“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them” (Dalai Lama XIV). This quote is telling me that it’s more fulfilling to please other people even if it’s small. It’s amazing to carry out something such as a goal that you’ve been reaching for, but when you help someone reach his or her goal, that’s an accomplishment that feels good inside. This is shown through Connie in “Where are you going, Where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. Connie experiences the adult world and encounters a friend that claims he knows her. He threatens her by using her own family if she doesn’t agree on his terms. Connie is a great example of a character that in the beginning was an immature teenager who quickly changes into a woman of courage when she has to make a decision. Larry Rubin firmly believes that Connie is living a dream through Arnold in his Journal “Oate’s Where are you going, Where have you been?” Larry Rubin believes that Arnold Friend is a dream that Connie is in when she falls asleep drying her hair. This is important because in the beginning, she is a teenager who parties all the time, but towards the end, she reveals her womanly courageous side that we didn’t even know. By analyzing Connie’s actions, appearance, and symbolism, we as the readers, discover Connie changes into a woman who has to make the most important decision of her life.
Connie in the beginning of the story was a teenager that wanted to live in the adult world. She didn’t want to be a child anymore. She wants to be independent and be her own woman. In the story, we can find an example of Connie trying to be independent by not wanting her mother around her all the time at this part in the story, “The father ...
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... with him, “This is how it is, honey: you come out and we’ll drive away, have a nice ride” (Oates 430). This illustrates Arnold’s symbol as being a predator and trying to trap Connie to go with him. What he doesn’t realize is that what Connie ends up choosing is because of the love she has for her family. The courage she had to make the decision, will change her life completely around.
Connie is an amazing character that shows her courageous side. She makes the toughest decision to protect her family, yet she doesn’t know where she is going and what’s to make of her life. She grows up from a party teenager that at first wanted her mother dead. She thinks of what she is going to lose and decided to go with a man that is unknown to her. Connie in the end makes a choice as a mother would to protect her children, as Connie is doing to protect her family.
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a short story that is about a fifteen year old pretty teenager named Connie, who does not get along with her mother and is irritated by her sister. Her sister can do no wrong in her mother's eyes while she is constantly getting criticized. Connie enjoys listening to music, watching movies, and spends a lot of time going out with her best friend and meeting boys. Until one day, a creepy guy, she had seen out one night shows up in her driveway when her family is out. He introduces himself as Arnold Friend and insists that Connie go for a ride with him and threatens to harm her family if she doesn't. In the story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates portrays Arnold Friend as a rapist; he creates the climax of the story in which Connie is taken from her home and family, by him through violent means.
After all the conflict in dialogue and suspense of the unknown characters and actions of the character though out the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You been” by Joyce Carol Oates “Listen to your heart above all other voices.” A quote by Marta Kagan that shows us how important it really is to not lsiten to the other voices around do what you think is right. If Connie would have known, and listened to this quote she may have been able to bring herself to calling the
Connie's character plays a big role in what ultimately happens to her. Connie is a vain girl that thinks the way you look is everything. She plays the stereotypical part for girls in today's society. She thinks that as long as you are pretty and dress a certain way then you are everything. This comes across when Oates writes "Connie thought that her mother preferred her to June because she was prettier" (980). By flaunting her looks she could easily give a guy like Arnold Friend perverted ideas about her. It could make them see her as easy, which he did.
As life continues throughout a world of uncertainty, many believe that a messiah or christ figure is needed to uphold a life of purity. Those in need of saving obtain a sense of mentality in which they would never stare into the eyes of grief. Connie, a girl concerned with genuine beauty, endures a lifelong hardship of worries until eventually a “Friend” comes to release her of her deprivation. Through plot, characterization, and setting, in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?, Joyce Carol Oates successfully achieves making Arnold Friend a savior for Connie.
Connie sits outside enjoying the sunny day and listening to music. We learn that music is her major weakness, it disconnects Connie from the real world, making her daydream and think of guys, in this case the author tells that she was thinking of everything she did with Eddie the night before and of how nice and gentle he was.
Much work goes into musical , as was the case in “Catch Me If You Can”,which La Joya Middle School drama had the pleasure of watching on January 15, put on by El Diamante High School. The musical was directed by John Sorber and Michael Tackett. This amazing production included many talented actors such as Maverik Dakota Raven starring as Frank Abagnale Jr., Kiley Hoffman playing Brenda Strong, and Jonathan Johns as Carl Hanratty. This incredible play carried a strong lesson. As was seen the protagonist ran from his problems and pretended to be someone who he wasn't. The plot of this story showed us that we can't run from our problems, for that only worsens the situation and is a snowball for our problems.
Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” tells the tale of a fifteen year old girl named Connie living in the early 1960’s who is stalked and ultimately abducted by a man who calls himself Arnold Friend. The short story is based on a true event, but has been analyzed by many literary scholars and allegedly possesses numerous underlying themes. Two of the most popular interpretations of the story are that the entire scenario is only dreamt by Connie (Rubin, 58) and that the abductor is really the devil in disguise (Easterly, 537). But the truth is that sometimes people really can just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Connie, a victim of terrifying circumstance will be forever changed by her interactions with Friend.
real reason he got blind. He knows that seeing the eclipse without protection wasn't the
In the story ‘Where are you going, Where have you been?’ by Joyce we can get an insight into Connie's relationship with her mom using the first description we see about Connie's mother and she “noticed everything and knew everything”(4). Here we
Ignorance and vanity can be good, in small amounts, but too much can lead to very unwelcome consequences. Connie, a teenage girl who can’t get enough of herself, learned this the hard way when a strange man by the name of Arnold Friend arrives at her house with the intent of taking her on a ‘date’. Instead of calling the police or locking herself in, like common sense would imagine, Connie uneasily greets Arnold from her door when he gets out of his car, instantly letting her vanity and ignorance get the best of her. Joyce Carol Oates shocks the reader with the twist ending in her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” in which after hearing Arnold’s threat towards her family, Connie hands herself over to Arnold allowing him
Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is about a young girl's struggle to escape reality while defying authority and portraying herself as a beauty queen; ultimately, she is forced back to reality when confronted by a man who symbolizes her demise. The young girl, Connie, is hell- bent on not becoming like her mother or sister. She feels she is above them because she is prettier. She wants to live in a "dream world" where she listens to music all day and lives with Prince Charming. She does not encounter Prince Charming but is visited by someone, Arnold Friend, who embodies the soul of something evil. Arnold Friend symbolizes "Death" in that he is going to take Connie away from the world she once knew. Even if she is not dead, she will never be the same person again, and will be dead in spirit. With the incorporation of irony, Oates illustrates how Connie's self-infatuation, her sole reason for living, is the reason she is faced with such a terrible situation possibly ending her life.
In the short story “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?”, by Joyce Carol Oates, the use of the symbolism of Connie’s clothes, her fascination with her beauty, Arnold Friend’s car and Arnold Friend himself help to understand the story’s theme of evil and manipulation. The story, peppered with underlying tones of evil, finds Oates writing about 15-year-old Connie, the protagonist of the story, a pretty girl who is a little too into her own attractiveness, which eventually gets her into trouble with a man named Arnold Friend. The story is liberally doused with symbolism, from the way Connie dresses to the shoes on Arnold Friend’s feet. In “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?” the reader can pick up on some of the symbols very easily, while others need deeper thought. The subtle hints of symbolism throughout the story create a riveting tale that draws the reader in. Connie finally succumbs to Arnold Friend at the end of the story, it then becomes obvious that he represents the devil and the symbolism of her clothing and Arnold’s car all tie together to create a better understanding of the story.
In Joyce Carol Oates's short story, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" the protagonist introduced is Connie, who is an interesting and strong character. Just like every other teenager, she is searching for a purpose and trying to find her place in society. Although Connie seems to be an incredibly self absorbed teenage girl, there is a part of her personality that is different than the rest. She lives a double life, having one personality around her house, with her family, and the other when she is hanging out with friends in public. Due to this double personality, the reader can't help but become intrigued and question which girl she truly is.
The point of view she expressed through out the whole text, was her own. She was able to keep readers insight of the psychoanalytic theory the story has. The actions the protagonist had in the story showed us how it affected her adult self, and how the issue developed a rebel over time. Even after years from when the recurring events took place, her actions as a child had an effect on both mother and daughter. This theory gives readers the idea that things that happen to people during childhood can contribute to the way they later function as
A highly esteemed childhood development philosopher, Erik Erikson believed that the personality of a child develops in a series of stages, and in each stage children experienced crucial events that affected ones development. These events either impacted that child’s development in a good or poor way. Relationships are pivotal in all of Erikson’s stages as it can start to form ones personality, which helps one grow in the future. In Erik Erikson’s fourth stage, competence, children develop self-confidence by interacting with peers and people. Likewise, Alice undergoes this stage in Through the Looking Glass. Alice develops these skills as she socializes with the many characters in the story, leading her and giving her lessons to help her on