Dramatic Irony In Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

Joyce Carol Oates’s, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” is a short story that follows a teenage girl named Connie who is at a crossroads between childhood and adulthood. She encounters an unfamiliar man named Arnold Friend, who symbolizes the loss of innocence from the harsh realities of the adult world. In this paper, I will argue how Oates’s use of dramatic irony displays the vulnerability of young girls.

Throughout the story, Connie is made vulnerable by being depicted as a typical teenage girl who craves attention and validation. Oates begins the story by describing Connie as a fifteen-year-old girl who “[H]ad 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.” This description from Oates implies that Connie values her looks and always wants to make sure she looks better than others because it gives her a sense of identity and power. Her appearance is a significant part of how she defines herself and how she interacts with the world, but once she officially meets Arnold Friend and he begins capitalizing on the weakness it created in her, her point of view on her appearance changes, creating one example of dramatic irony.

Marie Mitchell Olesen Urbanski wrote a critical essay called “Existential Allegory: Joyce Carol Oates: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? '.” In the article Urbanski discusses “[T]he seduction which Friend engineers, Connie is merely the personification of the female he wishes to dominate, to be taller than, to despoil.” This implies that his seduction towards Connie had nothing to do with her specifically; Friend even commented on her blue eyes which is ironic because she had brown eyes. In Friend's eyes, Connie is not a girl, she is simply an object of desire and