Joyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going Where Have You...

Coming of Age: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Joyce Carol Oatess short story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? is the story of a fifteen-year-old girl named Connie, a pretty girl who is in the middle of a rebellious adolescence. She alienates herself from her family, preferring to spend her time with her friends at the local restaurant looking for boys. She enjoys the popular music of the day and tries to appear older and sophisticated beyond her years when away from her home. In many ways she is a typical teenager caught between adolescence and adulthood. She avoids sharing too much information with her parents for fear they will not approve of her activities and curtail her freedom. She likes to go to the shopping plaza and hang out at the drive-in across the highway. One evening, she agrees to go for a ride with a boy named Eddie. Connie notices another boy with shaggy black hair in a gold convertible looking at her. Gonna get you, baby, (Oates, p.37) he tells her. On a Sunday, while her parents are at a picnic at her aunts house that Connie refused to attend, the boy in the gold convertible drives to her house. He introduces himself as Arnold Friend. Despite her reservations, Arnold eventually persuades Connie to leave her house and go with him. Now come out through the kitchen to me, honey, and lets see a smile, try it, youre a brave, sweet little girl ¦ (Oates p. 53). Though we never find out exactly who or what Arnold is, he is theShow MoreRelatedArnold Friend Analysis1096 Words   |  5 Pageseven among believers. The number of differing sources and translations have led to plenty of inconsistencies, rumors, and assumptions surrounding the Prince of Darkness. Throughout the short story â€Å"Where Are You going, Where Have You Been?†, Arnold Friend is seen as a symbolic Satan. Joyce Carol Oates uses dialogue, characterization, and plot to show the readers how Arnold embodies features of a symbolic Satan. One of the ways Oates shows Friend as a symbolic Satan is by using examples for dialogue.Read MoreThe Journey to Adulthood in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates1119 Words   |  5 Pages â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† Analysis In the American society, when individuals reach adolescence, they begin to search for their identity by exploring their interests and opening their mind to new notions and ideas. This is the psychological and physical human development that ultimately leads them to their adulthood. Joyce Carol Oates short story depicts a fifteen year old girl with typical teenage concerns. She has to face the realization of the meaning of maturity in the AmericanRead MoreComparing A P And Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been By Joyce Carol Oates Essay1224 Words   |  5 PagesContrasting of Coming of Age Stories Throughout the short stories, â€Å"AP† by John Updike and â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been† by Joyce Carol Oates there are a various number of similarities and differences between the two. Both Updike and Oates short stories focused on the sexuality of younger girls and force the main characters to make a life changing decision. Leaving their innocence behind, whether they like it or not, by the end of the stories, Sammy and Connie have come into adulthoodRead MoreEssay about Oates Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been1290 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,† written by Joyce Carol Oates is an unsettling and incredibly formidable story of a young woman’s loss of innocence during a time of social change and turbulent times. The story’s protagonist is Connie, a self-absorbed, yet beautiful fifteen year old girl, who not only is at odds with her family but also the conservative values handed down by her family. She, unknowing to her parents, spends her evenings exploring her independence and individuality as wellRead MoreWho Is Arnold Friend?1591 Words   |  7 PagesWho is Arnold Friend? Joyce Carol Oates was born June 16, 1938 in Lockport New York. At a young age Oates started writing. Scenes from her early environment are frequently used as settings in her stories. In her elementary years she wrote stories and â€Å"constructed 200 page books, which she designed and bound herself† (Helterman and Layman 371). The lack of information provided about her early years and her making large books at a young age is a good indication that she was an outcast and had a troubledRead MoreConnie ´s Coming of Age1257 Words   |  6 Pages2013 Connie’s Coming of Age In her famous short story, â€Å"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 ConniesRead MoreWhere Are You Going? Where Have You Been?1546 Words   |  7 PagesWhere Are You Going? Where Have You Been? In the short story, Where are you going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie flaunts her beauty to receive attention from the opposite sex and is lead to temptation. The antagonist Arnold Friend, who symbolizes the devil, shows how simple it is to take away your safe haven through sinister acts. Connie is split between how she acts and portrays herself at home, and how she acts whenever she is with her group of friends. Connie refuses toRead MoreWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been By Joyce Carol Oates And Eveline Essay1205 Words   |  5 Pages2016 In, â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been†, by Joyce Carol Oates and â€Å"Eveline†, by James Joyce, two characters prove to be completely different but share few similarities as well. In both short stories, the main characters, Connie in â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been† and Eveline in â€Å"Eveline†, are both teenage girls who face problems at home. Connie and Eveline who are both caught up in their own cultures in different times are Both girls seem like they have it all going for themRead MoreEssay About Arnold Friend1388 Words   |  6 PagesHaving a stalker is one thing, but having the devil as a stalker is on another level. â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† is a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates. Through her writing, she expresses the devil with her use of the character, Arnold Friend. Throughout this story, one can tell Arnold Friend is a symbolic Satan through his description, use of language, and his knowledge. Arnold Friend’s physical description resembles Bob Dylan’s appearance, but the devil is known to takeRead More Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates1563 Words   |  7 PagesWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates In Joyce Carol Oates story, a teenage girl named Connie was stripped of her innocence. Gonna get you baby( 497).This chilling line is what the devil said to Connie the first time Connie came in contact with him which foreshadows of things to come. This one comment clearly points to a situation where Connie would be taken from a safe haven of innocence. She would be TAKEN, not simply invited. Connie was a Joyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going Where Have You... Connie, the main character in Joyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been is a fifteen-year-old girl, just realizing her beauty. It is summer vacation, and she is spending her time either with boys or daydreaming about them. Connie is a typical teenage girl with a desperate need for independence. She does not get along with her mother, and her father is seldom around. He works a great deal of the time, and when he comes home, he likes to eat and go to bed. Connie