Arnold Friend’s sudden appearance in Connie’s life takes her from childhood to adulthood in the blink of an eye and she ultimately becomes a passive victim. Not many fifteen-year-old girls are considered mature at that age and Connie is certainly no exception to that. She is presented as quite vain in her views of herself and those around her. Her mother, once a beauty herself, is constantly nagging at her and telling her to stop gawking at herself in the mirror. Connie considers her older sister June to be somewhat of a spinster who is described as “plain and chunky” (Oates
However, careless Connie, ignorant of all precautions pertaining to stranger, takes anxious joy in the arrival of the new stranger when Oates writes “Her heart began to pound and her fingers snatched at her
In Joyce Carol Oats “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been,” we are introduced to two main characters. The names of the two main characters are Connie and Arnold Friend. In Oates’s short story, Arnold Friend is an imposter that tries to convince young Connie to go on a ride with him and his friend Ellie. Connie refuses to go on the ride but Arnold’s use unnatural techniques to force Connie to leave her house and go with him. Arnold Friend’s awareness of Connie’s family and friends and his ability to persuade Connie reveals that he is more than just a creepy old man trying to kidnap a young girl.
Connie had a side hidden away from her family. When home she had a “childlike and bobbing walk”( Oates 1) but away from home her walk was “languid enough to make anyone think she was hearing music in her head”. The moral standards and self interpretation of Oates character Connie stems from how her parents treat
[g]et up all by yourself”, Connie realizes she truly has no choices (Oates 11). Connie thinks it is best to go with Arnold Friend because she does not want the burden of her family’s death to be in her hands. Connie exhibits
The moment Connie, the protagonist of Oats’ story, ceases to be afraid of Arnold Friend, shown in the following quote,
An article by Marie Mitchell Olesen Urbanski, “Existential Allegory: Joyce Carol Oates 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’” analyzes this helpless nature of Connie as a result of Arnold’s alluring tactics. However, many readers may indeed question why she reacted in such an incapable and naive manner, resulting ultimately in her abduction. Although her state of shock is sudden, her response is an accurate and natural depiction of the bewildering state she was put in under these tactics. From the start of the story, we get insight into
Through careful characterization and symbolic imagery, Oates invites readers to navigate the depths of Connie and Arnold's relationship, offering insights into the underlying societal expectations and power
However, this is countered when Connie notes that “he was much older—thirty, maybe more” (315), a fact that frightens her. What Arnold is to Connie is a challenge of her want to be an adult, and a trail of her ability to deal with adult issue. Such as a man who singles her out sexual reason. Her wish to be an adult is something she seeks while passively avoiding it. Her avoidance is marked by day dreams of puppy love romance, like a typical teenager; yet, her attractive flaunt to be mature is presented as if she seeks to be an
The beginning of the story illustrates Connie as a shallow and vapid young teen, placing an immense amount of value on her looks and ability to attract the attention of those around her. Near the end of the story, during her encounter with Arnold Friend and his companion, Ellie Oscar, the author expresses Connie’s nervousness by describing that, “her heart was almost too big now for her chest and its pumping made sweat break out all over her” (Oates). Connie is no longer comfortable with the attention and realizes that the looks that she once valued so greatly, likely brought danger to both herself and those around her. The dichotomy between Connie in the beginning of the short story and Connie near the end of the story is subtly foreshadowed when it mentions that, “ everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home” (Oates). By the end of the short story, the audience is able to identify the two new sides of Connie.
In her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates gives the internal events of her short story the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action. This is accomplished by providing the thoughts of Connie to the reader; showing the effects of the setting on Connie; and Connie’s final realization of her fate. She connects this to the idea that Arnold Friend is the demonic adversary who convinces Connie to cross the threshold into adulthood and lose her innocence by shear persuasion and threatening undertones.
Arnold Friend was there to take Connie away; away from her childhood and home, which never quite felt like home until her fantasy world deteriorated and reality set it. The next moment is pivotal, this is when Connie forgets her hedonism and becomes something of much more substance. Before Connie studies Arnold Friend’s abnormal personality and erratic behavior she is fascinated by him and even worries that she is ill prepared for this
Oates’s biography explained her fiction writing as a mixture violence and sexual obsession. The writing style definitely fits the plot point of this story with both of her literary ingredients being present in not only Arnold Friend but in Connie as well. The Protagonist Connie is presented in a very self-centered way. She is obsessed with her looks and often fantasizes about all the boys she meets.
He begins by looking and acting like everything Connie values, but as his dialogue with her becomes more threatening her uneasiness grows. By the time she realizes how much danger she’s in, he’s manipulated her into surrendering to him seemingly of her own free will. An Analysis of Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where are you going, Where have you been?” through the feminist lens suggests that the author is portraying Connie without a concrete identity and in order to demonstrate that the traits that make women most vulnerable to predators are those they are universally pressured to perform for society, while simultaneously presenting Arnold with a crafted identity and specific manipulation techniques to illustrate how Arnold and the danger he embodies is a creation and extension of the culture Connie lives and breathes because of her
It is my position that gender identity plays more of a role than sexual orientation does. If someone was born a male or female, it doesn’t mean that is how they automatically identify as. Society does try to fit people into the standardized thinking of blue is for boys and pink is for girls. In time though that stigma has changed and we are changing our views on how people identify.
