Joyce Carol Oates 'The Man Who Was Almost A Man'

Be Careful What You Wish For For Connie and Dave to desire to be mature and free is one thing, for them to get it and end up not wanting what they wished for is another and not knowing what to do with it is also another thing as well. Connie the main character in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, and Dave the main character in “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” by Richard Wright have similar hungers but have been put in different circumstances to want such liberation. Connie, age fifteen craves to be mature though at home she acts pure, “she wore a pullover jersey blouse that looked one way when she was at home and another way when she was away from home” (Oates page 5). Connie has a two-sided personality a brat at home and a loose goose at night. Not very close to her family members, she sort of ignores them and does her own thing and she also has very little conversation. Her mother and she have tension and her father rarely sees her, he works and sleeps “Stop gawking at yourself, who are you? You think you’re so pretty” (Oates page 4). Connie mostly keeps up with her own personal life more than

Whut’s the use talkin wide m niggers in the field” (Wright page 25). The other field hands obviously do not treat him with respect due to his age as he thinks, so he then decides he wants to be a man to receive respect he believes he deserves. Dave who has a similar background as Connie such as having little conversation with family members; his mom sees him when he is done working the field and while eating supper and his dad only cares about what Dave’s boss thinks of him and if he the boss is not pleased with Dave, then that is when the father steps in, so the closeness in family from both characters are not presented