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Summary Of The Story 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'

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“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” written by Joyce Carol Oates is a story about fifteen year old Connie who’s world is changed after an encounter with a stranger. Connie’s paradigm is transformed during and after this event.
At the beginning of the story, Connie’s worldview is one of vanity, which in turn leads to control. She is only focused on how she looks and how those around her appear as well. Oates writes that Connie “...knew she was pretty and that was everything.” The author describes Connie’s sister through her eyes as “...so plain and chunky and steady…” and also her mother as “...had been pretty once…” Connie will only see the people around her by their appearances and judges them solely on her opinions of their looks. She also holds herself to the highest esteem because of her confidence in her own appearance. …show more content…

When Arnold begins her abduction, Connie is unaware of what is happening and still believes that she has power over Arnold. At the beginning of their interaction, Oates writes that Connie is still concerned over her appearance as she is “...wondering how bad she looked,” “...careful to show no interest or pleasure…,” and “She pretended to fidget.” These quotes all show her preoccupation with how she looks to Arnold and that she is flirting with him, her typical response when speaking to a male. Their interaction continues with Connie realizing more and more that she is not in control as much as she believes herself to be. “What? You’re crazy-” and “What do you want?” show that Connie is not the one holding the power any longer/ Arnold plays to her vanity to manipulate her. He tells her that she is “such a pretty girl.” which only reinforces how Connie sees herself. As their interaction goes on, she becomes more and more scared and realizes how truly dire her situation is, and how badly her future is going to play

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Arnold Friend Character Analysis

1137 Words | 5 Pages

However, this is countered when Connie notes that “he was much older—thirty, maybe more” (315), a fact that frightens her. What Arnold is to Connie is a challenge of her want to be an adult, and a trail of her ability to deal with adult issue. Such as a man who singles her out sexual reason. Her wish to be an adult is something she seeks while passively avoiding it. Her avoidance is marked by day dreams of puppy love romance, like a typical teenager; yet, her attractive flaunt to be mature is presented as if she seeks to be an

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Two Masks In Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

731 Words | 3 Pages

The beginning of the story, as indicated by Oates, the reader is not only introduced to Connie, but her disingenuous ways as well. Connie, like many typical teenage girls works hard to portray herself as an experienced knowledgeable woman. Consequently, she takes pride in her looks in which she had a, “…habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors, or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right.” (p. 452)

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Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Character Analysis Essay

792 Words | 4 Pages

Once his true identity became apparent, his tactics were already working against her. In the beginning Connie was a self-absorbed and conceited person. She states, “Connie knew she was pretty and that was everything.” Here, Connie is showing us that her looks are all that matter to her.

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Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Literary Analysis

1630 Words | 7 Pages

Throughout Joyce Carol Oates’s short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” , it is evident that the main character, Connie, a teenage girl who equates her beauty to self-worth and love to the attention she receives from strangers at a local restaurant, has some issues with herself. Constantly being torn between two different locations, her home, a place where she feels trapped, worthless, and unloved by her family, and a local town, where she feels calm and secure spending time with boys and listening to music, Connie is led to confusion over who she really is and this leads to an unstable identity. In the story, Oates’s uses the literary element of setting, including both Connie’s actions and feelings and the physical descriptions of both Connie’s house and the local town, to develop both Connie’s character and the theme of self-identity,

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Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Arnold Friend Character

890 Words | 4 Pages

She sees the boys who give her attention as subjugations who “dissolve into a single face that was not even a face but an idea” (Oates 675). But soon enough her dreams and music materialize into the shape of Arnold Friend. Arnold Friend is described as a muscular, older, and mysterious character. He seems to be a work of her imagination as he is ultimately an idea she created that would fit into her perfect fantasy world. Connie is defenseless to Arnold Friend’s manipulations mainly because she has no visible identity of her own.

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Summary Of Short Story 'Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?'

224 Words | 1 Pages

If you are old enough to remember, you can think back to the memories of when you are a kid and understand the memories as a child are the best memories that you have in your life; yet eventually you mature into ann adult. Like the book, Catcher in the Rye, the short story Where Are You Going Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oats is about Connie, an adolescent girl, wanting to stay in her child-like life and not mature into a adult. Fortunately, Connie has some help coming into the adult world with the manifestation of a person named Arnold Friend and Ellie.

