Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Music Analysis

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One of the most important motifs used by Oates’ in her short fiction piece, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is MUSIC. Oates uses music as something omnipresent in the plot. Music defines the character of Connie that helps provide a greater understanding of her psyche and also in revealing the theme of the story. In the plot, Connie is constantly daydreaming and being conscious of her looks. She is repeatedly feeding into music that isolates her from family and real life. This leads to a big turning where Connie is finally forced to face with dangerous reality through the antagonist, Arnold Friend. In the beginning, Connie is always being compared to her sister as being the immature and useless child whose “mind was all filled with …show more content…

The reader is able to understand where her actions, her ideas of love and her attempts of looking pretty and mature to attract older boys, come from. Music connects her to the fantasized adult sexuality. It connects her to the unrealistic concepts of romance. When Arnold Friend arrives in the picture, the glass of fantasy in Connie’s head is shattered and she is forced to face reality. She realizes her oblivion to being stalked by Arnold for a long time and the reality of being killed or harm caused to her loved ones. Even though, she makes that connection to reality at some point, the music used by Arnold eases her down to finally give in. Her unstable character, which is due to her lost connection to the real world, makes her an easy victim for …show more content…

Music plays a major role in conveying this theme by Oates. Connie listens to music and is influenced by the images of romance, adulthood and sexuality that it portrays. She buys into that dreamy life. But then Arnold comes into the picture and challenges her comfortable life of daydreams. He seems to have experience in luring young teenage girls and proposes exactly what she wants. He uses her childlike dreams to manipulate her. However, it is still ambiguous as to whether Arnold Friend is actually real or just a nightmare of Connie. Connie is a typical teenager who focuses on her physical appearance. This is the result of the way she is influenced by music about women’s beauty