What Is The Theme Of Manipulation In Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

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Manipulation: King and Pawn “Manipulation, fueled with good intent, can be a blessing. But when used wickedly, it is the beginning of a magician's karmic calamity” (“Manipulation”). Manipulation is too often a tool used for wrong intent. With wrong intent, manipulation most always benefits one person, and hurts another. This is the case throughout Joyce Carol Oates’ short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, which revolves around two characters, Arnold and Connie, and is based on a true story of a serial killer who manipulated women into trusting him. Throughout the story, Arnold manipulates Connie in clever, conniving ways. Arnold’s traits make him a master manipulator, while Connie’s traits cause her to easily become a pawn …show more content…

In turn, her home life is also a large reason she is so easily manipulated. Her father is mostly absent from her life, which causes emotional distress, especially for girls her age. Because of this, Connie craves for attention from guys because she is not able to get it from her father. Additionally, Connie is not able to view her parents as an example of a healthy relationship, since her father is not around a lot. This enables Arnold to manipulate her because she doesn’t know what healthy attention is. Along the same lines as her father, Connie’s mother is dissatisfied and hates that Connie is so obsessed with her looks, often “[scolding] Connie about it” (Oates 2203). This causes Connie to be distant from her mother. Thus, Connie feels little, compared to her sister, who gets all the attention from their mother. The absence of both parents allows Connie to be manipulated because she feels alone, often rebels against the rules, and wants to be away from her family. All of the aforementioned traits make Connie a target, so much so, that Arnold, a master conniver, cleverly uses them to his …show more content…

For example, Arnold is calm throughout the story. He always has an answer for her, such as when Connie was trying to convince him her father would be coming home, but he kept giving her answers that convinced her of the contrary. This makes him a master manipulator because his answers seem believable, which causes Connie to believe what he says more. Throughout their interaction, Arnold maintains his cool facade which puts Connie more at ease and less on-guard. Socially, Arnold is clever and calm and was obviously able to talk to people in order to find out information about Connie, such as her name, and her family. This makes him manipulate easily because he then used this information to coerce Connie into leaving with him, as he threatens her family when he says, “‘[C]ome out her nice like a lady and give me your hand, and nobody else gets hurt, I mean, your nice old bald-headed daddy and your mummy and your sister in her high heels’” (Oates 2213). Along with this, Arnold appears to be very charming. Initially, Arnold flatters Connie and puts her at ease before he threatens her, which she does not expect. He also uses non-threatening gestures such as leaning against his car and constantly smiling at Connie. This makes him a master manipulator because he is able to socially charm and flatter people in order to get what he

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