The main character is fifteen year old Connie. Connie is a typical rebellious teenager trying to find her independence. She constantly disobeys her mother and hasn’t a care in the world. Connie’s character does not really change through the story so much as the author adds more details about her. I do feel a sense of sympathy for Connie, because her mother is constantly comparing Connie to her sister. I believe Connie’s foil is her sister because she is constantly being compared to her.
The story’s plot starts out by introducing Connie and giving us an idea of what kind of life she lives. The plot then goes on to introduce the protagonist and gives us a sense of what he means to Connie. Finally the story ends with Connie really seeing herself for the first time and her getting basically kidnapped by the protagonist. The structure of the plot is important because if it were any other way the events in the story would not make sense and the connection to the main character would be lost.
Yes surprises do play an important role, because at first you
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The title is also reminiscent of what a parent would ask their child, which really adds on to the strange and almost uncaring attitude Connie’s parents have for her.
The main theme of this story is that of Connie’s search for independence. Oates portrays this theme by exemplifying Connie’s tendency to frequent places where older people are, in her attempt to quicken her path to adulthood. This theme is also portrayed by Connie’s desire to go with Arnold who is exploiting her need for independence, and in the end forces Connie to grow up faster through cruel means.
The author’s writing style is that of simplicity but at the same time that of deeper meaning. While the author makes it easy for one to find the symbols and unravel their meaning, the author also adds a whole new weight to meaning behind certain objects and
That’s right. Come over here to me… Now come out through the kitchen to me, honey, and let’s see a smile, try it, you’re a brave, sweet little girl’”(Oates 7). “She put her hand against the screen. She watch herself push the door slowly open as if she were back safe somewherein the other doorway, watching this body and this head of long hair moving out into the sunlight where Arnold Friend waited”(7). What had gotten into Connie, why would she go out with Arnold knowing that all he is going to do is hurt her. Readers may think she is a state of shock and the only thing she can do to protect her family is by going with Arnold.
...t amount of information about Connie, and he tells Connie what her family is doing at
Style in literature is essential to create proper perception from the reader. This is equally as important as establishing appropriate tone. For this propose Ethel Wilson compliments such standards in her works “The Fog”, “Hurry, Hurry” and “The Window.” Wilson’s stylistic techniques are unmatched in uniqueness or assessing human nature versus physical nature. In the fore mentioned texts, Ethel Wilson composes her style from elements of symbolism, motif and character development to flourish understanding of the central idea of responsibility in the human mind when hidden behind nature.
With an evident attempt at objectivity, the syntax of Passage 1 relies almost entirely on sentences of medium length, uses a few long sentences for balance, and concludes with a strong telegraphic sentence. The varying sentence length helps keep the readers engaged, while also ensuring that the writing remains succinct and informative. Like the varying sentence length, the sentence structures vary as complex sentences are offset by a few scattered simple sentences. The complex sentences provide the necessary description, and the simple sentences keep the writing easy to follow. Conversely, Passage 2 contains mostly long, flowing sentences, broken up by a single eight word sentence in the middle. This short sentence, juxtaposed against the length of the preceding and following sentences, provides a needed break in the text, but also bridges the ideas of the two sentences it falls between. The author employs the long sentences to develop his ideas and descriptions to the fullest extent, filling the sentences with literary elements and images. Coupled...
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.
Connie was tired of the life she was living and, she was ready to make decisions for herself and to deal with the consequences for them. She knew that if her parents found out about her going to the diner that she would be in trouble. Connie did not care about the consequences for her actions. She felt like it was time to grow up and be a woman. She wanted to start to experiment with her sexuality. Connie wanted boys to start to notice her and talk to her. Connie thinks that guys could be her savior by helping deliver her from the pressure and anxieties from her sister and mother. Her going out on her own makes her realize that she does not have to please anyone, only herself. When Connie and her friend went to the diner she met this guy Arnold. Obviously being with Eddie for three hours in a dark alley and diner was not the best first move for her. This is the one decision that will change her life forever. This was probably the first guy that gave Connie some attention. So obviously she is going to soak him up and just...
