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

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Joyce Oates’s short story “Where Are you Going, Where Have You Been” is an extremely intense story that makes you wonder what will happen next. One particle thought I had when reading is how the personality of the main character, Connie, seemed to change. By that I mean, at the beginning of the story we see Connie as self-centered and conceded. We see this when she consistently ignores her mother’s comments, and only cares if she can go out with her friends. We see this personality all the way up to when Connie’s family goes to the aunt’s house for a barbeque, and Connie rolls her eyes too show she doesn’t want to go.
But, I feel that we see a change in this personality as the story goes on. First, we see Connie as wise and cunning. When Arnold

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

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…

Words 2013 - Pages 9

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…

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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…

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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…

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Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

communication 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…

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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…

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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…

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Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Analysis

Short Story: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? The short story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? was published in 1966 by Joyce Carol Oates. It tells a story of a 15-year-old girl named Connie who leaves for a car ride with an older man named Arnold. Although Oates short story can be understood as a crime drama based on the criminal activities of Charles Schmid or a cautionary tale against the permissive “sex, drugs, and rock n roll” culture, in this essay I will argue that this short…

Words 1648 - Pages 7