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Feminism In 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been'

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They say every piece of literature is written from at least one of three analytical approaches, Marxist, Freudian (psychoanalytical), or, lastly the one used in the stories I will be discussing today, feminist. Feminist writing begins with the assumption that society is and always has been patriarchal. Through out the years writers have portrayed major problems in society through their writing. The four pieces of literature discussed today were all originally composed in a time ranging from 1604 to 1966. Meaning this has been a continuous problem throughout many centuries. Four pieces of literature with powerful words representing the mistreatment of women in society are “Helen of Troy”, “Leda” “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, and …show more content…

This is a poem written about a woman unwillingly a victim of sexual assault. In the beginning the speaker describes Zeus in the form of a swan. The description used by Doolittle to portray Zeus is very beautifully crafted, making Zeus seem flawless. Then casually Zeus proceeds to attack Leda. Leda’s attack is unable to be easily seen due to the poems godly description of the attacker. As commonly seen in our society Leda” rape is over looked because, the writer is forced to focus on Zeus and his over glorified …show more content…

In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” a young girl name Connie is targeted by an adult man and taken advantage of. This demented predator has no sense of his actions being wrong. He follows her and convinces her, by fear and intimidation, to come to him. He uses the lives of her family, knowledge about her life, and manipulation of this information. He has a confidence to act in such a manner, because those are the commonalities set by society. The author is able to show the traits of a stalker and predator, as well as the assault portrayed against

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871 Words | 4 Pages

“Where are you Going, Where have you Been” by Joyce Carol Oates is a short story that tells of the horrors that are possible when a child is rebellious and secretive. The story’s action begins when the main character, Connie, secretly visits a restaurant when she said she was in the movies, here she sees a man and he waves at her. Later, the same man shows up to her house when her family isn’t home and is trying to convince her to ‘go for a ride’ with him, and the reader learns his name is Arnold Friend. Connie talks to him for a bit, and eventually is manipulated into going with him, and it is assumed that Arnold kills her. Arnold Friend is a creepy, demanding older man, and his true personality is highlighted by the way the author writes

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Carol Joyce Oates’ “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” presents how falling into temptation leads to giving up control and innocence. Though her mother is unapproving of her actions, Connie spends her time seeking attention from male strangers. Home alone, Connie is approached by a compelling creature who convinces her to leave her life and join him on his unknown journey. Through disapproving her family, having multiple appearances, listening to music, and her desperation to receive attention from boys, Connie gives up control of herself losing the purity of adolescents and contributing to her detrimental fate. It is imperative that one should not be controlled because of a desire to impress others.

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1181 Words | 5 Pages

The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” was written by the author Joyce Carol Oates in 1966. Oates describes her idea for the story after briefly reading an article about the real-life murderer, Charles Schmid, who lured and murdered three teenage girls (Kirszner & Mandell 523). She uses this idea to create the character, Arnold Friend, and his victim, Connie. Connie is a typical teenage girl portrayed as naïve and self-centered. The short story appears realistic, given that the conflict in the story is based off of real events.

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642 Words | 3 Pages

After skimming through Volume 1 of The Norton Anthology Literature by Women, I noticed the reoccurring themes of patriarchy, women subordination, and the strength to be creative despite oppression. During the times that these literary pieces were written, women were constantly battling the patriarchy in order to get basic rights. During the earlier time periods, intelligence was seen as a sign of an evil spirit in a woman, resulting in miniscule amounts of literary works written by women. Women were not provided with equal spaces to creatively express themselves, as mentioned by Virginia Woolf. Moreover, they were not given the same publishing opportunities, many women either went anonymous or by a fake male name to have their works published.

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1188 Words | 5 Pages

On a date, she noticed a guy in a gold convertible. The same guy, Arnold Friend and his friend, Ellie, showed up at her house while her family was gone to a barbeque. Arnold is trying to convince Connie to take a ride with him but Connie is fearful of his intentions. Through manipulation and threats, he finally lured the young girl to leave with him. In “Where are you going, where have you been”, Joyce Carol Oates used inspiration from a song and serial killer to write an incredible short story packed with themes and symbolism.

