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Analysis Of Connie By Joyce Carol Oates

952 Words4 Pages

Joyce Carol Oates writes about a self-absorbed girl named Connie and her experience with Arnold Friend. During the summer, Connie uses the excuse of going to the shopping plaza with her friends to meet boys at a restaurant. During these risky evenings, Connie becomes very flirtatious while away from her family. At the restaurant one evening, Connie’s need for sexuality attracts the attention of a stranger named Arnold Friend without realizing it. The next day, Arnold shows up at her house to take her on a drive. Connie becomes less like herself as Arnold talks about taking her to a field. To stop his threats of hurting her family, she decides to go with him even though she feels uneasy (369-84). Oates shows through Connie’s personality change that teenagers want to break society’s morals on innocence, which ultimately leads to the demise …show more content…

Nancy Dessommes, a literary critic, writes that “Connie thinks of little beyond maintaining her own good looks, impressing boys, and living for the excitement of the moment” (435). Since she spends the day fantasying about boys, Connie does have a diminishing relationship with her family, especially her mother and sister. She is constantly going against her mother to prove that she is not following social views on teenage sexuality. She acts out because “she prefers peer approval to parental and depends on it for her identity” (Dessommes 435). Her ego depends on approval from her friends and potential romantic partners to further her breaking out of her innocent image. Connie is living two lives, and at home she tries to hide her flirty, carefree personality from her family. She changes the way she looks and dresses to attract boys when she is out with friends. She knows this will break social norms, but she fails to think of the danger that comes with her expressing sexuality in

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Suddenly, Oates allows Arnold’s malicious side to peak through ever so slightly after Connie tells him that he and is friend better leave, and Arnold replies “We ain’t leaving until you come with us.” (6) In the beginning of the story, the author writes that Connie has two different sides and now she is showing that Arnold has two different ones as well. At this point, Arnold begins to threaten to come in the house if Connie tries to call for help. He even indicates that if she doesn’t go with him before her family returns he will harm them.

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In her short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", Joyce Carol Oates utilizes a variety of literary devices to strengthen the story in its entirety. This short story is essentially about a 16-year-old girl named Connie and the conflict between her desire to be mature and her desire to remain an adolescent. Throughout the story, the audience sees this conflict through her words in addition to through her behavior. The audience is also introduced to Arnold Friend, a rather peculiar man, who essentially kidnaps her. This short story by Joyce Carol Oates functions and is additionally meaningful because of her usage of literary devices.

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