Analysis Of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

From the opening lines of, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” By Joyce Carol Oates, readers are immediately introduced to the character, as well as indicating the story is being told by a third person narrator. The use of a third person narrator lets readers know what connie is thinking allowing them to identify with her on a more personal level. The beginning of the story is also introduced in past tense. This could foreshadow the fact that something bad might have happened to connie, also suggesting the theme of violence.

In the beginning, he mentions his last name, Friend, which is possibly not his real name, to indicate that he is friendly. He often calls Connie “honey” and “sweetheart” throughout their conversation. He gives flattering comments, such as, “You’re cute”(1144). He understands that Connie is a young teenager who can be easily impressed by these comments. Moreover, the tone of Arnold’s voice, as described by the author is as follows, “He spoke in a simple lilting voice, exactly as if he were reciting the words to a song.

In Joyce Carol Oats “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been,” we are introduced to two main characters. The names of the two main characters are Connie and Arnold Friend. In Oates’s short story, Arnold Friend is an imposter that tries to convince young Connie to go on a ride with him and his friend Ellie. Connie refuses to go on the ride but Arnold’s use unnatural techniques to force Connie to leave her house and go with him. Arnold Friend’s awareness of Connie’s family and friends and his ability to persuade Connie reveals that he is more than just a creepy old man trying to kidnap a young girl.

Dangers Women Face in the Literary and Real World An online survey done by Stop Street Harassment in January 2018 revealed eighty-one% of women eighteen and up have experienced a form of sexual harassment. Joyce Carol Oates wrote “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Which is a short story that spreads light on the possible dangers a woman can face. The story follows the main character Connie, and her experiences as a young woman, while being followed and found by Arnold Friend. Arnold Friend’s character is modeled after a murderer at the time who killed three highschool aged girls.

People look like animals. Of course, people are animals, but that’s not what I mean. Sometimes, when my friends and I are bored, we will decide what animals others resemble. Though I think most people resemble bunnies, one can find an entire A notable celebrity example would be Snoop Dogg, a rapper who actually looks like the creature for which he was named. Besides just their looks, some people’s personalities can be represented by other organisms.

Summary: (1). Connie and her friends go to the restaurant where all the older kids hang at. (2). Connie meets a boy named Eddie and she hangs out with him for a few hours. (3).

In “The Flowers”, Alice Walker explores the woods through the eyes of a little girl named Myop, but she soon realizes the world isn’t as nice as flowers. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, Joyce Carol Oates follows a young girl named Connie who is focused on others and her own appearance, until she is introduced to the world in a unexpected way. Both Walker and Oates use young girls to show the harsher sides of the world and how their childhood changes to adulthood in different ways. The main thing that Myop and Connie have in common is that they are both females, but their looks and the way the live are totally different.

Home is where the heart is, but what if home is no longer safe? Joyce Carol Oates explores this concept in her 1966 short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”. On surface level, this story appears to discuss a rebellious young girl named Connie and her confrontation with Arnold Friend, a stalker. The ending leaves the reader to assume that Arnold Friend plans to sexually assault the young girl.

In the coming of age story “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates uses symbolism, conflict, and the third person to foreshadow fifteen-year-old Connie’s unfortunate, yet untimely fate. While one may think that the conflict stems from Connie’s promiscuity, it is clear to see her promiscuity is only a result to a much bigger conflict, her mother’s constant nagging and disapproval, alongside the lack of attention from her father. the author paints a vivid picture of what happens when a fifteen-year-old girl such as Connie goes elsewhere to find to find the love, attention, and approval that she lacks at home. All which is vital for her growth and wellbeing as a person.

Fantasy V.S. Reality In some cases an individual can perceive something as the complete opposite of what it truly is. People create the illusion or the fantasy on what they believe something to be.

He mysteriously knows where Connie lives and invites himself to drive over to her house. Arnold assumes Connie’s friendship by convincing her that he knows everything and everybody, “I know your name and all about you” (Oates 201) when she never told him her name in the first place. He knew her friends, their names as well as what she did the night before. He also knew exactly where Connie’s family was, at a BBQ at Connie’s aunt Tille’s.

In Joyce Carol Oates fictional short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” the majority of the story lies beneath the surface. More specifically than just the story, you realize that there is more to the character Arnold Friend than what may appear. The author has always remained silent and ambiguous about the real meaning of Arnold Friend’s true nature and she leaves room for the readers to make their own interpretation of him. Readers can analyze Arnold Friend and see him as the devil, he could just be the personification of popular music imagined by Connie in a dream, but Arnold Friend could also be the result of drug use.

In her short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", Joyce Carol Oates utilizes a variety of literary devices to strengthen the story in its entirety. This short story is essentially about a 16-year-old girl named Connie and the conflict between her desire to be mature and her desire to remain an adolescent. Throughout the story, the audience sees this conflict through her words in addition to through her behavior. The audience is also introduced to Arnold Friend, a rather peculiar man, who essentially kidnaps her. This short story by Joyce Carol Oates functions and is additionally meaningful because of her usage of literary devices.

Instead of realizing the danger that she was in, Connie was focused on what Arnold Friend was wearing and how attractive he was. Connie’s obsession with finding her own sexuality overpowered her gut feeling of danger. In an analysis of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, Barbara Wiedemann discusses how the antagonist Arnold Friend is based upon serial killer Charles Schmid, who murdered several young girls during the 1960s. In the analysis, Wiedemann

He knew her name even though she had only quickly glimpsed at him the night prior with no communication from her at all. He knows where her parents are, what they are doing, how long they will be, how they look he even knows who her best friends are. Essentially Arnold Friend is the very essence of nightmare to Connie he is everything she is afraid of. He pressures her in to a situation out of her control. He takes away her pride of rejecting people and forces her to choose her family being hurt of facing her demons and going with him.