One important symbol present in the story is Arnold's orange car. I think that it is meant to resemble Cinderella's pumpkin carriage. In Cinderella's fairytale the carriage is what liberates Cinderella from her unhappy family life to the ball where she meets her prince charming, falls in love him, becomes a princess, and in the end lives happily ever after. In this story, rather than whisking Connie away to happiness Arnold is most likely going to take her happiness and her innocence away from her once she agrees to get in the car. It is an old car that has been made to look newer than it really is. And on some level, the car also helps Connie to realize how important her family is to her. Although Connie might see it differently her family life really isn't so bad. She is a somewhat self-centered girl who thinks of herself as better than her mother and sister and attributes their familial problems to them being jealous of her. She doesn't seem to care much about them throughout the story until Arnold comes in his carriage to take her away from it all. Then she realizes how much she cares about them and even agrees to go with him just to keep her family safe from Arnold, who has shown her that he knows exactly what her family is like and even what they are doing in that precise moment.
The tragic situation of Connie relates to the real life chain of murders in Tucson, Arizona. Tom Quirk iterates that Oates seems to get her creative imagination from “real criminal and real crime”, the irony is the story of Connie is sadly all too familiar in society (Quirk 413). The characters of Eddie and Ellie Oscar are figures that are not particularly familiar to readers. The lack of dialogue from these characters tend to neglect their significance, however studying them may actually connect a few dots that Oates purposely leaves for the reader to wonder. The comparison of Eddie and Ellie inclines that they are actually the same person. From research into Ellie’s appearance and mysterious motivation to remain unnoticed by Connie hints at the notion that instead of young teenage boy named Eddie accompanying Connie at the restaurant, it was none other than Ellie disguising himself. Although some find it bizarre that Connie could not see Eddie/Ellie for who he was while spending hours with him, one must take into account that Connie was more into herself rather than the boy she was with. Along with Connie’s natural infatuation with herself, the drive-in restaurant presented distractions such as the bright lights and loud music which aided Eddie/Ellie. The main antagonist Arnold Friend makes various statements and questionable actions that support the theory that Ellie has already encountered Connie at some point in time, thus providing the explanation as to how he knew so much information about
With complex themes and multifaceted symbols, Oates presents a girl so eager to grow up, but not yet ready to face what that truly entails. Arnold Friend represents the bare actuality many children ignore when looking at the far unlit unknown of adulthood and growing up. In essence, this story acts as a way to warn “be careful what you wish for” and “life’s not all it’s cracked up to be”.
...her father’s intense racism and discrimination so she hid the relationship at all costs. Connie realized that she could never marry an African American man because of her father’s racial intolerance. If she were to have a mixed child, that child would be greatly discriminated against because of hypodecent. One day, Connie’s dad heard rumors about her relationship so he drove her car to the middle of nowhere, and tore it apart. Then, he took his shotgun and went to look for Connie and her boyfriend. Connie was warned before her father found her, and she was forced to leave town for over six months. Connie’s father burned her clothes, so she had to leave town with no car, no clothes and no money at sixteen years old. Connie had lived in poverty her entire life, but when she got kicked out she learned to live with no shelter and sometimes no food at all.
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
The most ubiquitous allegory found in the piece is seen in the relationship held between Connie and Arnold Friend, which has a religious nature about it. In the same way that the Devil manipulated and convinced Eve to take the apple, Arnold has a rather cogent way of persuading Connie to leave her house and join him. The “sweet talk” that Arnold employs on Connie is the equivalent to the temptation of the Devil when he lured Eve into taking the apple. Another strong comparison in the aforementioned allegory is the similarities found between the Devil and Arnold. “I know your name and all about you, lots of things” (Oates par. 48). Arnold’s all-knowing perspective of Connie is synonymous to the Devil’s total knowledge of Eve. Oates uses this rather powerful allegory to depict the dangerously unpredictable vulnerability of Connie. By ending the story in the manner in which Oates did, she reveals her resentment for Connie’s vulnerable nature that could have ceased to exist had Connie taken the initiative to establish her
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...
Oates’ use of the way Arnold looks and acts so similar to the devil, her use of the words on the car meaning something foreign and her subtle symbolism with Connie’s attire make the story’s theme of evil and manipulation stand out so much more. Connie’s clothing symbolizing
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.