In Joyce Carol Oates’ Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been, the understanding or initial misunderstanding of characters, are pivotal to the reader’s roller coaster experience of the plot. The story revolves around the character of Connie, a fairly typical 15-year-old teenage girl, who comes to be confronted with a dangerous situation. This story and the character of Connie were particularly interesting and engrossing to me. As Oates illustrates Connie’s character and her motivations, I was brought along on a dramatic ride of relating to teenage innocence and preoccupations, to nervously being on the edge of my seat as events unfolded. The character is rounded and illustrated enough to bring her to life and give her story an added emotional pull. There seems to be two sides to this story though, one of a surface level, and one of deeper analogy.
From the first line, we learn a lot about Connie which would come to be reinforced through further explanation in the story. She is young, …show more content…
Such instances include the line, “…her face gleaming with a joy that had nothing to do with Eddie or even this place; it might have been the music. She drew her shoulders up and sucked in her breath with the pure pleasure of being alive…” (85). Another instance was when she sat outside in the sun to dry her hair while listening to the radio. These vividly describe those peak moments of carefree bliss; those moments filled with potential, anticipation, excitement, and the appreciation of being. When she was walking with her friend and they would hunch together to whisper and laugh as people passed by them, I recalled doing the same with my friends. Such heightened, happy and relatable moments made it all the more distressing when she was faced with the threats of the antagonist, Arnold
From the first line, we learn a lot about Connie which would come to be reinforced through further explanation in the story. She is young, …show more content…
Such instances include the line, “…her face gleaming with a joy that had nothing to do with Eddie or even this place; it might have been the music. She drew her shoulders up and sucked in her breath with the pure pleasure of being alive…” (85). Another instance was when she sat outside in the sun to dry her hair while listening to the radio. These vividly describe those peak moments of carefree bliss; those moments filled with potential, anticipation, excitement, and the appreciation of being. When she was walking with her friend and they would hunch together to whisper and laugh as people passed by them, I recalled doing the same with my friends. Such heightened, happy and relatable moments made it all the more distressing when she was faced with the threats of the antagonist, Arnold