Joyce Carol Oates

Once when I was at home with my younger sisters and older brother I had been in my room listening to music. When out of nowhere, I heard taps on my window and at first I didn’t realize someone or something was at my window, because I thought the sounds were just kids with fireworks. It was July so it wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary. I then realized there was a person at my window tapping on it, and they were doing it slowly and creepily. I ran out of my room and ran to my brother’s and…

Judd Mulvaney is telling a story, recounting his life growing up in a small town in the 1970s. The narrator tells the story of his family life and the tragic issue of his sister being raped and having to move away. In the novel I think that Joyce Carol Oates characterizes Judd Mulvaney as an omniscient narrator but also a public narrator. In the actual novel and movie he is a public narrator because he slips into and out of each characters different voice. In the passage I see the omniscient…

Going, Where Have You Been,” American writer, Joyce Carol Oates, introduces the readers to naïve Connie, a self-absorbed teenage girl, who refuses to comply to her mother’s wishes and live up to her responsible older sister, June. Oates skillfully implements the fictional element of symbolism, connecting an object to an underlying meaning in a way to represent ideas or qualities, in order to stress her message to the readers of her work. Joyce Carol Oates emphasizes the significance family will…

Joyce Carol Oates was born on June 16th, 1938, in Lockport, New York and later published “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” in 1974. She was raised on her grandparents’ farm in Erie County, New York. At the young age of 15, Joyce Carol Oates submitted her first novel. Her father Frederic James Oates was a tool and die designer and a homemaker. She went to college at Syracuse University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1960. The following year, she attended the University of Wisconsin,…

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,…

Society’s fascination with stories and the often-unrealistic notion of ‘happily ever after’ instills an idealistic expectation for life and love. In her 1966 short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Carol Oates crafts a powerful commentary on the psychologically tenuous sliver of time between youth and the harsh reality of adulthood when the dangers of the real world are met with the storybook mindset of a child. The emphasis of our childhood fairy tales is on the…

Sexuality is expressed differently in every country and culture on the planet. To an even greater extent, males and females have different views on how to handle intimate situations. These views are made evident in Anton Chekhov’s and Joyce Carol Oates’ versions of “The Lady with the Pet Dog.” Currently, our society incorrectly assumes men to crave sex and women to be infatuated with love. The emotional aspects of sexual relationships, the treatment of unfaithfulness, and the treatment of sexual…

“Bernice Bobs Her Hair” by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates are stories about two different teenage women, despite living in different eras and different social classes, who seek to change who they are because society tells them to. “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” is during the transition from the Victorian era into the jazz age, where women began to gain their social independence and the women’s suffrage movement, also known as “the first wave”.…

ADD hook sentence. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” was published in 1966. Joyce Carol Oates is famous for the novel A Garden of Earthly Delights. Oates often writes about the concerns of American identity in the twentieth century. Oates depicts the American loss of innocence. Some common topics throughout her stories include the search for parent figures, the lack of fixed identity, and the acceptance of the American Dream. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Connie is a…

his grandparents’ house. It was supposed to be a nice and enjoyable walk to him, but it quickly transformed into a terrifying night he could not handle. Transformation obviously creates fear. This can be seen in the following three stories as well. Oates’ “Where Is Here?” and Tress’ “The Dream…