Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

Journal #1 In the story “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been”, the main character Connie is a 15-year old teenage girl, who always daydreams and wants to escape from her family, or her life. The author Joyce Carol Oates use music as a key instrument for Connie to transfer between the reality to her fantasy world. When listening to music, she daydreams about boys and romance, trying to take herself into the world that she wants to be. This is what most of us, as teenagers, have been gone through. Growing up in the twentieth century, we either know or accept different kinds of mass media, such as music, television, as well as movies.

In the beginning, Oates creates a false sense of security. She is at home and Connie seems safe, this is what makes what happens next unexpected. After this, a strange man rolls up to Connie's home, and Connie is only worried about how she looks, not her safety. This makes you wonder what is going to happen, and if their is a reason she is scared. Then, the pace of the story completely changes when Arnold Friend starts to approach Connie and say things that make her feel uneasy.

The story Where Are You Going Where Have You Been has similar elements to fairy tales. However critic Christina Gills says that the reader is “ forced to consider the distinctions between fairy tale and seduction narrative” (Gillis Gale). There are differences between a fairy tale and this short story. Differences include that the girl gets the prince and the villain gets either killed or locked up, and they live happily ever after. In real life this doesn't happen, the so called villain can get away and come after it's victim again.

People desires can vary from person to person. Some want power, other want to find the love of their lives. However getting what want is difficult some never fully receive their deepest longings to meet themselves fell complete. Some desires have consequences, they can be small, however, others have terrible ramifications. In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” written by Joyce Carol Oates is about the main character Connie and her life.

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.

Why is there a need for a different type of women 's history? Provide an example. Woman 's sphere explores society 's educational ideals, values that women are influenced by, and gender role assimilation. As Carl Degler points out we confuse ‘prescriptive literature with actual behavior”. Contribution History places limitations of learning women’s contributions to history because monographs are not of what women really did,but what men in society thought women should do.

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.

Thus, it is necessary to conclude that women have always played an important role in the development of history. History that involves women has been developed throughout the centuries, constantly changing its goals and forms, increasing the popularity movement of the American women in the late 1800’s. Women were discriminated for many things for a very long time, it wasn’t until the late 1800’s that women actually started to gain very few rights. The late 1800’s is very important time for women as it gets the movement started for Women’s Suffrage, and ultimately the late 1800’s starts to open the way for equality for women and

At a time like that, even the idea that a woman could fight in a war, or wear “men’s clothing” was so absurd, that women would get severely punished for it. Despite being a woman, Joan proved that she could do anything a man could do. Her mental and physical strength shown have inspired our generation to view all genders as equal, especially women. Joan’s actions in the war also provided a tremendous push to the suffragette movement. Both Joan’s Trial of Condemnation and Trial of Nullification prove these ideas, as well as drawings and paintings that depict her crossdressing.

Carol Joyce Oates’ “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” presents how falling into temptation leads to giving up control and innocence. Though her mother is unapproving of her actions, Connie spends her time seeking attention from male strangers. Home alone, Connie is approached by a compelling creature who convinces her to leave her life and join him on his unknown journey. Through disapproving her family, having multiple appearances, listening to music, and her desperation to receive attention from boys, Connie gives up control of herself losing the purity of adolescents and contributing to her detrimental fate. It is imperative that one should not be controlled because of a desire to impress others.

Joyce, like in most of her works, depicts what actually takes place in contemporary society. This has been apart of her work which was influenced by the hard times she spends during her early life. Her work is developed using strong themes to depict the contemporary issues in the society at that time. Where Are You Going, Where Have you been? has been based on fantasy versus reality, the search for independence, and the sexuality to show some of the issues which use experience in the world.

Joan Scott’s central argument in her seminal work Gender: A useful Category of Historical Analysis is that gender as a framework of inquiry is relevant to many historical fields beyond simply women’s history. Scott argues that ‘descriptive usage of gender’ relegates gender to being analytically irrelevant towards addressing and changing historical paradigms. She reprimands the three distinct methods through which feminist historians have traditionally approached gender. The first process is the attempt to ‘explain the origins of the patriarchy’, which she criticises for not demonstrating how gender inequality influences society at large.

The Catholic Church had and still has, to some extent, an influence over the life of the Irish people. In his article called “Global Ireland: Same Difference”, Tom Inglis indicated that “For 150 years, the majority of Irish people gave their hearts, minds and bodies to the Catholic Chruch.” The Church helped to create a “collective consciousness” and for a very long time, being a catholic was a synonym of being Irish. The daily and ordinary life of people was full of Catholic rituals and prayers. For instance, there were some Catholic objects in the homes such as a cross and the year was organised with calendar events such as Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter...

The Roman Catholic Church was an important and prominent aspect of Irish life in the early twentieth century. Where most of Western Europe had become secularized during the nineteenth century , Ireland remained steadfast in its faith, be it Roman Catholic or Protestant. However, at the time, more than ninety percent of the Irish population was Roman Catholic with the numbers of Protestants belonging to the Church of Ireland or Presbyterian and Methodist Churches falling from eight percent in the second half of the nineteenth century to less than three percent in 1981 (Inglis 63). As a result of the growth of the Roman Catholic Church, much of Irish politics and society was infused with starkly Catholic tones—so much that individual citizens and the nation