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Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been: Analysis

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Smooth Talk is slightly based on Joyce Carol Oates’ story titled “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” but isn’t as straightforward and frankly gruesome. The story focuses on the 1960’s suburbia from a teenagers perspective. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” focuses on topics relevant in the 1960’s including the Sexual Revolution. Oates’ focuses on major issues and topics such as feminism, sexual freedom, and adolescent sexuality.
In Oates’ story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, the story mainly focuses on the conflict and main plot of Smooth Talk. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” explains Connie’s relationship to her family members, basically describing that she’s a basic adolescent that desires to be treated like an adult but lacks the maturity and doesn’t want the responsibilities, still claiming her freedom (or at least attempting to). One Sunday her family leaves to a barbeque Connie refused to go to and a familiar stranger drives up to her house. A few nights before Connie and some friends had gone out to meet boys and Connie …show more content…

Teenage girl’s desires to be beautiful and desired, feminism, and adolescent sexuality are a few of the issues Connie, along with others, faced during this time period (and some can argue today). Connie was responsible for her actions (obviously) but it only partially to blame for what happened to her. If she had never left her friend to go sit in some random guy’s car, maybe Arnold Friend would’ve never seen her, or had taken a liking to her. I’m not stating that what happened with Arnold Friend was her fault, he’s the pedophile that should’ve known better and not threatened her, but it could have been prevented if she had never ditched her

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When Arnold Friend threatens to hurt her family if she does not come with him, it made Connie go with Friend (Oates 136). Lynn Z Bloom discusses how her and her own class were discussing “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” when she started to discuss her own horrific encounter with a person like Friend. Bloom said that although she started screaming she stopped because, “then I thought, still screaming, ‘I don’t want my children to hear this.’” (825).

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The story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, is a one where the idea of how girl who struggles with wanting to be a mature woman, faces her demon full form. The protagonist of the story is Connie, a 15-year-old rebel girl, obsessed with her look; and through fault of her own, meets the antithesis of herself, the antagonist of the story, Arnold Friend. Connie seeks to be a mature adult and desires an emancipation from her family. Seeing herself as mature woman through the desires of her attraction by other boys and men, as well as her mother. Its this same desire which acts as the main fault for her character.

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The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” was written by the author Joyce Carol Oates in 1966. Oates describes her idea for the story after briefly reading an article about the real-life murderer, Charles Schmid, who lured and murdered three teenage girls (Kirszner & Mandell 523). She uses this idea to create the character, Arnold Friend, and his victim, Connie. Connie is a typical teenage girl portrayed as naïve and self-centered. The short story appears realistic, given that the conflict in the story is based off of real events.

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Connie's choice of life style and attitude shows her lack of morals. Connie constantly has conflicts with her family. She is beginning to break away from them. Because the mother is jealous, she likes to put Connie's self esteem down: " Stop gawking at yourself. Who are you?

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One day while she was home alone, a man named Arnold Friend showed up at her door. He wanted to take her out for a ride and go on a date. Connie was cautious around him due to how old he looked and his sexual remarks towards her. Strange things began to happen and she eventually left with Arnold Friend. The story does not give a clear explanation as to what happened to Connie, but it was not a good thing.

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In the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oats the overall theme is maturing as a woman. With this theme comes different experiences that main character Connie has experienced. Connie is a fifteen year old girl who is maturing and trying to step into womanhood as a teenager. Connies confidence is always debunked by her mother, she always scorns Connie insisting that she stops always looking at herself and being overly confident in herself. While Connie sneaks a date an older guy hits on her, this older man named Arnold Friend comes to Connie's home and insists that Connie comes outside for a ride or her family will get hurt.

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Home is where the heart is, but what if home is no longer safe? Joyce Carol Oates explores this concept in her 1966 short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”. On surface level, this story appears to discuss a rebellious young girl named Connie and her confrontation with Arnold Friend, a stalker. The ending leaves the reader to assume that Arnold Friend plans to sexually assault the young girl.

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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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In her short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", Joyce Carol Oates utilizes a variety of literary devices to strengthen the story in its entirety. This short story is essentially about a 16-year-old girl named Connie and the conflict between her desire to be mature and her desire to remain an adolescent. Throughout the story, the audience sees this conflict through her words in addition to through her behavior. The audience is also introduced to Arnold Friend, a rather peculiar man, who essentially kidnaps her. This short story by Joyce Carol Oates functions and is additionally meaningful because of her usage of literary devices.

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In the coming of age story “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates uses symbolism, conflict, and the third person to foreshadow fifteen-year-old Connie’s unfortunate, yet untimely fate. While one may think that the conflict stems from Connie’s promiscuity, it is clear to see her promiscuity is only a result to a much bigger conflict, her mother’s constant nagging and disapproval, alongside the lack of attention from her father. the author paints a vivid picture of what happens when a fifteen-year-old girl such as Connie goes elsewhere to find to find the love, attention, and approval that she lacks at home. All which is vital for her growth and wellbeing as a person.

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This interpretation of the story explains how Connie simply fell prey to the common theme of men acting as predators in society. Therefore, Connie had no say in her fate, so she just decided to go quietly with him. However, this theory completely disregards the psychological disorders that Connie has. Connie did not go quietly with Arnold because he was a dominating male. Instead, Connie left due to her numerous unconscious mental problems.

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