“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, by Joyce Carol Oates, takes place in the 1960s American Suburbs, where a family of four lives in a house that is in dire need of maintenance. Connie is the main character that seems to suffer from a slight boy problem. Connie feels as if her mom treats her cruelly and takes to a “secret” life that will help Connie find an escape. The story is important to read because it helps young girls realize that people will not always be what one makes themselves out to be. The story also helps raise awareness about the manipulation used to persuade young girls. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is included in many short story anthologies due to the fact that it leaves the reader making up conclusions about what happened to Connie. The short story may also be important due to the fact that it is written by Joyce Carol Oates, which is one of the most influential writers known. The ending acts …show more content…
Throughout the movie, many things were the same as they were in the book, which is typically uncommon. The short story is more so preferred due to the fact that one can create images of the characters and build certain ideas about the storyline or ending. In a movie, everything can be provided for the viewers unlike a book, where images are created. The book also focuses more on the struggle for acceptance than the movie does. For instance, when reading the book, one might think that the mother and sister would be ugly, unlike Connie. Upon watching the movie, those thoughts can be changed due to the mother and sister being nothing like they were thought up to be. Also, while reading the book, Arnold was depicted as a dorky guy and he threw himself up onto the porch of Connie’s house. In the movie, Arnold appears to be decent and walks normally, he only slings himself onto the porch when he seems to be “daydreaming” while talking to Connie. Overall, the book is preferred over the
A short story by Joyce Carol Oates called “Where are you going, where have you been?” reflects the writer’s point of view of the way society looked to women in the sixties. The story takes place in the 1960’s when almost everything reached a turning point at that time. It talks about a teenager who wanted boys’ attention, but she ended up leaving her family house with a stranger. Connie represented most teenage girls, and their destiny at that time. The story can be looked at from many different points of view such as feminist, social, psychological and historical (Purdue (OWL)). The time this story had taken place is what makes it important. The story was written when the feminist movement was established, and the American society
Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” begins with the introduction of it’s main character, Connie, a fifteen year- old girl. Oates makes Connie’s vanity
Joyce Carol Oates wrote “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” in 1966. This was written to be for all the teenagers that think they know best. Connie is a self- absorbed teenager that is extremely aware of her beauty, and uses this to her advantage with different characters throughout the story. Her conflict with her mother and sister because of the self-assurance and arrogance leads to her demise. She gets herself into trouble by disobeying her parents and going out to places she should not be going to. She finds Friend, the antagonist, which lures “little ol” Connie with his good looks and his hot ride. One day he shows up to her house, uninvited, and this sets off the climax and resolution of the
In the story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? It talks about a man and a woman whose names are Connie and also Arnold friend. Arnold is suppose ably Connie’s friend who seems to just be Connie’s conscious speaking to her to tell her to do the thinks that she does.
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” written by Joyce Carol Oates is an unsettling and incredibly formidable story of a young woman’s loss of innocence during a time of social change and turbulent times. The story’s protagonist is Connie, a self-absorbed, yet beautiful fifteen year old girl, who not only is at odds with her family but also the conservative values handed down by her family. She, unknowing to her parents, spends her evenings exploring her independence and individuality as well as by flirting and picking up boys at a local diner. One evening she catches the attention of a strange, creepy boy who drives a gold, dilapidated convertible. While alone at home one Sunday afternoon, this same creepy boy driving the gold
There are some stories that capture the reader’s attention and which keep us riveted from the beginning to the ultimate line of the tale. ‘’Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’’, a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates in 1966, is one of those. Inspired by the mythic song of the phenomenal singer Bob Dylan entitled ‘’It’s all over Now, Baby Blue,’’ the author describes the main character as a 15-year-old girl named ‘’ Connie’’, who is obsessed by her beauty and does not get along with her family. The heroine of the story ‘’Connie,’’ engages in an adolescent rebellion against her entourage by acting to appear older. This increases her vulnerability through the story and at the end
Where there is desire, there is hope, despair, and struggle. Joyce Carol Oates illustrates animatedly the asphyxiated struggle of desire in her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” The story narrates the life of a young girl, named Connie, and her fated and enigmatic confrontation with a strange man. Feeling trapped in her own home with her own family, Connie, a self-conscious and rebellious teenager, tries to figure out a way to identify herself with the world around her. Her desire of escaping the reality fuels her struggle to enter adulthood. Through the physical form of Arnold Friend, who embodies both the hope and the despair in Connie’s struggle, the author metaphorically portrays a vigorous and psychological pressure that Connie has to endure. The story is scripted to allude to the danger of identifying oneself through sexuality in young girls. To better understanding this cryptic story, it is important to follow the psychological processes and conflict of Connie’s character, which help unveil the allegorical meaning of a young girl’s rite of passage through sex.
