Devilishness. Her principal symbols are Arnold Friend, his disguise, and the music Connie listens to. Oates' use of symbolism and Biblical allusions to Satan force the reader to raise an eyebrow to the character of Arnold Friend and the doomed future of Connie.
The author uses foreshadowing to give the reader a little incite of how Arnold acts when Connie walks by his car with another guy. “It was a boy with shaggy black hair, in a convertible jalopy painted gold. He stared at her and then his lips widened into a grin. Connie slit her eyes at him and turned away, but she couldn’t help glancing back and there he was, still watching her. He wagged a finger and laughed and said, ‘Gonna get you, baby.’ ”(Oates 1). A couple days later Connie was sitting in
In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Oates wants to show a more intellectual and symbolic meaning in this short story. Oates has many symbolic archetypes throughout the short story along with an allegory. Oates uses these elements in her story by the selection of detail and word choice used. Oates does this because she wants to teach her audience a moral lesson.
The overuse of biblical allusions throughout the story helps to expose the naive nature of Connie that reveals her as a victim of evil which shows that lust often transgresses on an individual’s identity. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Carol Oates expressed the subjective ideas by symbolizing Arnold Friend as a devil that tempts a clueless teenage girl Connie, who wanted to experience love.
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 the sin of vanity.
The Eternal Present in Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Michele D. Theriot, Journal of Short Story in English, 48, (Spring 2007): 59-70. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 November 2013.
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.
Joyce Carol Oates intrigues readers in her fictional piece “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by examining the life of a fifteen year old girl. She is beautiful, and her name is Connie. Oates lets the reader know that “everything about her [Connie] had two sides to it, one for home, and one for anywhere but home (27). When Connie goes out, she acts and dresses more mature than she probably should. However, when she is at home, she spends the majority of her time absorbed with daydreams “about the boys she met”(28). This daydreaming behavior is observable to the reader throughout the story. From theories about dreams, theories about subconscious thought, and the clues that Oates provides, the reader is lead to believe that Connie’s experience with Arnold Friend is a nightmare used to awaken her to the consequences that her behavior could result in.
Arnold Friend’s layers of deception. Connie’s blindness is the pretext of her loss of innocence
The mysterious Arnold Friend goes to Connie’s house. He tries to convince Connie to take a ride in his car. Most people will deny the offer, but seeing as though Connie is unruly, she is easily persuaded by Arnold . Arnold deceives Connie with his charm and ride. He takes her to a place where she does not know. We find that Mr. Friend is not so friendly, but a sick soul with a loose tongue. In addition to this I agree with author Christina Marsden Gills of “Short Story Criticism, vol.6” when she explains that:
A mysterious car pulled into Connie’s driveway and the driver proceeds to get out of his vehicle, showing that he belonged there, not recognizing the car Connie opens the door to her house and leans out it. “She went into the kitchen and approached the door slowly, then hung out the screen door,” (2). Without even knowing who or why this person has come to her house, Connie opens her door and leans out to possible talk to the driver, who would turn out to be Arnold Friend and wants to take her on a “date”. Connie’s ignorance towards Arnold and his arrival almost immediately puts her in a vulnerable state without her even realizing it, this vulnerability would be the first event to foreshadow Connie’s inevitable kidnapping. After greeting and talking to Arnold for a little, he proceeds to ask Connie if she wants to go for a ride in his car. Instead of turning down the offer since she barely, if at all, knew Arnold, Connie somewhat debates it. “Connie smirked and let her hair fall loose over her shoulder,” (3). Though she lacks any information about Arnold, Connie kind of debates taking up his offer to go for a ride, further letting her ignorance towards the entire situation usher her into an even more vulnerable
Joyce Carol Oates' short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" written in the late sixties, reveals several explanations of its plot. The story revolves around a young girl being seduced, kidnapped, raped and then killed. The story is purposely vague and that may lead to different interpretations. Teenage sex is one way to look at it while drug use or the eerie thought that something supernatural may be happening may be another. The story combines elements of what everyone may have experienced as an adolescent mixed with the unexpected dangers of vanity, drugs, music and trust at an early age. Ultimately, it is up to the reader to choose what the real meaning of this story is. At one point or another one has encountered, either through personal experience or through observation, a teenager who believes that the world is plotting against them. The angst of older siblings, peer pressure set upon them by their friends, the need for individualism, and the false pretense that at fifteen years of age, they are grown are all factors which affect the main character in this story.
Oates, Joyce Carol. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”. Backpack Literature. An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X.J. Kennedy & Dana Gioia. 4th ed. New Jersey: Pearson, 2006. (323-336). Print.
In the short story “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?”, by Joyce Carol Oates, the use of the symbolism of Connie’s clothes, her fascination with her beauty, Arnold Friend’s car and Arnold Friend himself help to understand the story’s theme of evil and manipulation. The story, peppered with underlying tones of evil, finds Oates writing about 15-year-old Connie, the protagonist of the story, a pretty girl who is a little too into her own attractiveness, which eventually gets her into trouble with a man named Arnold Friend. The story is liberally doused with symbolism, from the way Connie dresses to the shoes on Arnold Friend’s feet. In “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?” the reader can pick up on some of the symbols very easily, while others need deeper thought. The subtle hints of symbolism throughout the story create a riveting tale that draws the reader in. Connie finally succumbs to Arnold Friend at the end of the story, it then becomes obvious that he represents the devil and the symbolism of her clothing and Arnold’s car all tie together to create a better understanding of the story.
Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” tells the tale of a fifteen year old girl named Connie living in the early 1960’s who is stalked and ultimately abducted by a man who calls himself Arnold Friend. The short story is based on a true event, but has been analyzed by many literary scholars and allegedly possesses numerous underlying themes. Two of the most popular interpretations of the story are that the entire scenario is only dreamt by Connie (Rubin, 58) and that the abductor is really the devil in disguise (Easterly, 537). But the truth is that sometimes people really can just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Connie, a victim of terrifying circumstance will be forever changed by her interactions with Friend.