The movie Smooth Talk is based off of Joyce Carol Oates’ story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been.” Smooth Talk is a movie that revolves around the actions of a curious fifteen year old and an extremely concerned mother. The main character, Connie, is a young girl that seems to like to pretend to be someone that she is not. At home she is a typical teenage girl, but when she is out with her friends it is almost as if she is an adult with the way that she dresses and acts. Connie’s mother treats her harder than her older sister June because she feels that Connie is following in her rebellions ways just like when she was younger. To begin with, the major conflict that is in both the movie and the book is, between Connie and her mother. …show more content…
Connie Wyatt is fifteen years old, she likes to have fun and be very flirtatious for her age, but disobeys her mother’s wishes in the process. Connie feels as though her mother is trying to keep her hidden away from every boy she can possibly meet and the consequences that may occur with that happening. Since her mother is very over protective and concerns herself with how Connie dresses, Connie feels the need to act out on her desires. Connie acts differently when she is at home with her family that when she is out having fun with her friends. For instance, there are a lot of problems with Connie and her mother that have accumulated over the years, and have led to such complications.
When Connie’s mother was her age, she acted the same way that Connie is acting towards her family now. Her mother used to act out, disobey her parent’s orders, do things with boys that she shouldn’t have done at her age, and more. Connie knows of her mother’s old ways because her older sister, June, is a result of the mother’s actions when she was Connie’s age. Her mother knows that Connie is just like her when she was younger, so she is afraid that Connie will repeat the same actions and mistakes that she made when she was her age. Connie thinks that her mother is too hard on her and she doesn’t understand why her mother treats her differently. The more Connie’s mother badgers her about what she can and cannot do, the more Connie will do the things her mother tells her not to …show more content…
do. In addition, the problem that really shook things up between Connie and her mother was when Connie got caught coming home late being with someone she wasn’t supposed to be with; a boy.
When Connie goes out she tells her mother that she is just going to be with her best friend at the mall all day, she leaves the house dressed conservatively, but when she gets to the mall she changes into something that can catch any boys’ attention. Her and her best friend try to find boys to hang out with then they leave with the boys and meet up at the movie theater when it’s time for them to go home. One day, Connie got caught up with a boy she had meet and lost track of time. When she got to the meet up point, her best friend was nowhere to be found since it was well over the time that they’re supposed to be home. Connie arrived home during very late hours and was met with an angry in the living room. Connie and her mother got into a heated argument and there were many things that were said, that shouldn’t have been
said. Finally, the one day Connie is home alone, her stalker, Arnold Friend, comes around and makes Connie think twice about ever acting the way she does again. Connie gets frightened and spooked by the way Arnold carries himself, and his way with words. I think Connie was just trying to prove a point to her mother that she wasn’t like her and that she wouldn’t make the mistake of getting pregnant at her age. Connie liked to have fun, but whenever she would go off with a guy she would never let things go any further than kissing because she wasn’t ready to take the next step. I believe that all Connie wanted was for her mother to stop treating her as if she was a bad child, and give her a little more trust that she thought she deserved.
The characters make a big difference in the movie and the book. One thing they both have in common is that Otis Amber and Berthe Erica Crow get married. And that Edgar Jennings Plum and Angela Wexler get engaged instead of Doctor Denton Deere. Also Jake Wexler is a gambler instead of being a bookie.
There are many differences in the movie that were not in the book. In the movie there is a new character in the movie that was not in the book. This character was David Isay.
While watching the movie, I could see that the main characters in the book, both their names and traits, were the same in both the movie and book. However, aside from that there were many different as...
Though this story is very dark and painful to read, Connie's actions are realistic enough to connect some readers to the protagonist, thus helping the reader understand the story better. In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, through juxtaposition and imagery, Joyce Carol Oates makes us believe that Connie fits the character archetype of the typical teenage girl, and creates a connection between the character and the
Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is about a young girl's struggle to escape reality while defying authority and portraying herself as a beauty queen; ultimately, she is forced back to reality when confronted by a man who symbolizes her demise. The young girl, Connie, is hell- bent on not becoming like her mother or sister. She feels she is above them because she is prettier. She wants to live in a "dream world" where she listens to music all day and lives with Prince Charming. She does not encounter Prince Charming but is visited by someone, Arnold Friend, who embodies the soul of something evil. Arnold Friend symbolizes "Death" in that he is going to take Connie away from the world she once knew. Even if she is not dead, she will never be the same person again, and will be dead in spirit. With the incorporation of irony, Oates illustrates how Connie's self-infatuation, her sole reason for living, is the reason she is faced with such a terrible situation possibly ending her life.