We were all created to be different. Some may have similar physical features, but no two persons have the same DNA. I like to think of written stories in the same way, because although two stories can share many literary devices, no two stories will be identical, because they each reveal a larger theme. Each individual has a distinct perspective in which they see and comprehend, and that is why I believe that each story is open to endless unique interpretations by various individuals. Literary devices are what grab and captivate the readers, because they give the story purpose and meaning, in essence leaving the story to be interpreted by various perspectives. In the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates,
The teenage rebellion, which most of people experience during the puberty, always worsens the relationship between parents and children. Written by Joyce Carol Oates, the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” describes the condition and consequence of a family whose child is rebellious. Through the characterization, plot, and dialogue, Oates successfully exhibits the thesis that Connie’s bad ending is the consequence of her parents’ attitude and actions.
In Joyce Carol Oates, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, she paints the picture of a teenage girl whose mother is jealous of her, father is absent, and sister is twenty-four and lives at home. Connie is a fifteen year old girl who sneaks around with her friends, is a bit boy crazy and is very much a daydreaming teenager. The beginning of the story starts off rather innocent, then through a series of hints scattered throughout the story, takes a turn for the worse when Connie’s eyes are opened to a face of evil no girl should ever have to experience and no boy should ever become. Oates reveals how family relationships directly and indirectly affect the way teenagers act and how it impacts their search for self-identity.
The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is a story that explores the themes of fantasy versus reality, freedom, and confinement. The idea of fantasy vs. reality and freedom is relatable because all around the world, there are kids that struggle with growing up and try to be more mature than they are. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” follows a fifteen-year-old girl named Connie who’s at odds with her sister and mother and ignores the values handed down to her. Unknown to her family, Connie spends her nights exploring her independence and individuality by picking up boys at the diner. She’s an average teenage girl whose concerns are never about her family and more about her appearance, boys, and her sexuality. Connie believes she’s mature enough to be attracted to older men, but when Arnold shows her sexual attention, she realizes that she has no idea what adulthood requires. This short story describes what it might be like for
In the short story, "Where are you going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie flaunts her beauty to receive attention from the opposite sex and is lead to temptation. The antagonist Arnold Friend, who symbolizes the devil, shows how simple it is to take away your safe haven through sinister acts. Connie is split between how she acts and portrays herself at home, and how she acts whenever she is with her group of friends. Connie refuses to be like her mother and sister, because she feels she is above them due to her appearance.
"Where are you going where have you been?" is a short story about a young 15 year old girl who is trying to fit in with the rest of the world, and is very preoccupied with her appearance and living in this pop cultural fantasy. Connie is always ignoring her mother 's criticism about wanting her to be more like her older sister, June, who is no longer living a life of fantasy and has her act together.. One night, a boy named Eddie invites Connie to eat dinner with him, and Connie leaves her friend at the restaurant’s counter to go with him. As Connie and Eddie leave the restaurant, she sees a man in a gold convertible in the parking lot. He smiles at her and says, “Gonna get you, baby.”. Connie confused, walks away quickly confused not really knowing what actually happened, and Eddie notices nothing. They spend three hours of their night at dinner, and end up going to a nearby alley living in that fantasy of being that mature woman who knows what a man wants. One day, Connie 's parents and June leave her at home to go to a family barbeque leaving her all by herself. While she was at home alone, she was listening to her radio when out of nowhere she hears a car pull up to the front of her house. Startled, she looks out of the window to see
The short story written by ,Joyce Carol Oates called “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” takes place in the 50’s (possibly earlier/later) in a remote area where a young fifteen year old girl named connie learns she’s not as grown up as she thinks and needs the protection of her family when their safety is threatened.Connie is a wild teenager dressing the part,taking a liking to boys, and disobeying her parents.Her parents try to keep Connie tame using her older sister June as an example of what Connie should be.She has regular conflict with her mother constantly fighting because of her appearance and actions like lying about where she goes, and again her interest in boys trying to protect Connie from getting into trouble at a young age.Connie and her friends regularly go to the “mall” where they sneak across the street to a drive-in restaurant full of kids out of high-school over eighteen.Connie gets more than she bargains for when a man called Arnold Friend notices her and takes
The teenage rebellion, which most of people experience during the puberty, always worsens the relationship between parents and children. Written by Joyce Carol Oates, the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” describes the condition and consequence of a family whose child is rebellious. Through the characterization, plot, and dialogue, Oates successfully exhibits the thesis that Connie’s bad ending is the consequence of her parents’ attitude and actions.