What is Oates message in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Joyce Carol Oates is trying to show the readers that beauty and vanity can be sometimes harmful. Bored and tired of being ordinary, and still being treated as a child, the main character engaged in a rebellion that think will make her look older, more like an adult.
What is the significance of the title Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
1. It sounds like the kind of question you might get from your parents on your way out the door or coming home after your curfew – which makes sense for a story starring a teenager. 2. It could be a bigger, more metaphysical question: how did you get to this point in your life and what are you going to do now?
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been coming of age theme?
In her famous short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Carol Oates shows the transition from childhood to adulthood through her character Connie. Each person experiences this transition in their own way and time.
What happens to Connie at the end of the story?
Connie is compelled to leave with him and do what he demands of her. The story ends as Connie leaves her front porch; her eventual fate is left ambiguous.”
What is the conflict in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Arnold Friend– The main conflict in this story, Arnold Friend and Connie clash. Connie is playing the scared, traumatized role while Arnold Friend is aggressor. He is making all the moves to get closer to kidnapping Connie.
How would you describe Connie’s relationship with her mother sister and father?
Connie’s relationship with her mother, though nowhere near as distant as the ones with her father and sister, is equally a part of her fear of intimacy. Connie is extremely contemptuous toward her mother for always nagging her and favoring June over her; she even goes so far as to wish that her mother was dead.
Why does Connie go with Arnold and Ellie?
This is the end of Connie’s fantasy, and she has to decide whether she wants to accept her independence or not. At the same time, Arnold, evidently symbolizing the devil in disguise, states that Connie has no other variants but to accept the independence he offers her and go with him and Ellie, his sidekick.
What does the ending of the story signify in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
In conclusion, the character Connie in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” whose various psychological problems have been discussed in this paper, meets the ending that she does in the story because of her insecurity, her low self-esteem, and her fear of intimacy.
What does Arnold Friend’s car symbolize?
As Friend’s own name is written on the car, it is clear that it functions as a direct extension of Friend himself and his intentions. The car is also another aspect of Friend’s disguise: like his clothes and the music he claims to love, it is intended to make him seem normal and unthreatening to Connie.
What role does music play in Connie’s life?
Music functions as Connie’s bridge from the real world to her fantasy world. Connie enjoys escaping her life by listening to music and daydreaming about boys, and she gathers her ideas about romance primarily from songs on the radio.
What does Connie’s father do in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Connie’s friend’s father drives them to a shopping plaza in town and returns later to pick them up, never asking how they spent their time. The girls often sneak across the highway to a drive-in restaurant and meet boys.
Why does Connie have Arnold Friend?
Due to her insecurity and low self-esteem, Connie is just gullible enough to believe that it really is “all over for [her] here.” She is willing to go with Arnold Friend not because she actually wants to, but because she thinks he is right; Connie has nothing keeping her, not her friends, her family, or any of the …