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Character Analysis Of Connie In 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been'

995 Words4 Pages

Connie never suspected that she was being stalked until it was too late. Maybe she was a bit naive, but she was only fifteen and she acted just like any other girl her age would. She could trick her parents into believing what she wanted them to believe, she was obsessed about her looks, and she loved listening to music, fantasizing about the lyrics and dreaming about boys. Connie was just like many other girls her age, except for the fact that she was being stalked, and never suspected it until it was too late. Connie was enjoying her summer vacation going out with her friends, hanging around her house listening to music, and dreaming about the boys she met. She never suspected that she was being stalked until it was too late. In Joyce Oates story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Connie unknowingly meets the man who had been stalking her, Arnold Friend, and her carefree summer comes to an end.(or is taken away by the devil himself.)
One beautiful warm Sunday afternoon, …show more content…

He even knew that her family was gone for the day. He smirked, “He ain’t coming. He’s at a barbecue.” He continued, “Aunt Tillie's...There’s your sister in a blue dress, huh? And high heels, the poor sad bitch - nothing like you sweetheart!” (Oates, 4). The only way he could have known how her sister was dressed, or that her family was at a BBQ for the day, was if he had been spying on her and her family. Connie had never talked to this man before, or encouraged him in any way, yet here he was claiming, “Yes, I’m your lover. You don't know what that is but you will. I know that too. I know all about you” (Oates, 4). He is not a young boy wanting to take Connie on a simple date; he is a grown man that has been following her every move for some time in order to gain that much knowledge about her and her life. He had been stalking Connie for quite a

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“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates dives deep in the realm of suspense and the psychological mind. The story revolves around Connie who can best be described as the stereotypical teenage girl who’s shallow mind focuses on her appearance and her male counterparts. The tone of the story starts off light-hearted depicting Connie’s halcyon days of summer adolescence. However the tone shifts dramatically to a more mystical and suspenseful element when a man named Arnold Friend suddenly arrives at her house. Connie is quizzical about the fact that this strange older looking “boy” arrives at her house with his friend Ellie.

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“She was fifteen and she had a quick nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right” (Oates, 259). Connie didn’t like being compared to her sister June by her mother and felt as if her mother only thought that she sat around all day daydreaming about boys. The only good thing that June did in Connie’s eyes was go out with her friends, which justified Connie being able to go out with hers. Connie would lie about going to the movie with her friend and they would end up going to hang out with older boys at restaurants and in allies until her friends dad would pick them up. One night Connie spent 3 hours with a boy she had met eating at a restaurant and then down an alley to hang out with

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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

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Based on the story “Where have you been, where are you going” by Joyce Carol Oates Connie was a young girl, who wanted to grow up way to fast. She wants everyone to believe that she is very experienced in being an adult. In the story Connie went to the movies with her friends and met up with a boy named Eddie. Eddie and Connie went to the diner and then to an alley. But as Connie was walking out of the movie theater, Connie’s eye wandered over the people and things in the car.

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In Joyce Carol Oates’ highly acclaimed short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Oates tells the story of a fictional adolescent girl named Connie that has a run in with pure evil itself in the shape of a man named Arnold Friend. Arnold Friend, a man dressed as a boy that she once saw at a drive-in, shows up at Connie’s house one afternoon when her family is away and tells her that if she does not come out of her house and go away and have sex with him then he will kill her whole family. Throughout the story Connie is shown to be an extreme narcissist, constantly staring at herself and basking in her profound beauty. Connie is a typical teenage girl that only seems to care about boys what others think of her

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Joyce Carol Oates’ short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” focuses on how the character Arnold Friend actually defies the common archetype of enemy and instead acts as a savior, rescuing Connie from her misery. Connie, a fifteen year old girl, frequently goes out with her friends to escape from her family. One day when her parents are gone, a man, Arnold Friend, appears in her driveway requesting that she goes with him for a ride. She is persistent in staying at home, but eventually gives into him and goes with him because Connie’s life at home is not great. Her mother is always complaining about Connie’s actions and one day “Connie’s mother kept picking on her until Connie wished her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it

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In Joyce Carol Oates’s short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” the main protagonist finds herself in a very hostile situation. With an all most fateful encounter with a man known as Arnold Friend. Forcing her to choose whether to run off with him or taking her by force. This man known as Arnold Friend to the reader comes off as almost a demon. A person who uses many temptations, word play, and threats to take advantage of the young protagonist Connie.

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Starting right off the bat, Joyce Carol Oates describes Connie as being a fifteen year old with”a quick, nervous habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all alright” (316) bringing attention to the amount of insecurity and need for reassurance immersed within Connie. This statement continues although this time describing her mother as someone who “noticed everything and knew everything and who hadn’t much reason to look at her own face” (316) bringing into comparison the difference between Connie and her mother, a child and a mother, of childhood and of adulthood. From Connie’s perspective her mother is always on her back because of a theory that her family dislikes her. “Why don’t you keep your room clean like your sister? How’ve

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“But now her looks were gone and that was why she was always after Connie.” (Oates ). Also, there is another opportunity for friendship within the family, between Connie and her sister, however, that is lost in their rivalry and hostility. “Her sister was so plain and chunky and steady that Connie had to hear her praised all the time – by her mother and her mother's sisters.” ( ).

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That also made her become more vulnerable to the real dangers and the evilness that exists in the world. That danger was represented by an old man who pretends to be an eighteen year old boy that seduced and kidnaped Connie. The end of the story Joyce Carol Oates leaves it open to the readers, because that way it makes the reader think of what might have happened, whether she got raped or whether she is killed, after the main character leaves with the antagonist of the story. Oates shows that ignorance, narcissism and the lack of

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The Stranger In the beginning of “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been” Joyce Carol Oates reminds the reader of how carefree it is to be a teenager without any responsibility. One can quickly see that Connie is like many teenagers of today behaving to much like a grown woman. Connie appears to be growing up to fast before our eyes. She is in a stage of teenage rebellion, acting on things too fast.

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The main character in the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” written by Joyce Carol Oates, is a fifteen-year-old girl named Connie. This character appears to be a typical teenager who feels misunderstood by her family. The relationship with her family causes her to live two different lives “Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home.” (86) Connie’s dual lifestyle and inability to communicate with her family will eventually lead to her demise.

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“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” is about a teenager named Connie who is trying to come to terms with her transformation from childhood to adulthood. Through this process, Connie attempts to act older than she is an tries to gain the attention of boys. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Oates portrays Connie as obsessed with men to symbolize how one’s obsession and narcissistic attitude can cause danger to seem surreal. In the short story, Carol Oates describes Connie as having two different personalities, one being a narcissistic attitude.

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