Truth about a Girl

1355 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Society's standards of beauty essay

Throughout the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, we see the story of a young girl named Connie who makes bad decisions in her life. She has a surplus of self-confidence that gets her in trouble within her life. Connie would do anything to impress boys with her looks and eventually it brought her to impress the wrong one. From this story using the idea of feminist criticism we can see that too much self-confidence can help lead to a false sense of security and lead to male dominance over a person.
Feminist criticism can be defines as a having to deal with stereotypical representation of genders( Feminist Criticism). Within this story we can see stereotypes of women. Connie is a teenage girl who is only concerned with her friends and boy at this point within her life. At the same time she wants as much attention as she can, especially from the boys that she tries to make herself more attractive and appealing. However, going out of her way to make herself appealing to the guys is dangerous because she is still a young girl. She was engulfed in the fact that she thought she was beautiful and it was the only thing she had going for. Her confidence seemed to be based solely off her looks that she did not factor in her reputation or personality. The author even said "She knew she was pretty and that was everything"(Oates, pg. 1408). When a girl is to materialistic it leads to more people to take advantage of them because people think they have no morals.
Connie’s friends and who she surrounded herself around also knew how egotistical she was. Her own mother told her "Stop Gawking at yourself, who are you? You think you are so pretty?"(Oates, pg. 1408) You think as a mother you are supposed to boost ...

... middle of paper ...

...f Joyce Carol Oates." denittise2008-1. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncw/f/denittise2008-1.pdf>
"Literary Theories: A Sampling of Critical Lenses." microsoft_word_-_literary_theories. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. http://www.mpsaz.org/rmhs/staff/rkcupryk/aa_jr/files/microsoft_word_-_literary_theories.pdf.
Rodriguez, Jennifer. "Morphing the Gothic: The New Voice of Gothic Literature Among Contemporary Women Writers." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=DlvxYladGBsC&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=arnold+friend+male+dominance&source=bl&ots=GCb9QU-tPg&sig=Jw7POx1ajNTiKrFz3QJ-IFm6hF4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_cKOUq76M8misAStnIGYBw&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=arnold%20friend%20male%20dominance&f=false.
Oates, Joyce Carol. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been. Making Literature Matter. New York: St. Martin, 2012.

Show More
Related

  • Diversity's False Solace Summary

    680 Words  | 2 Pages

    Author: Walter Benn Michaels is the chair of the Department of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago teaching literary theory, and American literature. Michaels has also has multiple essays and books published such as Against Theory, The shape of the Signifier, and Diversity's False Solace

    Read More

  • Behind the facade of a killer: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oates, Joyce Carol. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Exploring Literature: Writing and Arguing about Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. By Frank Madden. 5th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2012. 436-48. Print.

    Read More

  • Transition in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

    3642 Words  | 8 Pages

    * Wegs, Joyce M. "'Don't You Know Who I Am?' The Grotesque in Oates' 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'" Critical Essays on Joyce Carol Oates. Ed. Linda W. Wagner. Boston: G. K. Hall 1979.

    Read More

  • Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Oates

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oates, Joyce Carol. Where are You Going, Where Have You Been? N.p.: Epoch, 1966. N. pag. Print.

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Feminism In The Handmaid's Tale?

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    Offred and a friend of hers were walking outside one day, saw a group of tourists and thought about how “[she] used to dress like [the tourists]” (Atwood 28). The tourists were wearing clothing and makeup such as skirts above their knees and red lipstick. Offred and her friend were fascinated and envious of these women. They couldn’t imagine themselves wearing clothes like the tourist were wearing. Even though they couldn’t imagine themselves wearing those type of clothes and makeup, they used to wear it in their past. Offred remembered herself going to the laundromat and putting “[her] own clothes, [her] own soap, [and her] own money” into the machines and “having such control” over what she used to do (Atwood 24). She doesn’t have that control over her life anymore. Some women, such as Aunt Lydia, feels that she should be grateful that she doesn’t have to do those things anymore. They feel that Offred is complaining about something that is actually a good thing. Society brainwashes these women into thinking that not having that kind of freedom is a good thing. Society also makes women think that they are just good for having children and sex. Therefore, women lose self-esteem because of the pressure that they are faced with on a daily basis. For example, in the story, Offred has low self-esteem. She “[avoids] looking at her body, not so much because it 's shameful or immodest but because [she doesn’t]

    Read More

  • Essay On One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

    2040 Words  | 5 Pages

    Parker, Robert Dale. How to Interpret Literature: Critical Theory for Literary and Cultural Studies. New York: Oxford, 2011. Print.

    Read More

  • Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown versus Oates' Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

    1590 Words  | 4 Pages

    Oates, Joyce Carol. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Celestial Timepiece. July 2007. U of San Francisco. 15 Mar. 2008.

    Read More

  • Ego Tripping (There May Be a Reason Why)

    639 Words  | 2 Pages

    Giovanni, Nikki. “Ego Tripping: there may be a reason why. “The women and The men. New York: William Morrow and Co. Inc., 1975.n.pag.Print

    Read More

  • A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of Rapunzel

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    Guerin, Wilfred L., Earle Labor, Lee Morgan, Jeanne C. Reesman, and John R. Willingham. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 125-156.

    Read More

  • Connie´s Coming of Age

    1245 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oates, Joyce Carol. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Backpack Literature. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2010. Print.

    Read More

  • Comparing Where Are you going, Where Have You Been and Hills Like White Elephants

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gale Kozikowski, Stan. " The Wishes and Dreams Our Hearts Make in Oates's 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'. " Journal of the Short Story in English. 33 (Autumn 1999): 89-103.

    Read More

  • Where Are You Going?

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    she was pretty and that was everything” (225). This captivation with herself along with the constant looking in the mirrors and thinking her mother was only pestering her all the time because her mother’s own good looks were long gone by now (225) shows a sign of immaturity because she believes everything revolves around whether or not someo...

    Read More

  • Reader Response Essay - Joyce Carol Oates's Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reader Response Essay - Joyce Carol Oates's Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

    Read More

  • Oedipus as Scapegoat in Oedipus the King

    1496 Words  | 3 Pages

    Guerin, Wilford L. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1979.

    Read More

  • Treatment Of Women In Medea

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    She tells of the risks involved in marriage, the possibility of being essentially sold off to some monster, the dangers of child birth, and the shame should a woman be unable to conceive and then be returned to her family. Within this she speaks of how women’s fears and wants are seen as frivols and vain. Women’s fears and desires are often mocked and ridiculed today as well. Women complaining about catcalling are told they are ungrateful and should be glad to receive compliments, even though these “compliments” are often unwanted advances that cause women to fear sexual violence and that they are merely objects. It’s also not uncommon for people to ridicule women for complaining about pregnancy, even though it is a long, uncomfortable, painful and sometimes dangerous term that permanently change a woman’s

    Read More

More about Truth about a Girl

Open Document