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Victimization In Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

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A novel by Joyce Carol Oates, "Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?" explores the concept of victimhood and victimization towards an adolescent named Connie. In the course of the novel, Joyce Carol Oates describes Connie's reactions to various situations and conflicts in her life, such as the situation with Arnold and his friend. Because of her mother's unfairness, Connie is in the position she is in today. Thus, we should never blame the victims.
To start, they refer to Connie as the family's white swan in this section of the passage. However, she is the black swan. The author discusses how these thoughts Connie has been normalized in her household on account of being abused by her mother, exploring the physical and emotional abuse from …show more content…

Connie’s mother would frequently pick on her. She never expresses kind gestures to Connie, and in return, Connie does not see her mother as an affectionate parent. Oates defines the relationship between Connie’s mother as a love-hate relationship. It is stated in the story, “Connie wished her mother was dead, and it was all over” (Oates p. 492). As formerly mentioned, Connie is a victim of her mother’s mistreatment. To wish death upon her mother is normal for a teenage girl. By the statement, “it was all over”, she wished the constant abuse would end. Connie is filled with distressing emotions towards her mother many times. Yet, many readers held Connie accountable for what had happened to …show more content…

Earlier in the story, it is noted the guy has been seen glancing peeks and attempting to strike up a conversation with Connie. In this section, Oates is showing the outcome of an intentional action planned by predators altering their appearance to capture their prey. It analyzes masculinity and hostility. At first, Connie is enticed by the mysterious men who appear at her doorstep. Arnold, being older, captivates Connie’s teenage heart so that he will sweep her off the ground away from her sickening family. Things escalate when Arnold is revealed to be older than Connie had suspected. “At this knowledge, her heart pounded faster” (Oates p. 500). According to the quote, for the first time, Connie is terrified. She had never experienced this route in her entire life, amidst being mentally abused by her

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Connie was enjoying her summer vacation going out with her friends, hanging around her house listening to music, and dreaming about the boys she met. She never suspected that she was being stalked until it was too late. In Joyce Oates story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Connie unknowingly meets the man who had been stalking her, Arnold Friend, and her carefree summer comes to an end.(or is taken away by the devil himself.) One beautiful warm Sunday afternoon,

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In Joyce Carol Oates’ highly acclaimed short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Oates tells the story of a fictional adolescent girl named Connie that has a run in with pure evil itself in the shape of a man named Arnold Friend. Arnold Friend, a man dressed as a boy that she once saw at a drive-in, shows up at Connie’s house one afternoon when her family is away and tells her that if she does not come out of her house and go away and have sex with him then he will kill her whole family. Throughout the story Connie is shown to be an extreme narcissist, constantly staring at herself and basking in her profound beauty. Connie is a typical teenage girl that only seems to care about boys what others think of her

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Dean Plude Instructor: Mr. Nelson Sims EH 102 — Written English II April 12, 2023 The Dual Nature of Connie in Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" In Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", Connie represents the duality of adolescence, grappling with her desire for independence and the consequences of her vulnerability, which ultimately leads to her uncertain fate.

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Now she cannot even retreat back into her home that she no longer knows is safe and Arnold has all the control. Connie’s Freedom ceases to exist when Arnold intrudes upon her home and makes her come with

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Connie: The Victim To A Demon The “heroine” of the short story Where Are You Going Where Have You Been written by Joyce Carol Oates has been interpreted in many different ways by many different authors across the globe. They all have their own opinions on why Connie had left her home and walked into the arms of Arnold Friend. Larry Rain makes the argument that Connie was a noble heroine that “chooses the side with the devil [to save her family]” (Rain Gale).

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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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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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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

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Connie, a teenage girl, who thinks more of herself than the boy she went out with the evening before, and would rather be deceptive than live in reality. The illusive life Connie plays is made clear between her relationship with her mother, and the life she lives at home and away from home. “Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home:” (Oates 507). This dishonesty Connie plays with is a reflected back later in the story by the second main character of this story. Arnold FRIEND is introduced as a smooth very arrogant guy, yet the same illusory is illustrated between him and Connie once Arnold arrives at Connie’s house.

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“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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In Joyce Carol Oates’s story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (1974), the main character, Connie, experiences a number of external and internal conflicts that lead to the conflict in the story, her interaction with the antagonist, Arnold Friend. In the beginning of this short story, Oates details on Connie’s materialistic tendencies and emphasis on her own physical appearance, much to her mother’s dismay. In order to get the attention she deserves, she seeks it from the opposite gender.

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That also made her become more vulnerable to the real dangers and the evilness that exists in the world. That danger was represented by an old man who pretends to be an eighteen year old boy that seduced and kidnaped Connie. The end of the story Joyce Carol Oates leaves it open to the readers, because that way it makes the reader think of what might have happened, whether she got raped or whether she is killed, after the main character leaves with the antagonist of the story. Oates shows that ignorance, narcissism and the lack of

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The Stranger In the beginning of “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been” Joyce Carol Oates reminds the reader of how carefree it is to be a teenager without any responsibility. One can quickly see that Connie is like many teenagers of today behaving to much like a grown woman. Connie appears to be growing up to fast before our eyes. She is in a stage of teenage rebellion, acting on things too fast.

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Connie’s mother keeps picking at her for everything. The mother clearly shows that the older sister June is her favorite. June does everything right and gets praised by her mother all the time. Connie hears almost every day that June saved money, helped clean the house, cooked for the family. When the mother speaks on the phone with her friends, she favors everything that June does, and criticizes Connie.

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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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