Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Analysis Essay

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates is a Professor and American writer. She has published a number of novels, short stories and she is also a poet. Most of her writings are based around true events and people. She won many awards, including the National Humanities Medal.

In one of Oates short fiction stories, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? she uses many building blocks of fiction. In the journal entry, I will talk about two building blocks: theme and symbol. I will use these building blocks to show how Oates created one of her well known short stories.

First, Oates uses symbols. One symbol is jealousy. Connie’s mom seems to be a little jealous of how pretty Connie is. She is always trying to compare Connie to her not so pretty sister. She says things like, why Connie don’t clean her room like June and other things to try and make Connie feel bad about herself. The story says that Connie’s mom was pretty once but not anymore. Connie’s mom didn’t feel

Connie likes to look in mirrors and look to see how other people look. She tries to make herself look older than fifteen, which draws attention from older guys. She knows she is pretty and wants to appear as a mature and somewhat independent woman. Connie thinks wearing makeup and flirting with older guys is cute and In actuality, when young girls dress older, some guys could take it the wrong way. It’s very common in today’s society for guys to take the way a girl dress, as a sexual symbol. The way Connie dressed attracted Arnold Friend, a much older guy that is bad news. He also said to Connie that he was her lover, in which the way she presented herself as a mature woman, could have made Arnold Friend think that Connie already knew what comes with being an adult. Connie’s appearance of trying to look older shows her immaturity of what being a mature adult really consist