Where Are You Going Essay - 1052 Words

In the short story â€Å"Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?†, by Joyce Carol Oates, the use of the symbolism of Connie’s clothes, her fascination with her beauty, Arnold Friend’s car and Arnold Friend himself help to understand the story’s theme of evil and manipulation. The story, peppered with underlying tones of evil, finds Oates writing about 15-year-old Connie, the protagonist of the story, a pretty girl who is a little too into her own attractiveness, which eventually gets her into trouble with a man named Arnold Friend. The story is liberally doused with symbolism, from the way Connie dresses to the shoes on Arnold Friend’s feet. In â€Å"Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?† the reader can pick up on some of the symbols†¦show more content†¦Everything about her had one side for home and one side for public, from the way she walked to her laugh (226). These two sides of her symbolize lack of knowing herself, beca use she could not decide whether to be the girl that she was when she was out, or the girl that she portrayed when she was at home. This immaturity and not being sure of who she is allows Arnold Friend to manipulate and overpower Connie by the end of the story. Arnold Friend’s car symbolizes warnings to Connie, inscribed on the car is a cryptic code and words that if thought about intently have deeper meanings of evil. Arnold’s car has numbers on it that he refers to as a â€Å"secret code† (Oates 229), these numbers are 33,19 and 17. These numbers can be interpreted as Arnold’s age; Connie even guessed around 30 for his age (231) and the ages of his previous victims. Connie is 15 years old in the story, if his last two victims were 19 and 17 he could be starting to form a pattern with ages. Arnold has intentions of making Connie a victim. The way Oates’ writes about how Arnold is smiling as if he had ideas he would not put into words and the way he told Connie he wanted to make her his lover (230, 232) make this clear. There are the words â€Å"man the flying saucers† (230) on the front bumper of the car which in the time the story was written, 1966, people would say to mean something foreign or crazy. Connie even had the ideaShow MoreRelatedWhere Are You Going?1024 Words   |  5 PagesEnglish 1301 9 September 2015 Comparing Joyce Carol Oates â€Å"Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?† to the film Smooth Talk Joyce Carol Oates, author of the fictional short story, where are you going, where have you been? Emphasizes a taunting tone to convey Connie s restrained reaction towards Arnold Friend s presence. The film â€Å"Smooth Talk† portrays the visual imagery in the short story â€Å"where are you going?, where have you been?†helps the audience understand each character s personalityRead MoreWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been?1021 Words   |  5 PagesWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been? By Joyce Carol Oates A short story titled Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? tells a tale of an adolescent girl who suffers consequences of growing up in the unsupportive environment and the society preoccupied by the media. It is considered to be the most famous work of Joyce Carol Oates, an American writer, the winner of many significant literary awards and a two- time candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. The story was firstRead MoreWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been?1882 Words   |  8 PagesThrough its contrasting reality and dreamlike scenes, Oates’ â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† uses details from a true American horror story to convey a message about society, youth and a loss of innocence. Arizona native Charles Schmid murdered Alleen Rowe on May 31, 1964. Schmid was considered a serial killer and was subsequently arrested and convicted of the heinous crimes that he was accused of. The profile of Schmid as a short man who wore makeup , wigs and altered boots to makeRead MoreWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Essay2193 Words   |  9 Pagesshort story â€Å"Where are you going, where have you been?† and Flannery O’Connor’s â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find,† readers will dismiss the idea of the existence of any similarity in the stories of a fifteen year old girl and a grandmother. However, upon closer inspection, it is easy to appreciate how these two seemingly polar opposites are actually structured to invoke the same feelings in readers and to explore the same concepts. A close examination of â€Å"Where are you going, where have you been?† andRead MoreWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been?1528 Words   |  7 PagesThe Cultural Revolution and Sexual Desires in Oates’s â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been† The late 1950s was a time of cultural revolution which had a large influence on the American youth. â€Å"As the next decade drew near, issues such as civil rights, war, women s rights, and the sexual revolution would deeply affect many American teenagers. The conservative family values and morals that predominated in the 1950s were just beginning to be challenged as the decade came to a close† (Moss andRead MoreWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been?717 Words   |  3 PagesJoyce Carol Oates: Where are you going, Where have you been?† The story â€Å"Where are you going, Where have you been?† is about a fifteen year old girl Connie. Connie is like any other teenage girl acting more grown up that she really is. She is obsessed with her look and with boys. â€Å"She was fifteen and she had a quick nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors, or checking other people’s faces to make sure her won was all right†(323). Teenagers are into their appearance andRead MoreWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been?989 Words   |  4 PagesArnold Friend, a main character founded in the short story, â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† by Joyce Carol Oates, is often a debated by many readers to be a demon, a crazed stalker and maniac, or in fact Lucifer himself. After reading the short story and analyzing the details of the characters, Arnold Friend really stands out and leaves many unanswered questions on what the author was intending to do with this particular char acter in identifying who he really is. After thoroughly analyzingRead MoreWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been?1131 Words   |  5 Pages Analyzing Connie, the female protagonist in â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† reveals the character’s journey of rebellion, a search for identity, and the protagonist’s psychological problems. Connie appears to be a seemingly normal teenage female during the first few sentences: fifteen years old, physically beautiful, and appears semi-narcissistic. As one reads on, underlying psychological issues begin to unearth themselves. Connie has a habit of needing to know that she is beautiful;Read MoreWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been?1321 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates, revolves around two main characters — Connie and Arnold Friend. Connie is a 15 year old girl, the protagonist in the story, who disrespects her family, and tries to act more mature than she actually is. Arnold Friend is the mysterious â€Å"villain† figure in the story that places Connie in an unpleasant situation that causes her to question the extent of her maturity. Throughout the short story Arnold pushes Connie’sRead MoreWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been?843 Words   |  4 PagesIn the short fiction Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? tells a story about a young 15-year-old girl named, Connie. Connie spends her time meeting boys, lounging around the house and going out with her friends. One night an unusual man makes a threatening gesture to her in the parking lot of a local drive-in restaurant. Until, one day the unusual man pulls up in her driveway in a gold colored car. The man introduces himself as Arnold Friend and asks Connie to join him for a ride. During their