Character Analysis Of Connie From 'Bob'

Improved Essays
Carter Brull
10/2/17
Course: CM102

Character Essay Connie is a young girl who is insecure about herself. The way she looks in the mirror constantly has her always wondering if there is ever going to be something wrong with her. She knows she catches all the guys’ attention with her good looks, so she tries to play hard to get. Being the selfish young girl she is, her looks end up getting her in trouble. Long dark blonde hair that was part pulled back and slightly puffed out with the rest she let down, Connie was always making sure someone caught an eye for her. With her giggling habit and obsession with looking into mirrors, she had to make sure everything with her face was alright. Connie’s mother was like her when she was young; she was beautiful and caught all the boys’ attention, too. This is mainly why her mother gets after her. “Connie would look right through her mother, into a shadowy vision of herself as she was right at that moment. Her mother had been once pretty too.” (Oates, 306). Her mother knows beauty fades and she needs to see that, too.
Almost everything Connie did
…show more content…
Running into trouble at the classic high school hangout, Connie thought she would be okay with running around with older kids. A boy named Eddie started talking to Connie until she fell under pressure and decided to give in on Eddie taking her out for a spin. “Connie couldn't help but let her eyes wander over the windshield and the faces all around her, her face gleaming with joy that had nothing to do with Eddie or even this place.” (Oates, 307). At this moment Connie was happy with being alive. She got the looks she wanted from the older kids and she felt like everything was going in her favor. Being the selfish girl she is, ditching her friends to go out with the older boys was a bold move that she didn’t know would come back and catch up with her in the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    For centuries, folklore has defined different cultures around the world. Many of these tales have been adapted into mainstream media for children by companies such as Disney. Unsurprisingly, Disney leaves out a lot of the original stories. The fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen are meant to express topics involving the loss of innocence that young ones are not expected to know. Amidst modern literature, Joyce Carol Oates’s inserts similar connotations in her 1966 short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been.”…

    • 1202 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The short story ‘Where Are You Going Where Have You Been’ and the movie ‘Smooth Talk’ both tell the same story of a young girl named Connie. Although there are subtle similarities and differences between the two stories, some of the major differences between the two stories revolve around the relationship that Connie has with her family members and how Connie’s character is portrayed throughout the stories and her interactions with Arnold Friend. In the Story ‘Where Are You Going Where Have You Been’ Connie is portrayed as a typical young rebellious teenage girl who likes to hang out with her friends at the shopping plaza in her free time. In the book Connie’s relationship with her mother is not very good because her mother always speaks of…

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”: An Analysis There are two themes that are central to “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates: the theme of independence and the theme of reality vs. fantasy, both of which are relevant in today’s society. Both of these themes are prominent in the interactions between Connie, a precocious fifteen-year-old girl and an ageless “Old Friend”, Arnold Friend, who can be seen as evil, or, the devil. The symbol of music is used as a dissociation from reality.…

    • 1646 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been “With great power comes great responsibility”, this very old saying famously appears in the Marvel comic series Spider Man. Uncle Ben uses these wise words to warn Peter Parker that with any sort of power, there is also a negative side that comes with it. We can observe this in, Where you going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates. In this story the main character Connie realizes that she has this great power to attract boys, she is very much obsessed with this new power and sees the positive side of her new power, however she doesn’t quite realize the negative side of her power. This is due partly to her age, and to a great degree of being unfortunate to encounter a serial killer like Arnold Friend.…

    • 1339 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With Connie 's personality and the way she carries herself before she meets reality, she 's not the ideal domesticated lady. Connie had a very particular family, her mother was jealous of Connie 's youth, “ Stop gawking at yourself, who are you? You think you 're so pretty?...she would say (Connie 's mother), '” (Oates 323). “ 'Hair spray?…

    • 1312 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Finally, Connie’s final ultimatum, in disguise of a scary stalker scenario, reflect which desire wins out. Connie has a god complex due purely from her…

    • 1710 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Connie is a fascinating example of the rebellious American teenage girl. She is cocky, flamboyant, and youthful; like the weiro or cockatiel if you will. And like the weiro, underneath those layers of splendor and beauty there is a fragile little being, insecure in reality but a goddess in her world. With the story where are you going, where have you been? by Joyce Oates, the girl Connie is presented in all of what she wants the world to see her as then slowly that splendiferous covering is slowly torn apart till we have the insecure child curled up in this hallow core of a existence.…

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Connie appears to be a self-confident girl to the outside world, but after she meets Arnold Friend, she realizes how vulnerable and innocent she is. Indeed, her beauty couldn’t protect her from harm and gives her what she…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Connie is a young girl bent on defying her mother’s expectation of how her daughter should act. She does this by running around with boys and making herself visually look and act older than her sixteen years. She attracts the eye of predator Arnold Friend. In a way, Arnold calls her bluff by inviting her out for a drive, which she usually is keen to do with other boys, but is weary of him because of his age and demeanor. Connie thought of herself as a true rebel among her tame friends but is forced to reevaluate this assumption when she warrants unwanted attention that isn’t able to easily shake off.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This adds onto the difficult way in which Connie is beginning to come of age as she gains new awareness through the abandonment of her childlike fantasies. Lastly, as Arnold Friend begins to appear more demanding for Connie’s love she moves “away from the door” as she begins to realize…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Where are you going where have you been? Could they be any more different? I thought mothers and daughters were supposed to like each other, or at least pretend that they do. Connie, a fifteen year old going through her rebellious adolescent years.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” is an eerie short story written by Joyce Carol Oates. The story, published in the fall 1966 edition of Epoch Magazine generated a big buzz (Ptalzgraf 221). Oates dedicated the story to Bob Dylan because she was inspired to write it after listening to his song “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”(“Where”Shmoop). She was also inspired by the gruesome serial killer Charles Schmid. Joyce Carol Oates most famous short story is “Where Are you Going, Where Have You Been.”…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Connie is very “in to” herself and believes that she is pretty. Her mother is always telling her, “Stop gawking at yourself, who are you? You think you’re pretty?” (Dylan, 505) Connie still does think that she is pretty and dresses herself up. She wants to find “love” and presents herself in an older; attractive way to get the boys attention.…

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Joyce Carol Oates ' enthralling literary work, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", presents itself as a sinister, psychological thriller surrounding an ignorant adolescent teenager that is, Connie. Connie 's antagonistic and duplicitous behavior that contributes to her temporary high of being sly as a fox, ultimately forces her into a realm of agonizing consequences. Once reality sets in and Connie is no longer preoccupied with her sins of vanity and ignorance, Oates ' spine-chilling work hustles forward in full force as it depicts a tragedy in fate for Connie; Arnold Friend. Toni Morrison 's, "Recitatif", is a classic compendium, compiled from a recital of accounts belonging to two young girls who encounter one another over a vast…

    • 1870 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Connie admires herself in the mirror every time she walks by one and her mother scolds her for doing so but Connie ignores what she says. Her mother wants her to be like her older sister which means to be responsible and mature. June seems to be the favorite daughter of the family Connie’s mother is always comparing her to June she is always praising June and frowning upon Connie in the story Oates Connie’s mother complains saying “why don’t you keep your room clean like your sister? How’ve you got…

    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays