Age plays a major role in overall mental maturity. In the short story, “Where are you going, Where have you been” by Joyce Carol Oates, describes how a young naïve teenage girl gets herself in a peculiar situation. The fifteen-year-old girl meets a few older guys that appear to look younger but are not. Connie experiences a traumatic moment when she encounters an older stalker and doesn’t know what to do. At that moment, Connie was easily manipulated and persuaded. As a growing teenager, she yearned for the attention of older guys; which put her in situations in which she was not mature enough to understand what was happening. This story portrays a level of slut shaming, because Connie felt she had to look a certain way to be noticed …show more content…
The change that was encountered between the short story and pastiche, was that with age comes wisdom and knowledge. The older people get the better they understand. Age played a big part her overall mental maturity. When the short story began, Connie was an extremely conceited girl. She expressed how pretty she was throughout the beginning of the short story. However, she didn’t get much praise at home about her outer appearance. In actuality, her mother seemed to hate that the most about her. Connie seemed to have no support around her. Unfortunately, her mother nagged at her all the time about how she thought she looked and a constant comparison to her older sister. Per in the short story, “Her mother, who noticed everything and knew everything and who hadn 't much reason any longer to look at her own face, always scolded Connie about it. "Stop gawking at yourself. Who are you? You think you 're so pretty?" she would say.” "Why don 't you keep your room clean like your sister? How 've you got your hair fixed—what the hell stinks? Hair spray? You don 't see your sister using that junk." (Pg.1) Therefore, her older sister received all the glorious praise from her mother. Subsequently, not only was her …show more content…
In this instance, that’s what is being expressed in the text. It took for an age increase to cause a young girl to have more respect for herself. The level of respect and self-worth effected how the guy with the shaggy black hair approached her. He had to try harder, which caused her to become more aware of the issue at hand. The difference now, is that Connie is not seeking attention; she merely wants to make new friends and fit in. In addition, she realizes that it’s not normal for a stranger to come to her home. These traumatic events, frightens her to a point where she calls the police. Connie wasted no time when it came to her overall safety. This young adult was not caught up in the moment; her instincts and common sense kicked in immediately. The age difference is what created the slut shaming and naïve behavior. Eighteen-year-old Connie did not recreate herself for attention, however, fifteen-year-old Connie did. The short story expresses how a young girl had some growing up to do. Connie tried to act so grown up, when she didn’t know what it took to grow
Many people have been questioning on whether maturity depends on one’s age. I believe that maturity isn’t dependant on someone’s age because one matures based on things they’ve undergo, and how their environment can be.
Since Connie is a teenager, she relies on her parents to take care of her and provide for her. Even though she fights against her family, they are still the foundation of the only life Connie knows. Her constant need of approval from men becomes a habit for Connie because she doesn’t get approval at home, instead she gets disapproval. “Why don’t you keep your room clean like your sister? How’ve you got your hair fixed-- what the hell stinks? Hair spray? You don’t see your sister using that junk.” Because of this criticism, she isolates herself from her parents. For her, her only way of getting approval is to be independent from her parents and those who are trying to protect her. Connie’s search for independence only comes to her but only in a harsh
To reach maturity it requires loss of innocence. It’s a coming of age experience that changes the outlook on life forever. For example, when Antonio saw Lupito’s death scene he couldn’t believe what had happened, he said “I had started praying to myself from the moment I heard the first shot, and I never stopped praying until I reached home.”(Anaya 23), he was terrified of what he had seen and didn’t know
Each of us experiences transitions in our lives. Some of these changes are small, like moving from one school semester to the next. Other times these changes are major, like the transition between youth and adulthood. In Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", the author dramatizes a real life crime story to examine the decisive moment people face when at the crossroads between the illusions and innocence of youth and the uncertain future.
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.
One of the main characters of the story by Joyce Carol Oates is a fifteen year old girl Connie. She has a conflict with her mother and tries to ignore all comments about her personality. The girl likes to look in a mirror at her face and think that she is pretty. Despite the opinion of her mother, she is really cute. Connie has a long dark blond hair, which is always stacked into a nice hairstyle, and a lovely smile that attract the attention of everyone on the street. The girl was looked like her mother, on the photos where she was young and beautiful. The girl may seem imperceptive and immature because she cannot opposes anything to the reproachful speeches of her mother.
Her exposition is painstaking. She sets the scene by making the main character and protagonist, Connie, parallel to an average girl in the sixties. Oates' narrator introduces Connie using elements of description which puts emphasis on the vanity of the main character. Connie's mother is quickly introduced and is used by the narrator to reveal how much disdain her mother has for her vanity. The narrator uses the main character's mother to introduce her sister, June.
Being sexualized by the boys around her, Connie is self-conscious and finds her worth in beauty. The story even states, “She knew she was pretty and that was everything” (Oates 422). She is concerned about her appearance and what others think of her because she has been taught that she lacks any value outside of physical beauty norms. Arnold Friend, even tells Connie, “...be sweet like you can because what else is there for a girl like you but to be sweet and pretty and give in?” (Oates 432). Between this coaxing and the consistent message about the importance of beauty, Connie is nearly forced to conform to this mentality, which displays the lack of respect for young females as human beings. This in turn leads women to self-degradation as they are consistently viewed as sexual
Part of aeach human’s experience is about learning who one they isare. The process of making oneself betterbettering yourself as a human being is known as coming of age. The definition of coming of age is to grow or become more mature. Elisa in the story “Chrysanthemums” does not come of age because she is distant from the people around her, can’t experience the world, and can’t control her emotions when a problem deals with her flowers.
dilemma of changing old age into youth, still a major part of how the story was
points within the story is that of how most people feel about age, how they wish to
In the midst of a heartbreak, crisis, celebration, or milestone, we use music to help express the emotions that we feel or may have felt during that time. Music allows for us to escape our reality, though only for a moment in time. It has an adverse reaction on our emotions. Music can trigger feelings regarding a past experience, a loved one, etc. Music is universal. Regardless of the lyrics, tone, or time period of the song music is an incredibly powerful work of art deeply connected with human emotions. Joyce Carol Oates uses pop music as a symbol and motif throughout her short story “Where are you going, Where have you been?” In her short story, Joyce Carol Oates' music references illustrate Connie's life and journey throughout the story.
The novel ‘Catcher in the Rye,’ written by J.D. Salinger portrays the struggle with maturity, and is perceived through the main character, Holden Caulfield. J.D. Salinger's fictional novel, published in 1951, is a coming-of-age story read by many adolescents but has been originally intended for an adult audience who would be able to relate to Holden’s idea that the adult world contains a certain insincerity attached to it. ‘Catcher in the Rye’ presents the distressing idea that despite the amount of action taken to evade or ignore it, maturity is inevitable.
Coming to age means various things in different cultures, religions and regions in the world. As an example, in the Jewish religion coming of age happens when a boy or girl reaches the age of thirteen and has a Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah, which symbolizes reaching religious maturity. On the other hand, coming to age is not about turning a certain age or being able to bare a child, but rather coming to terms with your personal identity. Coming to terms with your personal identity does not happen over night, it entails finding yourself and accepting yourself as an individual. Moreover, in the short story, “Birthmark” and the excerpt of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the night, they depict characters that have a hard time coming to terms with themselves. In both scenarios the characters face adversities that the majority of the population do not face which makes them feel like outcasts. Additionally, both characters come-to-age by finding their personal identity through all of the tribulations that they face.
The age of sixteen was a turning point for me in my life. I was beginning to experience biological and physical changes due to the maturing of my body. One would say that I began to start looking like a “woman”, in which others defined as gaining more attractiveness. During this time, my braces were removed so I had now possessed straight teeth and a “nice smile”. It started to become common for young men and older men to try and court me. I was also excelling in the sport of Track & Field. I had received a high status at my school, in which I became known as being the most popular girl and fastest girl in the school. I had also been nominated for prom court. The attention that I received in high school was a great shift for me because I was not used to receiving positive attention during my