Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Character Analysis Essay

In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, character is an important element, as shown at the beginning when the narrator says, “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 own was all right” (Oates). The narrator is referring to the protagonist of this story, whose name is Connie. Connie’s character is important throughout the entire story, especially when she begins to distrust Arnold Friend and “could see that he wasn’t a kid, he was much older—thirty, maybe more” (Oates).
Another short story in which character is important is “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. The protagonist of the story, Louise Mallard, is confronted by her sister and her husband’s friend after her husband supposedly died in a train wreck. At first Louise is extremely sad and bursts into tears, however, her character begins to change when she “[sees] beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely” (Chopin). Louise’s state of mind begins to change regarding the death of her husband, and this affects her character to the point of death. Character is a major element of fiction …show more content…
At the beginning of the story, Connie’s mother tells her to “’stop gawking at [her]self’”, and the narrator states that Connie’s mother used to be pretty and “that was why she was always after Connie” (Oates). Connie is very self-centered and her head is up in the clouds. After her night with her friend and Eddie, Connie stays home while her family goes to a barbeque and “[sits] with her eyes closed in the sun, dreaming and dazed with this warmth about her as if this were a kind of love… and her mind slip[s] over onto thoughts of the boy she had been with the night before and how nice he had been”