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Now and then character analysis
Now and then character analysis
Now and then character analysis
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The story “We Are You Going, Where have you been?” by Carol Oates centers on a fifteen year old adolescent girl. The protagonist in this story is Connie, a high school student going through the uncertainties and challenges of growing up. This is evident in Connie’s own self-analysis of her physical self, the nervousness, and anxiety that she exhibits as a teenager. Connie is also experience self-consciousness as she awkwardly looks at her reflection in the mirror, while comparing her face to others. Her mother who constantly scolds her echoes Connie’s self-consciousness, while her father is completely silent, practically nonexistent in her life. In addition, Connie compares herself to her elder, 24-year old sister, June. June may be plain and chunky but is steady, confident, often drawing praise from her mother. Connie teenage awkwardness is evident as she is always aware of the opinions of others, as seen in her interaction with her friends while out in town. Furthermore, Carol Oates is creating an image of the struggles, sexual innocence, challenges of being an adult, and the terror in young girls as they transition. This is evident in Connie who exhibits is shy around boys, blushes a lot when Eddie spoke to her, and could not confide in her friend or sister. Connie’s terror and uncertainty of dealing with the opposite sex is seen in the nervousness and inability to defend herself against Arnold Friend. …show more content…
Reminiscing the events in the neighborhood and school, many of the situations directly relate to the incidences Connie goes through in the story. She tried to create a sexy appearance and enticing boys in the local diner serve to explore the new worlds. Her bold step on searching for independence has brought her a brutal
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..."
due to her family leaving to attend a barbeque. Like Chet, Connie also has to rely on herself to overcome her obstacles, such as the threatening Arnold Friend. Stegner and Oates both use this plot point in order to establish that their characters cannot rely on their family for help or protection, which emphasizes their transition to adulthood. In Stegner’s depiction, the purpose seems to be the successful overcoming of obstacles that a child, specifically a boy, has to go through in order to become a man.
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
A mysterious car pulled into Connie’s driveway and the driver proceeds to get out of his vehicle, showing that he belonged there, not recognizing the car Connie opens the door to her house and leans out it. “She went into the kitchen and approached the door slowly, then hung out the screen door,” (2). Without even knowing who or why this person has come to her house, Connie opens her door and leans out to possible talk to the driver, who would turn out to be Arnold Friend and wants to take her on a “date”. Connie’s ignorance towards Arnold and his arrival almost immediately puts her in a vulnerable state without her even realizing it, this vulnerability would be the first event to foreshadow Connie’s inevitable kidnapping. After greeting and talking to Arnold for a little, he proceeds to ask Connie if she wants to go for a ride in his car. Instead of turning down the offer since she barely, if at all, knew Arnold, Connie somewhat debates it. “Connie smirked and let her hair fall loose over her shoulder,” (3). Though she lacks any information about Arnold, Connie kind of debates taking up his offer to go for a ride, further letting her ignorance towards the entire situation usher her into an even more vulnerable
”Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?” is a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates, which explores the life of a teenage girl named Connie. One of the issues this story divulges is the various stresses of adolescence. Connie, like so many others, is pressured to conform according to different social pressures, which displays the lack of respect female adolescents face. The music culture, young men, and family infringe upon young female minds to persuade them to look or act in certain ways, showing a disrespect for these girls. While some perhaps intend their influence for good, when put into practice, the outcome often has a negative effect. Moreover, this can lead young women to confusion and a lack of self-respect, which proves
During the teenage years they no longer want to be labeled the “child; matter of fact, they have a strong desire to rebel against the family norms and move quickly into adulthood. This transition and want for freedom can be a very powerful and frightening thing as there are evils in this world that cannot be explained. Most parents try to understand and give their teens certain freedoms, but at what expense? Joyce Oates gives us a chilly story about a teenager that wanted and craved this freedom of adulthood called “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”. This is a haunting story of a young girl by the name of Connie who gives us a glimpse of teenager transitioning from childhood with the need for freedom and the consequences of her actions. Connie is described as a very attractive girl who did not like her role in the family unit. She was the daughter who could not compare to her older sister and she felt her Mom showed favoritism towards her sister. Connie is your average teen who loves music, going out with friends, and she likes the attention she receives from boys. During this time, Connie is also growing into her sexuality and is obsessing with her looks as she wants and likes to be noticed by the opposite sex. Her sexual persona and need to be free will be what is fatal to her character’s life and well-being.