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Thematic Analysis Of 'Where Are You?' By Joyce Carol Oates

670 Words | 3 Pages

Connie played with that spirit to such an extreme level. Connie wanted to be that girl that could do what she want and want to be free. Now her friends were no saint either they played with the same spirit, but I personally think that Connie went entirely too far with playing with it. Now growing up I always heard if you allow the devil to ride he will take over the wheel well that’s exactly what he did to Connie. Now don’t get me wrong part of it was on her parents, because her mother never stood her ground as a mother would and her father just simply went to work and did what he wanted.

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Analysis Of 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'

599 Words | 3 Pages

It begins with tension between Connie and her mother over her being too pretty and her rebellious teen nature. To relieve herself from her family feud, she went to shopping malls, restaurants, and met with boys with her ‘girl friends’. At the shopping mall, Connie is spied on by Arnold Friend, an odd man showing an unclear interest in her. The following day, Connie's lack of interest in a family barbeque at her aunt's house leads to isolation in her home until Arnold Friend pulls into her driveway. He manipulates Connie into leaving her house and into his arms after threatening to hurt her

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Analysis Of Connie In Joyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

1415 Words | 6 Pages

“But now her looks were gone and that was why she was always after Connie.” (Oates ). Also, there is another opportunity for friendship within the family, between Connie and her sister, however, that is lost in their rivalry and hostility. “Her sister was so plain and chunky and steady that Connie had to hear her praised all the time – by her mother and her mother's sisters.” ( ).

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Joyce Carol Oates's Short Story Where Are You Going Where Have You. Been

618 Words | 3 Pages

In the short story, Where are you going where have you been the author, joyce carol oates is thinking how the reader will interpret her short story. She has several moments in her short story that the reader has to make an inference about what

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Character Analysis Of Connie In 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been'

984 Words | 4 Pages

Connie’s first encounter with Friend was at a diner when he stated to Connie, “Gonna get you, baby”(pg.1142). Because Connie was use to this type of attention, she did not view it as strange that an older man was calling her in such away. However, if Connie had seen Friend as dangerous instead of just another man, her kidnapping might have been prevented. Later in the story when Friend showed up as Connie’s house, she walked outside and talked to him instead of questioning how he knew where she lived or calling the police. Oates described Connie's interaction with Friend by stating,“Connie liked the way he was dressed, which was the way all of them dressed: tight faded jeans stuffed into black, scuffed boots, a belt that pulled his waist in and showed how lean he was, and a white pullover shirt that was a little soiled and showed the hard muscles of his arms and shoulders”(pg.1145).

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Analysis Of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? By Joyce Carol Oates

1034 Words | 5 Pages

Later on the antagonist reveals himself to be Arnold Friend to Connie and is trying to get Connie to go with him for a ride. She later realizes after talking

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Examples Of Allusions In Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

854 Words | 4 Pages

He mysteriously knows where Connie lives and invites himself to drive over to her house. Arnold assumes Connie’s friendship by convincing her that he knows everything and everybody, “I know your name and all about you” (Oates 201) when she never told him her name in the first place. He knew her friends, their names as well as what she did the night before. He also knew exactly where Connie’s family was, at a BBQ at Connie’s aunt Tille’s.

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Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Theme Analysis

1255 Words | 6 Pages

I believe that in the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” false perception V.S. reality is seen. The main theme in this short story is the conflict between fantasy and reality. One of the main characters in this short story is Connie. She tries very hard to create an adult persona.

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Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Psychological Analysis

657 Words | 3 Pages

Connie does this because she needs to be reassured that she is in fact pretty. On top of this, Connie acknowledges that her beauty is “everything”(1). This statement implies that if perhaps Connie was not beautiful, she would have nothing. Furthermore, when Arnold Friend pulls up at Connie’s house, her heart begins to pound not because there is a stranger at her door, but because she is “wondering how bad she looked”(2). Even when faced with possible danger,

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