Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been Essay

The short story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been was written by Joyce Carol Oats. The plotline revolves around Connie, the prototypical emerging adolescent. She has a sister, June, whom her mother always compliments, and father who is almost always silent after a long day of work. Why does she rebel against her family and the values that her mother praises? This essay will discuss the stages of adolescence, including the factors that separate problematic and socially acceptable…

something as can be the complete opposite of what it truly is. People create illusions or almost fantasy perceptions on what they believe something to be. False perception verses reality is seen in Joyce Carol Oates’ short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” The major theme in the story is the conflict between fantasy and reality. The main character Connie tries hard to create an adult persona using her attitude and appearance to attract boys, yet she is oblivious to the…

Never Talk To Strangers The author of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been, Joyce Carol Oates, employs many different aspects of life into all of her stories and short stories. She was born in June 1938 and has seen a lot during her time as an author. During the 1960’s, she was inspired to write Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been because of a man named Charles Schmid who was a serial killer that murdered three people in 1964. She was interested in the thought process of such a…

Throughout the stories Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? And A Good Man Is Hard to Find, The theme of fear is present throughout these stories. The ideology of fear are shown in these two stories and they connect to how fear is used to control people. Fear is seen today and was seen in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Both Joyce Carol Oates and Flannery O’Connor emphasized this throughout their stories. In Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Arnold Friend exists as a character…

In the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie is out with her friends one night at the dine-in. As she was walking to the car with one of her friends, another guy smiles and waves his finger towards her while passing in his car. She does not think anything of it until later on one Sunday evening when her parents leave the house. Arnold Friend, the guy from the dine-in shows up at Connies home and asks her to go on a joy ride with him but she…

kind men. The fiction work, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Oates, shows this quite clearly, and many other works of literature have as well. During the beginning events of the short story, when she first saw Arnold “Connie slit her eyes at him and turned away” showing her clear dislike of the bad boy type (590). She then spent over 3 hours with Eddie, who was shown to be a nice guy in the line “her mind slipped over to thoughts of the boy she had been with the night…

The author of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” both employ dialogue to help readers understand the theme, evil is everywhere. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Joyce Carol Oates deals with the fifteen year-old Connie. Connie is a young girl who enjoys going out with friends and meeting boys. One night out, she glanced upon a guy staring her way, sensing no harm by the impression. A Sunday afternoon, Connie stays home alone while her family attends a…

aspects of a “great story” which are thoroughly arranged in The Swimmer and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? The first story listed is by John Cheever and tells the tale of a man journeying to retain his youth, but in the end, loses more than he realises. Ironically enough, this is similar to what the protagonist in Joyce Carol Oates’ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? experiences. Both leading characters have an established goal yet never quite reach it. Imagery and symbolism…

In the story, Where Are You Going, Where have you Been by Joyce Carol Oats discuses of a girl named Connie in the 1960’s giving up herself to a male named Arnold Friend. Throughout the story Joyce Carol Oats portrays “Rape Culture”. “Rape Culture” is a set of beliefs that men have sexual aggression against women while women play passive to sexual assault and try to be sexual appealing. According to the article, What You Need To Know About Rape Culture by Maxwell Zerlina describes women to be…

Connie's internal struggle of Self- Discovery and family dysfunction in "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" The short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" contains many conflicts that Connie, the main character and protagonist of the story, must overcome. While the conflicts in the story are both internal and external, Connie's most challenging conflict is finding who she is. The cause of the external conflict of the story is the effect of the internal conflict. Connie…