"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is a short story by Joyce Carol Oates that was first published in 1966. The story is about Connie, a young and attractive teenage girl who is gradually drawn into a dangerous situation with a manipulative and predatory man named Arnold Friend.
One of the key themes of the story is the dangers of vanity and the temptation of the unknown. Connie is a typical teenage girl who is preoccupied with her appearance and popularity, and she is drawn to Arnold in part because he seems to offer her the chance to escape from her mundane life and explore new experiences. However, as the story progresses, it becomes clear that Arnold is not who he appears to be, and that he is in fact a manipulative and dangerous individual who is intent on luring Connie into a trap.
Another important theme of the story is the role of family and relationships. Connie is shown to have a strained relationship with her family, particularly her mother, who is portrayed as distant and overbearing. This lack of connection with her family leaves Connie vulnerable to the influence of outsiders like Arnold, who is able to manipulate her by playing on her desire for independence and freedom.
The character of Connie is also an interesting study in the ways in which people can be influenced by societal expectations and pressures. Connie is deeply concerned with her appearance and with being popular and attractive, and this preoccupation ultimately leads her to make choices that put her in danger. This aspect of the story serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of superficiality and the importance of self-worth.
Overall, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is a thought-provoking and compelling short story that explores themes of vanity, the dangers of the unknown, and the influence of societal expectations and relationships. It serves as a warning about the dangers of succumbing to temptation and the importance of being self-aware and true to oneself.
Critical Summary
What external conflicts arise between Connie and Arnold? Similarly, his foolish attempt at a bow may result from a mix-up in temporal concepts of the ideal lover. The source of that struggle is her unstable relationship with her family, which ultimately results in her identity conflict. As they drive away, Connie observes that she can no longer hear the music from the drive-in restaurant. It gives you a good insight into the characters and why they do what they do. As he coaxes her out of the house, Connie watches herself in the third person. In other words, to Connie and her mother, real value lies in beauty. The story began appearing in anthologies and textbooks, and Oates herself reprinted the story in her 1974 collection, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Revolving around a young girl in an adolescent rebellion phase, Oats creates a relatable character that goes on to demonstrate the dangers of immaturity.
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Analysis Essay Example
Oates's allusions to music, and especially the story's dedication to singer Bob Dylan, have attracted much debate as writers attempt to determine Oates's position on the role of popular music in young people's lives and in American culture as a whole. The fact that Connie recognizes the sensual music being broadcast on Arnold's car radio as being the same as that emanating from her own in the house provides another strong clue to his real nature—that of a dream-like projection of her erotic fantasies. Ironically it is the search for freedom that traps Connie and makes her give up all freedom. As a result, Connie wishes that her and her mother were dead. Later, he even changes his apparel in order to draw Connie to himself, an act which makes him reminiscent of an enticing devil. All three interpretations demonstrate an in-depth reading of the story that is not immediately apparent to the untrained eye. The symbolic gesture is that everyone chooses which path to follow and must face the consequences of that choice.
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
However, Connie has two sides. Since music is Connie's religion, its values are hers also. As Connie becomes more and more aware of the danger that she is in, she breathes deeper and deeper as the story progresses; in other words, Connie is coming to value her soul, and therefore she attains more appreciation for the gift of life. It is the potential destruction of Connie as a person, on a humanistic level, that is the real source of power in this story, and it is through the protagonist's daydream of fearful sexual fulfillment that this horror is conveyed. The source of that struggle is her unstable relationship with her family, which ultimately results in her identity conflict. The similarities between Arnold and the devil testify to his nature and his capacity to harm Connie. Evil has persuaded good to concede.
Analysis of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”
Oates uses unique tools to communicate the information to the readers, as her text is incredibly appealing and captivating. Oates encourages the reader to took for multiple levels in this story and to consider Arnold and Connie at more than face value by her repeated emphasis on the question of identity. Connie purposefully attempts to look older when going out. These tie back to the notion that cars symbolize freedom. This means the reader is just as blind to certain information as Connie. If the adamant insistence that Arnold Friend is Satan is rejected, then who is this intriguing mysterious visitor? Poarch English 12 16 November 2017 Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been was it all a dream? Stories have an opportunity to leave the reader with many different impressions. Perhaps Schmid provided Oates with a real-life example of a predator who preyed on young people if they did not watch their backs and she decided that his life story could feed her short story by allowing her to write the events with high accuracy and make it come to life, which in turn makes the truth of her story and message even more frightening to her readers.
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Critical Essays
Oates depicts that the mother repeatedly scolded one of her daughters without time interval Oates 1. It does bring in general play of women that women constantly are in the situation where she has a fear of retribution from an influential figure at any point in her life. This creates a degree of tension, as Arnold Friend is only visible through her eyes and emotions, making him a more ominous and frightening character. Connie is symbolic of innocence and good. Connie, for instance, changes her clothing after leaving the house at night, while her giggling habit is little more than nervous laughter.
Critical Analysis of Where Are You Going, Where Have You...
The story incorporates the point of view of a protagonist. Generally, this pattern involves two assumptions: Arnold must symbolize Satan and Connie must be raped and murdered. Others assert that the story ends in psychological tragedy rather than triumph, because all Connie has learned is to deny her own will and submit to the desires of others. The sexual nature of his threats is doubly violent because it forces adult knowledge onto Connie; he seems determined to treat her like a woman when she is still a child. At the end, Connie leaves with Arnold, yet her fate is unknown. Is able to lure Connie out of her house and ultimately brings her to death.
Literary Analysis of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” Essay Example
A few of his song lyrics are very similar to the story itself. When he asks Connie if she would like something to eat, she arranges to meet up with her friend later and leaves with Eddie to go to his car. The following lines from ''Like a Rolling Stone''—the second most popular song of 1965 the story was first published in 1966 —are also very similar to Connie's situation at the end of the story: You used to be so amused At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal. The same music that makes Connie long for freedom is what ultimately leads her to meet Arnold Friend. Arnold ultimately lures Connie out by promising that her family will be unharmed if she gives herself to him Oates 1. Suspense mounts in the story as the reader realizes along with Connie that Arnold is not a teenager and is really thirty or more.
Critical Analysis of Where Are You Going, Where Have...
The opening of the story introduces the concept to which both Connie and her mother seem to subscribe—being pretty means being someone. Through the tone and description of the passages, both characters are relieved to be attempting to play a role with potentially sinister implications. To Oates the deteriorating moral value was caused by the rise in importance of the pop-culture, which in some form led Connie into her doom, and the lack of communication between parents and kids. From the opposite side of description, the author suggests that Mrs. Typical of his ambiguous roles is his hint that he had something to do with the death of the old woman who lived down the road. There are indeed diabolic shades to Arnold, but just as Blake and Shelley could see in Milton's Satan a positive, attractive symbol of the poet, the rebellious embodiment of creative energy, so we should also be sensitive to Arnold's multi-faceted and creative nature.