For the majority of the story, Connie appears to be a static character who remains the same. The first sentence of the story immediately portrays Connie as someone who is very vain and conceited, “She was fifteen and she had a quick nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors, or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was alright” (626). It is clear that Connie’s appearance is something extremely important to her. If she is not looking at herself in mirrors, she is looking for other people’s approval of how she looks. As Connie is trying to discover herself, she feels the need to constantly check her appearance. Connie’s static and vain character changes once she realizes the danger she is in, “He ran a fingernail down the screen and the noise did not make Connie shiver, as it would have the day before” (636). The narrator openly tells the reader that there has been a change in Connie. Previously, she would have shivered when hearing the sound, but now she no longer shivers. Also prior to her confrontation with Arnold Friend, Connie appeared to be someone who did not particularly enjoy her family’s presence. Connie also disliked the way her sister, June, was praised all the time by her other family, “Connie had to hear [June] praised all the time by her mother and her mother’s sisters” (626). Based on the negative tone of Connie’s voice, she feels hostility towards her family. Connie wants to be her own person which is why she disapproves of being compared to her sister. Not only does the way Connie speak lead to the inference that she does not like her family, but also her actions. When Connie’s family is going to a barbeque, Connie opts to stay home alone instead, “Her parents and sister were going to a barbeque at an aunt’s house and Connie said no, she wasn’t interested, rolling her eyes to let
To begin, the author uses the experiences of Connie to portray to the readers that this could, in fact, be a trashy daydream. This is shown through the quote “But all the boys fell back and dissolved into a single face that was not even a face, but an idea, a feeling, mixed up with the urgent, insistent pounding of the music and the humid night air of July” (Oates
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is told from the point of view of a girl with “long dark blond hair that drew anyone’s eye to it” named Connie. Connie was a very pretty fifteen year old girl, which loved to go out with her friends and meet new people. Laura’s, the best friend of Connie, father “drove the girls the three miles to town and left them at a shopping plaza so they could walk through the stores or go to a movie”. It became a lifestyle for Connie which eventually became a problem being that she met a suspicious
Her father works out of town and does not seem to be involved in his daughters lives as much. Her older sister, who works at the school, is nothing but plain Jane. Connie’s mother, who did nothing nag at her, to Connie, her mother’s words were nothing but jealousy from the beauty she had once had. The only thing Connie seems to enjoy is going out with her best friend to the mall, at times even sneaking into a drive-in restaurant across the road. Connie has two sides to herself, a version her family sees and a version everyone else sees.
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...
Connie changes how she acts based on where she is. INTRODUCE QUOTE “Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home” (Oates 1). Connie acts one way at home because her family is constantly comparing her to her sister. She goes out with her friends so she can be her own person. Connie looks forward to being an adult and likes having
The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is about a teenage girl, Connie, and her merge into adulthood. Until something almost unthinkable happens. She is confronted by an older boy at her home who gives her a crucial decision to make, save herself or her family. Joyce Carol Oates uses the fictional elements of symbolism, characters and conflict to create a theme of loss of innocence in her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”
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.
However, as I continued to read the story I began to wonder if maybe Connie’s life was not in any way parallel to my own. I have a younger sister where she has an older sister, but that is where the similarities end. Her mother is always telling her that she should be more like June, her older sister. It seemed to me that June living with her parents at her age was unusual, but the fact that she seemed to enjoy this and was always doing things to h...