In her famous short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Carol Oates shows the transition from childhood to adulthood through her character Connie. Each person experiences this transition in their own way and time. For some it is leaving home for the first time to go to college, for others it might be having to step up to a leadership position. No matter what, this transition affects everyone; it just happens to everyone differently. Oates describes Connie's unfortunate coming of age in a much more violent and unexpected way than the typical coming of age story for a fifteen year old girl.
As I began reading “Where are you going, where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates I found myself relating the experiences of Connie, the girl in the story, to my own personal experiences. She spoke of going to a friend’s house and having her friend’s father drive them to the shopping mall so that they could walk around and socialize or go see a movie. I found that this related very closely with my own experiences of being fifteen years old because it was always someone else’s parents driving my friends and I to the movies or to the mall.
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.
In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, the description of the characters June, Connie, and Arnold Friend reveal the true nature of the characters and underlying motives. June is the older sister to Connie who shapes the relationship between Connie and her family, while describing the differences between Connie and June. The description of the protagonist Connie reveals the struggle between childhood and adolescence with the desire to be desired by those of the opposite sex, but also the obsession with childhood fantasies. Arnold Friend also represents a struggle for Connie with the fact that he repulses but also allures her with his fulfillment of her fantasies.
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...
The first conflict between Connie and her mother. The writer 's said. "They also examine the psychological principles that underlie Connie’s relationship with her mother and sister, as well as her rebellion, self-centeredness, insecurity, and sexual experimentation"(Oates267). They had a very poor relationship that contributed to her constantly wanting to rebel against what her mother truly
When approached by Arnold Friend at first, she was skeptical but was still charmed by him. As she began to feel uneasy, Connie could have used her intuition to realize that he was trouble. Once she had been engaged by Arnold, her life was over. The influences on Connie and her lack of instilled reasoning led to her down fall. Her family’s fragmented nature was echoed in her actions; consequently, she was unable to communicate with her parents, and she was never was able to learn anything of significance. She felt abandoned and rejected, because no one took the initiative to teach her how to make good decisions. Connie was unable to mature until she was faced with death and self sacrifice. In the end, her situation made it difficult for her to think and reason beyond the position she was in. By not being able apply insight, she fell into Arnold Friends lure. Misguidance by the parents strongly contributed to Connie’s
Connie conveyed herself as attractive, youthful, promiscuous and mature. She loved attention from boys and loved being able to reject them. She found enjoyment in deceiving her parents, flirting with boys and gussying herself up. Because this is a story about Connie, she is the hero. Although she ends up submitting to the villain, Arnold, she can be viewed as heroic for her obedient personality in order to ensure her family’s safety. Her childish and immature manner is revealed when she is confronted by Arnold and adulthood. This is demonstrated in her reactions to sex, “She put her hands up against her ears as if she'd heard something terrible, something not meant for her. "People don't talk like that, you're crazy,"“(Joyce Carol Oates page 6). The topic of sex is casual for adults but Connie finds the topic vulgar and felt completely out of place having a conversation about sex with an older man. She also does not realize how normal the topic of sex is because of her age. This implies she is much more childish than she perceived herself to be. Since the forceful experience she went through with Arnold, Connie now knows she was never too
Oates drew the character of Connie very well - she possesses many of the qualities that teenaged children share. According to developmental psychologists, adolescents become highly critical of siblings, and peer relationships take precedence over familial ties during these years (Feldman, 455). These traits are apparent in Connie’s unflattering description of her older sister June, “…she was so plain and chunky…” (209) and the fact that Connie spends many nights out with friends, but refuses to attend an afternoon picnic with her family (211).
Connie is a round character, “Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home”, writes the nararrator. Everything was different when she was not home, her walk, voice, laugh, appearance, and her true self seemed split. In the start of the story, Connie is able to keep these two selves entirely seperate, until her experience with Arnold. Here her sexual, flirtatious and confident “friend self” collides with her sweet, shy, innocent “family self” for the first time. She is unable to handle this collision of her two selves and we see her realize she has lost sight of her identity.