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The Transition from Childhood to Adulthood in Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"
All people experience changes in their life. Some of these changes are small such as the passing from one grade to another in school. Other changes are more intense, such as the transition from childhood to adulthood. In Joyce Carol Oates? ?Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?? Oates goes into depth regarding the transition from being a carefree, innocent child to adulthood. In the short story ?Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?? two separate worlds are drawn to the reader?s attention. The first is the normal daily life of Connie, a fifteen year old girl living in a home with her parents. Connie?s daily life is simple childhood. The second is the day Arnold Friend shows up at her doorstep and brings with him the difficulties of what the future holds.
Connie is described as being an attractive fifteen year old girl whose actions are stereotypical of what one might expect from a girl her age. She spends her time listening to music, shopping, daydreaming, having fun, and trying to meet boys. Her friends share the same interests and when they are together they, ?would lean together and whisper and laugh secretly?. ( ) Connie puts on two different shows, one to her friends and a completely separate one to her family. ?Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home.?( ) Connie does not show any real affection ...
Oates, Joyce Carol. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Celestial Timepiece. July 2007. U of San Francisco. 15 Mar. 2008.
Authors of great stories often use good technical writing skills. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast two short stories: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates, and Hills Like White Elephants by Earnest Hemingway. Comparison and contrast will be done based on their use of plot, point of view and character development. The short story Where are you going, Where have you been is about a teenage girl who is, vain, self-doubting and affixed to the present. She does not know anything about the past or doubts it, and has no plans for the future.
Each of us experiences transitions in our lives. Some of these changes are small, like moving from one school semester to the next. Other times these changes are major, like the transition between youth and adulthood. In Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", the author dramatizes a real life crime story to examine the decisive moment people face when at the crossroads between the illusions and innocence of youth and the uncertain future.
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 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.
Standing in the front of the mirror every day, people see themselves gradually become an adult from a little boy or a little girl. In “Childhood Dreams”, Jennifer Yee describes a story that her father and she used to spend a lot of happy time in the amusement park together, riding carousels and so on, but now she felt lost and uncertain about her life. The reason why the author felt she was smothered by the real world was probably because she found out that as growing older, life became more complex, and she did not have as much time as she used to have to enjoy life in the childhood, and therefore felt quite depressed about the way she was.
There are many important and interesting themes present in Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been?” One major overlying theme is that of the apathy of adults towards the youth in society. Apathy, or general disinterest, can be innocuous, but it can also be incredibly harmful. Unfortunately, in “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been?” it falls into the latter category, likely leading to the demise of the protagonist. Oates makes it fairly clear throughout the story that the adults present in Connie’s life are responsible, at least in part, for what happens to her. This is shown with several different methods, which will be discussed in this paper.
Oates, Joyce Carol. Where are You Going, Where Have You Been? N.p.: Epoch, 1966. N. pag. Print.
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.
Have you ever been so focused on achieving your dreams that you become unaware of your current situation? When we focus on the goals ahead of us, we fail to see the obstacles and dangers that are in front of us. In order to achieve our goals we involuntarily put ourselves in an unwanted situation. Connie, herself, struggles to achieve her goal of being a desirable girl that turns heads when she walks into the room. She becomes so set on being this girl that she doesn’t realize the danger of the situation. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Oates utilizes metaphors, diction, and imagery to show how Connie is in a constant tug between her reality and her dreams, and how this confines her freedoms in a world that is surrounded with malevolence.
During the teenage years they no longer want to be labeled the “child; matter of fact, they have a strong desire to rebel against the family norms and move quickly into adulthood. This transition and want for freedom can be a very powerful and frightening thing as there are evils in this world that cannot be explained. Most parents try to understand and give their teens certain freedoms, but at what expense? Joyce Oates gives us a chilly story about a teenager that wanted and craved this freedom of adulthood called “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”. This is a haunting story of a young girl by the name of Connie who gives us a glimpse of teenager transitioning from childhood with the need for freedom and the consequences of her actions. Connie is described as a very attractive girl who did not like her role in the family unit. She was the daughter who could not compare to her older sister and she felt her Mom showed favoritism towards her sister. Connie is your average teen who loves music, going out with friends, and she likes the attention she receives from boys. During this time, Connie is also growing into her sexuality and is obsessing with her looks as she wants and likes to be noticed by the opposite sex. Her sexual persona and need to be free will be what is fatal to her character’s life and well-being.
In the story “Where are you going, Where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, the main character, Connie, experiences life not having an actively participating mother or father. Most adolescents struggle with the transition from teen-age years to adulthood. For many, this is where the parents step in. Parents are meant to support and help an adolescent when needed, especially during this difficult transition; however, this is not always true. In Connie’s case, her parents allowed her to make the change alone and endure hard times. As a result, she lacked the values needed to survive. Such values are used to equip a young person for the real world and the tragedies that come with it. As seen in “Where are you going, Where have you been?”, Connie was a victim of poor guidance and empty judgment. The dysfunctional family’s behavior was reflected in Connie. Her mother envied her, and her father was not an active figure in her life. Connie 's
In “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates offers a psychological portrait of a vain, vulnerable teenage girl searching for independence. In the story, Connie meets the evil but smooth talking Arnold friend at a drive-in restaurant. Unfortunately, Connie’s fantasy of finding romance leads her to go off with Friend although the reader suspects Friend will eventually harm Connie. In the story, Oates uses Connie’s character to develop the theme of how the psychological and social pressure young girls can experience as they seek independence. We learn about Connie’s determination to be free through her rebelliousness toward her mother, through her acting older than she is, and her desire for romance.