Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Summary

"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is a short story filled with ideas of vanity and judgment through references of music and the Bible. The main character, Connie, is a vain teenage girl in the 1960s who spends her days exploiting her beauty to fulfill her personal desires. Joyce Carol Oates uses the symbols of Arnold Friend, music, and the deceit of appearances to develop the allegory of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Oates uses several symbols through her characters, such as Arnold Friend, to create a religious allegory about the temptation of the devil.

In this context, Connie can be seen as the ego, which must decipher right from wrong. Friend is shady and eventually we discover him to be dangerous –as our Ids can be. Friend overpowers Connie, just as our Ids can overpower our egos to do certain things, and impact our decisions. Oates illuminates this concept in her story when she illustrates: “Arnold Friend was saying from the door, "That's a good girl. Put the phone back."

In Joyce Carol Oates short story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been , the deception of appearances plays a colossal role in the development of the story. Characters are not what they seem and are portrayed differently than the person they truly are. When the main character tries to make herself become something she is not, she leaves herself open to a person doing the exact same thing. The story focuses on the protagonist, fifteen year old Connie, who believes that she is too far from adulthood and finds herself longing to be older.

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” is an intriguing short story by Joyce Carol Oates that leaves readers to delve into their own interpretations of what truly happened in the story. As a matter of fact, the last section of Oates’ story is what has caused the most discussion as Connie’s fate is at the mercy of a sinister man known as Arnold Friend. Furthermore, the fact that the story ends without a clear explanation of who Friend was only adds to the mystery as the reader does not know what exactly happened to Connie or if she was only having a dream. This paper will decipher the author’s message, analyze the characters of Arnold Friend and Ellie, and deduce Connie’s fate. Oates’s main message in her short story is exactly pinpointed

He knows that if he can convince her with certain aspects of the plan, she will be more likely to go with him. If she The plot also reveals that Arnold wants Connie physically. Joan Easterly says, “The devil is usually presented as interested in possessing human souls” (Easterly). Arnold Friend will not leave without Connie in the car with him. He desires her physical body, and to take her away to somewhere that they are alone.

The beginning of the story, as indicated by Oates, the reader is not only introduced to Connie, but her disingenuous ways as well. Connie, like many typical teenage girls works hard to portray herself as an experienced knowledgeable woman. Consequently, she takes pride in her looks in which she had a, “…habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors, or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right.” (p. 452)

A search for Independence: A Literary Analysis of Oate’s “Where are you going, Where have you Been?” Joyce Oates wrote the short story, “Where are you going, Where have you been?” in 1966. The story that was inspired by a serial killer who preyed on young girls, became an instant classic. “Where are you going, Where have you Been?” is about a young girl, Connie, who is very self-centered, vain, and focuses on her looks without much regard for anything else.

Connie in Joyce Carol Oates’s story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” desperately wants to be independent from her family, while Gregor Samsa in Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” pathetically yearns for inclusion. In this story, Oates pays special attention to the mother-daughter relationship and the lack of meaningful communication between them. Connie's mother is an image of the future Connie doesn't want – the life of a domestic housewife. Connie has a love-hate relationship with her mother, with whom she identifies, but at the same time she has to distance herself from her mother in order to establish her independence. On the other hand, The Metamorphosis, a story by Franz Kafka, is about a man who has been transformed into a giant beetle

If you are old enough to remember, you can think back to the memories of when you are a kid and understand the memories as a child are the best memories that you have in your life; yet eventually you mature into ann adult. Like the book, Catcher in the Rye, the short story Where Are You Going Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oats is about Connie, an adolescent girl, wanting to stay in her child-like life and not mature into a adult. Fortunately, Connie has some help coming into the adult world with the manifestation of a person named Arnold Friend and Ellie.

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.

Arnold Friend’s Biblical Allusions In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Joyce Carol Oates tells a story of a young, innocent teenage girl, Connie who enjoys listening to music and begins exploring her sexuality and being with boys “the way it was in the movies and promised in songs” (Oates 198). In fact she catches the attention of Arnold Friend one night while at the mall meeting up with a boy. Not knowing he would appear in her life, Arnold strangely shows up at her house assuming they made plans to get together. His character is seen as the devil.

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.

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” is about a teenager named Connie who is trying to come to terms with her transformation from childhood to adulthood. Through this process, Connie attempts to act older than she is an tries to gain the attention of boys. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Oates portrays Connie as obsessed with men to symbolize how one’s obsession and narcissistic attitude can cause danger to seem surreal. In the short story, Carol Oates describes Connie as having two different personalities, one being a narcissistic attitude.

In the beginning, she “wished her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it was all over” (452). This is due to the fact that they bicker constantly and Connie is constantly criticized. Later, she expresses that she thought “her mother preferred her to June because she was prettier” even though whenever her mother talked about the two, “mother’s tone was approving” when June was discussed and “if Connie’s name was mentioned it was disapproving” (Oates 453). At the end of the story, when Connie was scared and in trouble, her feelings toward her mother shift. She “cried for her mother” and proved that she wasn’t as grown up as she thought (Oates 461).