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In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie, the protagonist, is a 15-year-old girl living in the suburbs, who conveys the qualities of a typical teenager: she listens to music, goes out with her friends, is obsessed about her looks, likes getting attention from boys and is intrigued with her sexuality. On one typical night out with her friends she notices a mysterious guy making suggestive gestures to her in the parking lot of a drive-in restaurant, but she remains unfazed and leaves with a guy named Eddie. Then one Sunday afternoon, her family leaves to go to an aunt’s barbecue leaving her home alone, but soon after the mysterious guy pulls up in a gold colored car in her driveway with his friend. He proceeds

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709 Words | 3 Pages

In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, both female protagonists are faced with opposing male forces that seek to control, undermine and take advantage of them. However, in the midst of the challenges and subordination they face from these dominant male figures, each protagonists independence is tested as they both strive to overcome these forces. Connie, the protagonist in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” is a 15 year old, narcissistic teenage girl, searching for independence through her sexuality as she enters into the realm of adulthood. “Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home,” (Oates, 1).

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1007 Words | 5 Pages

The Odyssey by Homer contains multiple moments where female characters are oppressed or fit into a patriarchy, but there are several moments where these character show signs of rebellion against this oppression. Applying a critical lense of feminism to these characters and relationships create complexities and conflicts within the novel that shine meaning on the world. The character Penelope offers many of these moments. Analyzing the actions, situation, and comparisons with other characters using a the feminist critical lense will show a more enriched version of Penelope and offer a deeper insight of the patriarchy, and how is affects the world.

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466 Words | 2 Pages

Feminism is the philosophy advocating equal political, economic, and social rights for women. The idea of feminism was not at all prevalent during the 1850s when Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter was published. In spite of this, Hawthorne wrote one of the most influential feminist novels of his time: The Scarlet Letter. This novel was hailed as an important feminist novel because of the main character: Hester Prynne.

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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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1142 Words | 5 Pages

Although Zeus’s strength is unmatched, Helen is technically a demigod and wields her power presented as he glorious beauty and will power. It takes great fortitude for Helen to risk everything to be with her lover Paris yet this same strength is two sided. It also has the power to commence the Trojan War and completely destroy two nations. As much blame as mythology bestows on Helen for the downfall of Troy, in “Leda and the Swan,” Yeats ultimately places the true blame on Zeus and his insatiable sexual

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804 Words | 4 Pages

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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1031 Words | 5 Pages

Feminist point of view means the analysis of any literary works based on the feminist perception. Feminism has gradually become broad and noticeable in its attacks on male-dominated society. The Shakespearian era of the 16th century was a time when women were very inferior in the society. If we compare with other writers, Shakespeare was always careful of women and tried to give them respect in his different writings. If we look at his famous play named Othello we need to judge the equality of women in terms of political, social and economic perspective.

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1360 Words | 6 Pages

Feminist Criticism allows to understand the meaning and importance of literature when relating to the male-female power

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Anti-Feminism is when the women are objectified , disrespected , or belittled . In many patriarchal communities women are not given the rights and opportunities which has led to a movement known as feminism , nowadays , the term feminism is used when men and women are equal in their rights , opportunities and men are women are equally free , on the other hand , the term anti-feminism now talks about the woman being below the man , the woman being objectified and being used , women not being as free as men which often happens in patriarchal societies . The story “ A Californian’s Tale “ ignores the female issues during the horror of economic failure through objectifying Henry’s wife , the image of the wife and being nameless , and the frame . The first reason why the story “A Californian’s Tale” seems to be anti-feminist is through objectifying Henry’s wife. Through out the story the wife seems to be compared to many different objects , or sometimes the objects in the story symbolize the wife .

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