Comparing Joyce Carol Oates 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been'

Maggie Mulry

College Composition II (Honors)

ENG 112

Purugganan

The Unfortunate Reality of Empowerment

Women have long been portrayed as the inferior sex in literature. It is not uncommon to read of a strong male protagonist accompanied by a more subservient female companion who seems to merely tag along and provide validation for the actions of her superior. This outdated style seemed to take a turn in the early 19th century though with the onset of Gothic literature. In this new wave of literature, women took on a vastly different role, often questioning not only the men in their lives but also society's view of women as a whole. As is the case in both Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, and Charlotte Perkins

The narrator is portrayed, from the beginning of the story, as a women so numbed to societies diminished view of her that she, in fact, believes it herself. She notes that her husband, John, “laughs at [her]”, but this does not seem to bother the narrator and she even justifies it saying that “one [is to] expect that in marriage”. It is at this point in the story that it becomes clear to the readers that the marriage between the narrator and John is not one of equals, but one of a dominant and a submissive, a doctor and a patient, a caretaker and a “sick” woman. This patronizing attitude that John displays with his “blessed little goose” was not uncommon in the time this story was written, which lends an explanation as to why the narrator doesn't seem entirely upset with her treatment. The narrator has been conditioned throughout her life to act a certain way, the way that society wants her to act. While both her husband and her brother have come to “same diagnosis” of the narrator, she “personally disagree[s] with their ideas” but doesn’t feel she has a right to voice her own opinion in her treatment. Instead she inwardly suppresses her true emotions and maintains the facade that she believes she is meant to display, something she has probably been doing her whole life. Trapped in her husband’s diagnosis, the narrator is confined to

As the story progresses, the woman becomes more clear to the narrator seemingly as the narrator begins to see more of herself in this woman behind the paper. She notes the woman “shak[ing] the paper”desperately trying to escape. The narrator notes though that “nobody could climb through that pattern”, just like nobody can safely break through societal barriers. “[The narrator] begins to strip off the wallpaper at every opportunity in order to free the woman she perceives is trapped inside. She becomes increasingly aware of this woman and other female figures creeping behind the surface pattern of the wallpaper.” As the narrator slowly slips into what society believes to be maddess, she is ironically becoming more and more aware of not only her own mental and emotional confinement, but that of all the other women in her society. They are all trapped behind this ugly and restricting wall, depriving them of any expression or power and forcing them to remain subservient to their male counterparts. With this realization, the narrator, now certifiably insane in the eyes of those around her, is fully aware of what she must do to become liberated. She rips away the wallpaper, freeing whatever may