Comparing The Story 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been'

The story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been has similar elements in fairy tales.Yet, critic Christina Gills says the reader is “ forced to consider the distinctions between fairy tale and seduction narrative” (Gillis Gale). There are differences between a fairy tale and this short story. Differences include that the girl gets the prince and the villain gets killed, and they live. In life this does not happen, the so- called villain can get away and come after its victim again. When Connie meets Arnold Friend she is not joined by “Prince Charming but with the Prince of Darkness” ( Korb Gale). This demonstrates how the story is unlike a fairy tale because instead of meeting a nice prince, she instead meets with the Prince of Darkness,

In the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel the theme of betrayal is portrayed. In this fairy tale, two characters betray the children. The first character to betray the children are the parents. The parents “ will take the children early in the morning into the forest… then [the parents] will go to [their] work and leave them alone… [so that] they will never find their way home again” (Grimm cs.cmu,edu). This portrays the theme because their mother leers them into the forest by telling them that they will go get wood, but she leaves them for dead in the forest instead. Like the stepmother, Arnold Friend tells Connie that he came out there to “take [her] for a ride” (Oats Gale). Arnold is betraying Connie because he said that he was going to take her for a ride, but he is going to rape her. Another character that betrays the children is the witch. The witch finds them, and she comes out and tells them that they “‘have to come indoors and stay with [her]’” (Grimm cs.cmu.edu). She acts nice and gives them warm food and a bed, but the witch is going to “kill them, cook them, and eat them” ( Grimm cs.cmu.edu). This portrays the theme of betrayal because the witch pretends to be their friend by giving them food and shelter, but turns her back on them and tries to kill and eat them. She is betraying the children, who trusted her to take care of them. This is like Oates’ story because when Connie meets Arnold Friend, he says to her that “[he is hers] friend” (Oates Gale). Later he tries to kidnap her and even rape her. Doing this betrays Connie’s trust in him. So, this is like a fairy tale in the way that the villain always betrays someone's