has a girlfriend who she enjoys going to the mall with. While at the mall, the girls like to meet boys and watch movies. It is a place where the girls can express themselves in a way different from the ways in which they portray themselves at home. The storys†¦show more content†¦11). Connie is fixated on her beauty and the role beauty plays in life. The first thing she thinks about when the two boys that she has never seen before pull up her driveway is how she looks. Some may say that because of the lack of control Connie possesses over her beauty, Arnold Friend, her eventual abductor, is attracted to her. He sees her naivety and sets forth to capture it. Like many teenagers, music plays a large role in Connies life. She drifts off into daydreams and desires when listening to music. It plays in her head, even when there is no music around. She dreams of boys and love, sweet, gentle, the way it was in movies and promised in songs (par. 12). When Arnold and his friend Ellie first pull up into Connies driveway, the music on the radio has an effect on her. Like many teenagers, Connie is intrigued by the music. It allows a connection between her and the strangers in her driveway. She becomes interested in the boys. They listen to the same station on Ellies transmitter radio that Connie plays in the house. Although she has never spoken with them before, Connie feels more comfortable and less tense as she begins to listen to the music from Ellies transmitter radio and the music coming from inside her home as they blend into one sound. Because of Connies relaxing state, she allows herself to become intrigued with Arnold andShow MoreRelated Jo yce Carol Oates Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?1539 Words   |  7 PagesJoyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Joyce Carol Oates was born in 1938 in Lockport, New York. She started writing very young and that the age of fifteen she submitted her first novel, but it was rejected for being too dark;. This style of writing is common on many of her works including Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?; Oates graduated from Syracuse University and then went on to get her masters degree from the University of Wisconsin. Oates turnedRead MoreJoyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?651 Words   |  3 PagesJoyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Every person comes face to face at some point in life with vital decisions. Some of the decisions are minor ones, while others can bring turning points in life. In Joyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? she displays a particular instant in the main characters life. This character, Connie was caught in the difficult transition from her youth and innocence to a doubtful future. Throughout the story Connie alternatesRead MoreWhere are you Going? Where Have you Been? by Joyce Carol Oates1100 Words   |  5 PagesWhere Are You Going, Where have you been? is a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates. The 75 year old American author and professor at Princeton University, introduce the story of 15 year old Connie who is rebelling against her mother’s whishes. A very arrogant and selfish girl that in her world the only thing that matters is how many heads she can turn when walking into a room. Through the story life gives her a test, to confront Arnold Friend, th e antagonist of the story; who possesses a nefariousRead MoreWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been By Joyce Carol Oates990 Words   |  4 PagesSocial Reality: An Analysis of â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been† by Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates has kept her true inspiration behind â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been† in order to create a willing suspension of disbelief between realism and fantasy. The short story by Oates was released soon after the newspaper published the murders committed by Charles Schmid Jr. in 1966. The story displays numerous resembling details that match the real-life murder case involving â€Å"TheRead MoreWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been By Joyce Carol Oates1032 Words   |  5 PagesOne may never realize the people surrounding one’s everyday life, crammed with bodies of contrasting characters, pasts’, and styles; however, who are these people genuinely? Arnold Friend, in the short story, â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been† by Joyce Carol Oates, managed to deceive with his false characteristics. Arnold Friend was brought to life from Oates’s imagination of the mischievous serial killer Charles Schmid. Arnold Friend and Charles Schmid similarly attempted to delude withRead MoreWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates1157 Words   |  5 Pages Joyce Carol Oates’ â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† is a modern interpretation of the classic narrative of evil tempting innocence. Oates’ version of the devil allegory combines this Christian model of temptation with contemporary secular society. Connie is a pretty fifteen year-old girl, beginning the process of maturation into adulthood. She begins to become aware of her ability to act of her own volition, but her naivete renders her ignorant to Arnold Friend’s layers ofRead More Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates1563 Words   |  7 PagesWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates In Joyce Carol Oates story, a teenage girl named Connie was stripped of her innocence. Gonna get you baby( 497).This chilling line is what the devil said to Connie the first time Connie came in contact with him which foreshadows of things to come. This one comment clearly points to a situation where Connie would be taken from a safe haven of innocence. She would be TAKEN, not simply invited. Connie was a Read MoreWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates1107 Words   |  4 PagesIn Joyce Carol Oates â€Å"Where are you going, where have you been?† introduces us to Connie a self-absorbed, rebellious, and very naà ¯ve fifteen year old who is tossed into this world of sexuality, and adulthood she believes she knows all about. As Oates explains about Connie to us we get introduced to what influences her to act out and not care what others think and go about dealing with problems herself. Her mom is brought in as an over protective mother who wants to see her daughter succeed but doesn’tRead MoreJoyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going Where Have You Been1502 Words   |  7 PagesThe Devil in Disguise Joyce Carol Oates’s â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† describes the story of a fifteen-year old girl named Connie who does not seem to have a care in the world. The story takes place in the seventies. Connie is a girl who just wants to have fun and is all about her appearance and boys. In the beginning of the story, you understand the relationship between the mother and Connie. The mother appears to be malicious of her young and beautiful Connie saying such harshRead MoreWhere Are You Going Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates991 Words   |  4 PagesThe decisions that you make throughout life can make or break you; you just have to make the right ones. In Joyce Carol Oates story â€Å"Where Are Your Going Where Have You Been?†, the main character is Connie. Connie had an older sister but she was nothing like her. Her older sister always pleased her mom, and Connie did not care. Connie and her friend hang out and go to the shopping cente r or the movies. One day they decided that instead of going to the mall they would go to the diner across the