An Analysis of Joyce Carol Oates’ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been
Joyce Carol Oates is one of the most productive writers of our time. Between 1971-95, Oates published twenty-five novels, eighteen short story compilations, three collections of novellas, five volumes of poetry, six editions of plays, eight books of essays, and countless more umcollected works (Kellman 487). As the format for her writing varies, so does her subject matter. Her creations cover a wide range of genres, but Oates' main fascination is contemporary America with its "colliding social and economic forces, its philosophical contradictions, its wayward, often violent energies" (Johnson 8). Oates' works, and somethimes even Oates herself, have been subject to responses ranging from extreme praise to harsh criticism from the literary community. Oates has won many significant literary awards and has even been nominated twice for the Nobel Prize in literature but has also received her share of bad press. Oates' work has time and time again been criticized for being too violent, too bizarre, degrading to women, and "the exact antithesis to the feminist movement" (gtd. in Wesley par. 32). I believe the opposite is true.
Oates herself has been quoted as saying that her subject matter is "today's culture," and that all she is trying to do is to bring the ills of our cuture "to a place where it can be examined" (Johnson 10). Some of her stories are purely fictional, but many stories seem to be ripped from the headlines. Zombie, a 1995 novel, is loosely based on the Jeffrey Dahmer serial killings (Seltzer 288). The highly acclaimed short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" draws its inspiration from the case of an Arizona serial killer,...
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...arterly Review 38 (1999): 487-495. Literature Online. 13 July 2002 .
Oates, Joyce Carol. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Selected Early Stories. Princeton, NJ: Ontario Review Press, 1993.
Seltzer, Mark. Serial Killers: Death and Life in America's Wound Culture. New York, NY: Routledge, 1998.
Smooth Talk. Dir. Joyce Chopra. Perf. Treat Williams, Laura Dern, Mary Kay Place, Elizabeth Berridge, and Levon Helm. Vestron Video, 1986.
Southner, Randy. "Celestial Timepiece: A Joyce Carol Oates Homepage." 2002. University of San Francisco. 12 July 2002 .
Wagner, Linda W. Critical Essays on Joyce Carol Oates. Boston, MA: G. K. Hall, 1979.
Wesley, Marilyn C. "Reverence, Rape, Resistance: Joyce Carol Oates and Feminist Film Theory." Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 32.3 (1999): 75-85. Literature Online. 13 July 2002 .
Oates, Joyce C. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been"" N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
[4] Oates, Joyce Carol, Tough Guy Writers of the Thirties (London: Southern Illinois University Press, 1968) 110
Having no sleep can lead to unhealthy lives, relationships, one’s ability to function and interact with the world, and an unbalanced state of body, mind, and spirit. Sleep is crucial to an individual because it is a time where the body rests and restores energy and develops important information and without sleep, the body will slowly disintegrate. Poor sleep quality often is associated with Insomnia, but the two are two different items. Poor sleep quality is where an individual does not get at least 4 hours of sleep, but is still able to sleep and does not have a normal sleeping cycle. Insomnia is classified as a sleeping disorder, where one persistently lacks the ability to sleep or maintain sleep. This paper goes into a deep discussion of what Insomnia is and the two different types, the causes of Insomnia and how it affects a person’s lifestyle, a comparison between Men and Women who have Insomnia, and possible treatments to aid this disorder.
Joyce M. Wegs, '"Don't You Know Who I Am?': The Grotesque in Oates's 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'," in The Journal of Narrative Technique, Vol. 5, No. 1, January, 1975, pp. 66-72.
Sleep hygiene and stimulus control are non-medical treatments for insomnia that includes simple steps that may improve
Oates, Joyce C. "Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?" Compact Literature. By Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. 8th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2013. 505-16. Print.
Sordaria fimicola belongs to the kingdom of fungi and is part of the phylum Ascosmycota. This fungus habitat is in the feces of herbivores. As many fungi Sordaria have one life cycles which is haploid/ diploid. It is commonly exits as a haploid organism, but when the mycelium from two individuals meets, the result is a diploid zygote. This diploid zygote which undergoes meiosis forms eight haploid ascospores . The ability of Sordaria to make 8 haploid ascospores is what makes it unique and important for the laboratory exercise done in lab.
Oates, Joyce Carol. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Backpack Literature. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2010. Print.
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.
Have you ever been so focused on achieving your dreams that you become unaware of your current situation? When we focus on the goals ahead of us, we fail to see the obstacles and dangers that are in front of us. In order to achieve our goals we involuntarily put ourselves in an unwanted situation. Connie, herself, struggles to achieve her goal of being a desirable girl that turns heads when she walks into the room. She becomes so set on being this girl that she doesn’t realize the danger of the situation. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Oates utilizes metaphors, diction, and imagery to show how Connie is in a constant tug between her reality and her dreams, and how this confines her freedoms in a world that is surrounded with malevolence.
Reader Response Essay - Joyce Carol Oates's Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Sleep is very important for many reasons, but many people in the world suffer from sleep disorders. This allows very little sleep to happen, even for several days at a time. I know when I do not get enough sleep, I am always extremely tired, occasionally not being able to do day to day activities. Not getting enough sleep can affect how people perform on a daily basis, especially when it comes to driving a vehicle, doing school work, and even work. One of the most common and devastating sleep disorders in the world is Insomnia, to which people can go without sleep for days.
Insomnia is a tenacious disorder that can make it difficult to fall asleep, insufficient sleep or both, constant awakenings all through the night, and waking up early in the mornings with the inability to fall back to sleep. In the case of insomnia and individual will awake with feeling unrefreshed, tired, sluggish, exhausted, irritable, which will make you less functional and difficulty on concentrating and performing an everyday task. Insomnia can not only interfere with your energy level and mood, but also can affect your health, your job performance, and quality of life. Most adult’s experience insomnia at some point of time although some adult’s may develop chronic insomnia over a period of time if it’s not cured. The normal amount an individual must sleep in order to have a desirable functional day is to have at least 7 to 8 hours a sleep a night. Individuals with insomnia mostly have anywhere from 5 to 6 hours or less sleep. Insomnia is a curable disease so an individual do not have to endure with sleepless nights; simple changes in your daily habits can often help many with the disorder.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, there are five different types of insomnia: Acute, Chronic, Comorbid, Onset, and Maintenance insomnia. Acute Insomnia is a brief period of time where it is difficult to sleep is usually caused by an event in the individual's personal life and can be resolved without having to receive treatment. Chronic Insomnia is a period where the person has difficulty staying asleep or falling asleep and it has to happen at least three times a week for about three months or longer. Comorbid Insomnia is only when insomnia happens with a different medical condition. Onset Insomnia is when an individual is having trouble falling asleep at the beginning of the night. Finally, Maintenance Insomnia is when an individual has a hard time staying asleep during the night, they wake up in the middle of the night and can not fall back asleep.(What are Different Types of Insomnia?)
This essay is an attempt to survey the temporal and spacial evolution of the literary movement of feminism in the United States. The feminist movement has always has the main concern of establishing and defending equal human rights. It has passed through three main time periods that are called “waves”, each with differ order priorities. I will try to view the main claims and issues each wave has dealt with as well as study some of the most renowned female writers/activists whose works have been central in reshaping the American attitudes...