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Foreshadowing In Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

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At the beginning of Joyce Carol Oates’ short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” (1938) introduces Connie a fifteen-year-old girl that is merely in adulthood. Always concerned with her physical appearance and sappy love songs Connie has trouble bonding with her parents. Connie’s mother is on a constant scolding with her. Connie’s father travels for his work and rarely around. When he is home, he rarely comments anything to Connie or her sister, June who is the opposite of Connie. Vain and naïve, Connie often escapes the negative relationship that she has with her parents by going out several nights a week to the local diner and the local shopping plaza. Connie soon realizes that this is only the beginning of her fate. In this essay, I will describe how Joyce Carol Oates used the literary elements to describe the plot of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been.” (1938). Oates’ begins the suspense of Connie’s fate by describing the emotional state of feelings towards her mother. With the constant nagging, Connie wished that it was just all over with. “She makes me want to throw up sometimes.” (Oates 126). Despite the animosity, there was …show more content…

Connie does not go and stays home alone. Mesmerized with the beaming warmth of the sun she reflects on the night before when she met the guys. Daydreaming of what love must feel like. Shortly after, she goes inside her house to relax and once again begins to listen to music.
The fifth of seven rising action brings Connie enjoying her time. Suddenly, Connie hears a car coming down her street. Of course, she checks her appearance before she opens the door to see who it was. It was Arnold Friend and Ellie. Flirting for a while Friend is trying to convince Connie to leave with them, but she refuses. “You wanta come for a ride? He said. / “Look I don’t even know who you are,’ Connie said in disgust.

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Journal #1 In the story “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been”, the main character Connie is a 15-year old teenage girl, who always daydreams and wants to escape from her family, or her life. The author Joyce Carol Oates use music as a key instrument for Connie to transfer between the reality to her fantasy world. When listening to music, she daydreams about boys and romance, trying to take herself into the world that she wants to be. This is what most of us, as teenagers, have been gone through. Growing up in the twentieth century, we either know or accept different kinds of mass media, such as music, television, as well as movies.

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Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is heavily laced with comments about American society. Through the eyes of fifteen year old Connie, readers discover the dark side of civilization. As the story progresses, the dangers of the world seem to grow. Oates touches on three major societal concepts: consumerism, the “typical American family”, and coming of age. Using Connie as a conduit, Oates artistically analyzes today’s society, as well as how it developed.

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She does not get affection from her family, and feels isolated from them. Connie first receives affection from Arnold when he asks her “You wanta come for a ride” (Oates 8). No one has ever offered Connie any affection. Her family looks down on her as the disappointing child and she is just a young girl trying to be loved. Arnold asking her to come for a ride and seeking to spend time with her is the attention she is missing in her daily life.

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Throughout Joyce Carol Oates’s short story, “Where are you going, Where have you been?” (1966), readers follow the story of a 15-year-old girl who is trying to rebel against the social and familial structures of 1960’s American society. Joyce Carol Oates was inspired by the events in Arizona when Charles Schmid, a serial killer, took three women’s lives. She was attempting to share with the American public what those girls might have been thinking when they left with Schmid. In the short story, Connie is described as a self-centered girl who is too preoccupied with her looks, which draws negative attention to herself from her mom and older men.

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Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been is a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates, centered on the protagonist 15 year old Connie. In this short story Oates sets the frame-work for religious allegory- the seduction of a young woman coming to terms with the hand she has been dealt as a result of her choices [you need to something here] similar to that of Eve (Urbanski, 1978). In the first paragraph, we are introduced to Connie who is an eccentric, and spoiled fifteen year old with middle class parents. We become aware of the fact that Connie has an unhappy home life, the story states that her father “was away at work most of the time," and he "didn't bother talking much to them,"(422); as a result, Connie never received any form of love

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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.

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In Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Connie is a fifteen-year-old girl, who does not necessarily get along with her family. During the week, she often times goes to a shopping plaza with some of her friends. However, they sneak across the highway to go to a popular diner where the older crowd hangs out at. At home, Connie is often times arguing with her family. One day her family is invited to her aunt's barbecue but Connie refuses to go.

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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

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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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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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The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates can be interpreted in a multitude of ways due to its ambiguity. A psychological lens, however, provides the most accurate viewpoint for analyzing the story as it clarifies certain obscure scenes and actions of Connie. One psychological issue of Connie that is easily inferred from the beginning of the story is her insecurity about her looks. Connie constantly worries about the way that she looks and takes any opportunity to do so, “craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right” (1).

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