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

Words: 2013
Pages: 9
Open Document
When we are kids, we are all being told never to walk with a stranger to an unknown place, never to climb over a special fence or never to hit someone or anything. But especially when we are at a young age, we tend to do the things we are told not to do. The feeling to break a ‘rule’ let our hearts beat faster for a moment, it gives us a ‘kick’. We all have at least one time experienced that there are some entities in life that we have to figure out on our own. If it is just to put our finger into hot water to see if it is hot, although our parents told us not to do that, because it will burn our finger and hurt. But we will remember that lesson easier when we experience it on our own, than somebody telling us that the water is hot, the experience …show more content…
Joyce Carol Oates explores in her short story “Where are you going, where have you been” how an innocent teenager gets ‘caught’ by the persuasive words of a stranger until she gets to the point where she ‘breaks down’ and gets in the car with him voluntarily. Words and expressions can be very persuasive and surprisingly mind-changing. How often have we been talked into something we actually didn’t want to do? When we read Oates story about the teenage girl Connie, we say ‘don’t do it girl’ and ‘don’t listen to him [the stranger]’. But it is easy to say what we would do in an extreme alluringly situation when we haven’t been in it, it is easy to judge from a place in the audience. When we are in an exhausting and stressful point in our life, it doesn’t matter which age we are, it often doesn’t take much to persuade us and ‘pull’ us on a way that can change our …show more content…
Arnold tells Connie that he is a real man, he doesn’t break promises and that he wants her. He comforts her by saying she is pretty, not like her mother who is blaming her because Connie is pretty. “She [Connie] knew she [Connie] was pretty...” (Oates 899), but it is nice that somebody sees that too. For Connie nothing else matters, being pretty is the only thing she cares about, like for many other girls. In movies the most beautiful girl always gets the man of her dreams and has a happy ending. Most of the girls want to live their life like in a movie, they want to make good impressions and get a handsome guy. Connie is one of those girls and that makes her vulnerable for bad guys. At the end, Connie gets to have a movie like life; first she is a normal beautiful girl with the anxiety to escape her life and she ends up going into a scary stranger’s car. It is just not a good movie; it is a Thriller with an open ending. We don’t know what will happen to Connie after she gets it that car. Oates encourages our fantasy with the ending and wants us to think about the possible
Show More

Related Documents: Joyce Carol Oates's Short Story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Summary

Co., D. F. “Impure Realism: Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Studies in Short Fiction; Newberry, S.C. Vol. 28. Iss. -. 3, (Summer 1991): 371. https://wnc.instructure.com/courses/3464751/pages/where-are-you-going-where-have-you-been. Accessed on 4 Apr. 2024. The. This is considered a scholarly article. The comparison between the serial killer, Charles Howard Schmid, and the character in the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Arnold Friend can be vague…

Words 712 - Pages 3

Final Essay

Since the publication of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” many critics have attempted to analyze Joyce Carol Oates’ story. One of the most debatable things about the story is whether it is a work of realism or surrealism. Some critics agree that the story is an actual event while others argue that it is a dream. I think the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a work of realism. The “consistent naturalism” throughout the story proves it. Coulthard expresses, “[a]bsolutely…

Words 755 - Pages 4

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

It is a reality. Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” has been interpreted in abstract ideas. However, all these abstract ideas take away from the plain realism Oates bases her short story on to draw attention to the public awareness of teen predators. To interpret Oates story in realism contributes…

Words 1330 - Pages 6

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

crucial. Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is a compelling narrative that merits its place in the American English Literature 2360 syllabus for several reasons. Its exploration of themes such as teenage rebellion, the loss of innocence, and the dangers of naivety and manipulation; its profound use of literary techniques like symbolism; its rich realism and educational value; and lastly, its flexibility of interpretations that spark deep and meaningful discussions. Joyce Carol…

Words 2257 - Pages 10

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

by James Joyce, "Paul's Case" by Willa Cather, and "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates, we can see how they align with or challenge R.S. Gwynn's reasons for studying literature: experience, experiment, and expand. Each story is unique. They dive into human life and play with literary methods, which deepen our insights into complex themes and characters. In "Araby," James Joyce shows disillusionment and loss of innocence through a young boy's eyes. The story follows an…

Words 944 - Pages 4

Joyce Carol Oates and Arnold Fiend Essay

Literary Studies I 15 February 2015 What is the Truth in Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Arnold Fiend is the biggest dilemma that this story has and who he actually is. Is he The Pied Piper of Tuscan? Comparing the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, to the background information of “The Pied Piper of Tuscan” I could not have seen a more clear resemblance of the two. Don Moser tells the story about a 23-year-old murderer, Charles Schmid and how he…

Words 470 - Pages 2

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

Hurley, D. F. & Co., D. F. “Impure Realism: Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Studies in Short Fiction; Newberry, S.C., vol. 93. 28. The syllable, iss. 3, Summer 1991: 371. Accessed 11 Apr. 2024. The. This source is a scholarly journal. The journal talks about how in 1989 A. R. Coulthard made the conclusion that the characters in Oates's story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” are real-life people. He says that Arnold Friend is compared to Charles Schmid and…

Words 763 - Pages 4

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

gap between parents and child. Readers see the same communication gap between Connie and her parents in Joyce Carol Oates short story “Where are you going, Where have you been?” Oates, in her story, gave the ultimate valuation of such a gap through Connie’s surrender to the devil Arnold Friend (Oates). Oates left readers to guess Connie’s fate in the hand of devil Arnold Friend. Joyce Carol Oates in a high and loud voice urged the community that the society cannot afford another child to repeat…

Words 803 - Pages 4

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

In the story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, we read about two characters, a girl and an American man. The two have short conversations between them, and these conversations can hint of many clues about them and their relationship. In the story, we discover what the characters are like, through what they say, and also through the things they don’t say. The short story “Where are you going, Where have you been” by Joyce Carol Oates is about a teenage girl who is, vain, self-doubting…

Words 1488 - Pages 6

Arnold Friend Essay

(Probably) the Devil Fantasy versus reality, and how the line between the two can be so easily blurred, is a common theme amongst fictional pieces of literature. In Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” the line between the two becomes decidedly blurred somewhere around the beginning of the second half of the story, which takes on an almost dreamlike quality. The arrival of the bizarre Arnold Friend signifies the shift from reality to fantasy. Many of Arnold’s characteristics…

Words 1123 - Pages 5