Connie is the main character from “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. Connie struggles with the decision of going with a stranger man named Arnold Friend. In the end she decides to leave with Arnold. Why does Connie choose to do this? Connie decides to leave with Arnold Friend because her family is threatened by Arnold if she doesn't go with him, Arnold shows interest in Connie, and Connie’s low self esteem causes her not to stand up for herself. Through the story it is mentioned that Connie doesn't have a good relationship with her family. Connie’s relationship with her mother is ruff to say the least. Her mother mocks her and states “ Stop gawking at yourself. Who are you? You think you're so pretty?”(199)
First of all, Connie was not happy at home. The story says that her father "was away at work most of the time," and "didn't bother talking much to them," so Connie didn't have love from him and had to find male attention somewhere else. Connie found her happiness in escaping with her friend to the drive-in restaurant and daydreaming about boys. But the happiness she found in both of these things had nothing to do with actual events; it is based on a fantasy. When she was out at the drive-in with a boy, her face gleamed "with the joy that had nothing to do with Eddie or even this place; it might have been the music." When she daydreamed about boys, they all "fell back and dissolved into a single face that was not even a face, but an idea, a feeling mixed up with the urgent pounding of the music..."
Connie, from “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, wants to rebel against her family. She uses her attractiveness to flirt with boys at the local restaurant behind their backs as a form of rebellion. She feels as though her family does not appreciate her; her father does not pay any attention to her and her mother constantly compares her to her sister, criticizing her every move and asking why she cares so much about her appearance. On one of her outings she sees a boy who she vainly chooses to ignore. Later he shows up at her house posing as her friend, calling himself Arnold Friend, and talking to her as though he is another boy she flirts with down at the diner and pretending to be her age. She subtly flirts with him at first, only realizing the danger when it is too late.
In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie is a normal teenage girl who is approached outside her home by a guy named Arnold Friend who threatens to harm her, and she obeys, if she does not get in the car with him. Connie is the main character in this story who teaches us that sometimes we might search for adult independence too early before we are actually ready to be independent and on our own. Connie is so focused on her appearance that she works hard to create a mature and attractive adult persona that will get her attention from guys. This search for independence conflicts with Connie’s relationship with her family and their protection of her. Connie’s insecurity and low self-esteem is triggered by her fear of intimacy. Connie confuses having the attention of men with actually having them pursue her in a sexual way.
Joyce Carol Oates’s short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” clearly illustrates the loss of innocence adolescents experience as they seek maturity, represented by Connie's dangerous encounter with Arnold Friend. Connie symbolizes the many teens that seek independence from their family in pursuit of maturity. Connie’s great desire to grow up is apparent from the beginning of the story, as she experiments with her sexuality. However, it is clear that Connie is not interested in pursuing a relationship, but relishes the maturity she feels after being with the opposite sex. After following a boy to his car, she was “gleaming with a joy that had nothing to do with Eddie or even this place” (2). This suggests that Connie's exploits
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.
...arie Urbanski believe that Connie leaves with Arnold Friend because she is, ‘’bowing to absolute forces which her youthful coquetry cannot direct-absolute forces over which she has no control’’ (Clifford). To sum up, Joyce Carol Oates presents an image of young women who are insecure, hopeless and rebel against the norms of society. Those kinds of girls like Connie continue to exist in society and the shadow of people like Arnold Friend is always nearby for such women.
This line of text from the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates gives a brief overview into the life of Connie and Arnold. A charming yet mysterious man named Arnold Friend preys on a young girls gift of beauty, her feelings of seclusion and her desires. This passage highlights the moral and psychological issues young girls face.
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.
In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates a young girl, Connie, is portrayed as a very independent, slightly rebellious, mature, confident female who has a bit of experience with boys. Connie goes out with her friends one night to see a movie and flirt with different boys. She wonders off in the dark a little too far, crossing a mysterious character that marks Connie as his. He shows up at her house one day, surprising her and scaring her. The mysterious character introduces himself as Arnold Friend. He continues speaking, but does not need Connie to reveal any information about herself because he already knows everything. Unlike usual, Connie is a little unsure of flirting with the mystery man. However,
The overuse of biblical allusions throughout the story helps to expose the naive nature of Connie that reveals her as a victim of evil which shows that lust often transgresses on an individual’s identity. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Carol Oates expressed the subjective ideas by symbolizing Arnold Friend as a devil that tempts a clueless teenage girl Connie, who wanted to experience love.
Just like many teenage girls, Connie has a life and personality that her parents know nothing about. The way she acted and looked was very different in public than at home. "She wore a pull-over jersey blouse that looked one way when she was at home and another way when she was away from home"(200). Connie knew that her mother would not approve of the things she did or the way she dressed, so had two sides to her personality. Oates makes it easy for the reader to relate to that part of the story, because most teenagers have hidden something from their parents, or act a different way when they are away from home. Connie does start to feel bad about keeping secrets from her mother. "Her mother was so simple, Connie thought, that it was maybe cruel to fool her so much"(201). Connie knew it was bad to lie to her mother so often, but she thought it was
The external conflict in Oate’s story, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been, is when Connie meets this mysterious stranger named Arnold Friend. Connie first comes across Arnold when she is hanging out with a boy named Eddie. The second time she glances at him he says, “Gonna get you, baby” (p. 7). She ignores him and continues enjoying her date with Eddie. Soon enough, when Connie’s family left for a barbeque and she stayed home alone, she heard a car pull up on the drive way. Arnold then initiates conversation with Connie and asks her if she wants to go for a ride with him. She rejects his offer because she has no idea who this “Arnold Friend” is, yet he keeps insisting, “Don’tcha wanna see what’s on the car? Don’tcha wanna go for a ride?”
Connie has the need to be viewed as older and as more mature than she really is, all the while still displaying childlike behavior. She shows this childlike behavior by “craning her neck to glance in mirrors [and] checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right” (Oates 323). This shows that Connie is very insecure and needs other people’s approval. Although on one side she is very childish, on the other side she has a strong desire to be treated like an adult. This longing for adulthood is part of her coming of age, and is demonstrated by her going out to “bright-lit, fly-infested restaurant[s]” and meeting boys, staying out with those boys for three hours at a time, and lying to her parents about where she has been and who she has been with (Oates 325, 326). “Everything about her ha[s] two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home” (Oates 324). Even her physical movements represent her two-sided nature: “her walk that could be childlike and bobbing, or languid enough to make anyone think she was hearin...
the lack of knowing her true self lets Arnold Friend overpower her in the end. The words and letters on Arnold’s car symbolize warnings that Connie should have picked up on. Because Arnold symbolizes the devil, the evil inside of him gives him advantages to manipulate Connie into leaving her house, despite everything inside of Connie screaming at her not to go. The symbolisms in these objects or people are all deeply rooted to the theme of this short story, “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?”.
I agree with your theory that Connie is the black sheep in her family and her family adores Connie’s sister, June. The author, Joyce Carol Oates, symbolized Connie as a vain average teenage girl who agured with her mother. Connie received less affection from her family which led to her probably feeling neglected. And the threats that Arnold made towards Connie were direct threats about Connie’s family, described what June looked like and the location of her family. Another theory for why Connie decided to go with Arnold is that she longed for acceptance in her family. Connie decision of going with Arnold was protective instinct because she wanted to do the right thing of protecting her family, even though she does not feel acceptance.