Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Literary Analysis Essay

In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Carol Oats uses characterization including methods such as symbolism and allusions to develop her characters, and thus establish her theme of the cross roads Connie faces in her transition from the innocence of her adolescence to the impurity of adulthood facilitated by the antagonist, Arnold Friend. From the beginning of the story, the reader sees Connie has a strong desire to make her early transition into adulthood. Although she in only 15, she acts like an adult as “everything about her had two sides to it, one for home, and one for anywhere that was not home” (Oats, pg 510). She frequently tests her limits by making her parents believe she was with her friend shopping or seeing a movie, however “sometimes they went across the highway, ducking fast across the busy road, to a drive-in restaurant where older kids hung out” (Oats, pg 510). There she met boys and eventually went out to their cars with them to engage in sexual activities. This shows
Since she has two sides to her, “one for home” and “one for anywhere that was not home,” Connie clearly lacked a true identity and sense of self worth. Thus, she is easily manipulated by Arnold Friend’s patronizing talk. Finally when Arnold says “That feels solid but we know better, be nice to me, be sweet like you can because what else is there for a girl like you but to be sweet and pretty and give in,” Connie feels lifeless and empty and “she thought for the first time in her life that it was nothing that was hers, that belonged to her, but just a pounding, living thing inside this body that wasn’t really hers either,” but rather, Arnold Friend’s. At this point, Arnold had finally lured Connie to maturation into the impurity adulthood, exemplifying his devil like character (Oates, pg