Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Characters

Oates emphases that Connie is in her adolescence, who is trying to transition into thinking like an adult. Connie, who is obsessed with her appearance, is constantly “craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right”(Oates 1). She is starting to

In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates we the readers see the conflict of a teenage, conceited, superficial girl when faced with a situation that brings her to an entire new understanding of life. We see Connie in the beginning without a care in the world other than looking good for the next guy she will hook up with. Oates explains, “She was fifteen and she had a quick, nervous giggling habit or craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right” (Oates Web). I really enjoy Oates’s expression of how strong Connie’s arrogance is, especially because this totally changes by the end of the story. By the end of the story Connie is way less selfish and more aware

In the short story "Where are you going where have you been?" by Joyce Carol Oats and the song Wake Up by EDEN, the author and the artist both show the thematic concepts on how fantasies come to an end, and when reality hits, it hits hard.

Connie is a young fifteen year old who cares about her sexual drive that men have toward her. “The 1960s unleashed the so called sexual revolution. It seemed more a source of comic relief and tragic nostalgic recirculation than political inspiration…” This revolution consisted of women demanding their own rights so they could become more and more independent. There were significant shifts in social attitudes, behaviors, and institutional regulations at the beginning of the 60’s and also lasted through the 70’s. The sexual drive increased majorly and the amount of women that had sex before marriage also sky rocketed. In Where Are you Going, Where Have You Been, Connie wants sexual attention from men, and that hurts her self-confidence and

In the American society, when individuals reach adolescence, they begin to search for their identity by exploring their interests and opening their mind to new notions and ideas. This is the psychological and physical human development that ultimately leads them to their adulthood. Joyce Carol Oates' short story depicts a fifteen year old girl with typical teenage concerns. She has to face the realization of the meaning of maturity in the American civilization when she is ripped out of her childhood by Arnold Friend. In the short story, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", Joyce Carol Oates suggests that when teenagers are in the coming of age, they are easily fooled and taken

Connie does not have any control over what people do to her, however, the criticism she takes from her mother whenever she compares her to her sister June combined with her mother’s insults gives Connie a low self-esteem and insecurity about herself; she thinks she is “less worthy” because of this and makes her think her beauty is everything, that she is nothing without it.

The Cultural Revolution and Sexual Desires in Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”

Through its contrasting reality and dreamlike scenes, Oates’ “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 make

In 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 conversation, Connie is aware that Arnold is dangerous; his language becomes more sexual and violent, and he warns her that he will hurt her family if she calls the police. In the end, she leaves the house and joins Arnold. Connie is stuck between the lines of her sexual daydreams and reality up until she is entangled among by Arnold Friend and his infatuating music playing in his car. Everything about her had two aspects to it, one when she was at home and one for anywhere but home.

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 first published in the fall of 1966. It is dedicated "to Bob Dylan", as though, after having heard Dylan's song "It's all over now, Baby Blue" Oates got inspiration for the story. She was also influenced by the article about Charles Schmid, a twenty-

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.

The author puts Connie out to be a bad kid but is she really? Yeah, Connie is not the most respectful or well-behaved kid but who is at the age of fifteen. The author shares some instances where Connie does not make the best decisions. The author shares, “She spent three hours with him, at the restaurant where they ate hamburgers and drank cokes…and then down an alley a mile or so away” (Oate’s. 109). The quote shows how Connie put herself in situations that a girl her age should have never been in. The author gives Connie the identity of not being confident in herself when she says, “Connie would raise her eyebrows at these familiar complaints and look right through her mother, into a shadowy vision of herself as she was right at that moment: she knew she was pretty and that was everything.”

Teens in today’s society are also in a battle for identity along with search for independence. In “Where are you going, where have you been” Connie’s search for independence is amplified by conflicts with her family and her efforts to grow up quickly. Although Connie would like to view herself as an independent woman, she is still dependent on the adult figures in her life. For example, her friend’s dad drops Connie and her friend off

Connie is a normal fifteen year old girl who has one life at home and another when she is out with her friends: she doesn't get along with her mother and changes her clothes when she leaves the house. Even her walk could be childlike and bobbing, or languid enough to make anyone think she was hearing music in her head (61).Connie hangs out at the mall, flirts with boys, hangouts in cars with boys she barely knows, and endures daily trashy day dreams. Even though it

The main character in the short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?," written by Joyce Carol Oates, is a fifteen-year-old girl named Connie. Joyce Carol Oates gives this character a confused sense between being two different people. She is nice girl at home and sexually appealing girl when out with friends. Connie is pretty, insecure, attention seeking, lonely, and childlike. Connie's insecurities make her easily manipulated. Why does Connie leave with Arnold Friend when she is so afraid of him? We need to examine Connie's personality in order to come up with the answer.