Friend. In the short story “Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?‚” Joyce Carol Oates used the interaction between her two main character‚ to reveal the internal fear and conflict of a fifteen year old girl maturing into a young woman. Oates chooses narrate her story in the third person giving us a glimpse in to Connie’s thoughts‚ her lonely isolation form her family‚ and her daydreams of boys and love songs. Connie’s negative‚ always nagging mother makes her fear growing up and being
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"Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?" Music is one of the symbols mentioned in this story. The author mentions the music played in everywhere in the story. The author says that "The Music was always in the background". The music comes from restaurants‚ homes and cars. Music symbolizes the feeling and the emotions of the characters. For example‚ music for Connie is a pattern for romantic relationship. When she is happy‚ she hears music in everywhere. On the other hand‚ when she is sad‚ she
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In the 1960s‚ when Oates wrote “Where Are You Going . . . ‚” a social revolution was happening. American women were asserting their rights and independence from men‚ and they were claiming their sexuality in a way they had never done before. One frequently discussed topic was adolescence and the struggles and anxieties that many young girls endured as they lost their sexual innocence and became adult women. Feeling undervalued in their homes and relationships with men‚ women questioned their role
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The character in “where are you going‚ where have you been?” Connie is affected by the role she plays in modern society. Fifteen year old Connie has the confusing‚ often exterior behavior typical of those girls who are facing the difficult transition from girlhood to womanhood in the 1960s. She is caught between her roles as daughter‚ friend‚ sister‚ and object of sexual desire‚ uncertain of which represents her real self. The sixties were the age of youth‚ young people wanted change. The changes
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passing from one grade to another in school. Other changes are more intense‚ such as the transition from childhood to adulthood. In Joyce Carol Oates’ "Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?" Oates goes into depth regarding the transition from being a carefree‚ innocent child to adulthood. In the short story "Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?" two separate worlds are drawn to the reader’s attention. The first is the normal daily life of Connie‚ a fifteen year old girl living in a home with
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INTRODUCTION: “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol‚ showcases the inevitable effects of youthful exuberance in a teenage girl. The story is a compelling tale which unveils the vulnerability of Connie‚ a young teenage girl who could barely substantiate fantasy from reality. She prides herself as a pretty girl who understands the basic principles of life. Her encounter with Arnold Friend reveals her as someone who lacks the mental ability to make meaningful decisions and accurate
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“Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?” Paper “Where Are You Going‚ Where Have You Been?” is a short story that poses many questions centered around the protagonist‚ Connie and the antagonist Arnold Friend and his “comrade” Ellie. The fate of Connie at the end of the story is still up for debate after all these years after the story was published in 1966. The main question posed is who actually is Arnold Friend? Is he the devil or something else? The answer may never be fully known but in
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Innocence “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” presents many themes and symbols to the reader. One that jumped out at me while reading the story was the overall feeling of innocence. Joyce Carol Oates shows us innocence from the very beginning of the story to the end where Connie loses self-control and power. From the first paragraph of the story we learn that Connie is a young fifteen year old who longs for attention and acceptance. I was able to relate to the story better when I paused
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What do you want to be when you grow up? What are your plans for your future? Have you thought about college? Have you thought about a career choice? These are questions we are bombarded with on a daily basis by our parents. We shrug them off‚ telling them that we have another three years to think about college‚ careers‚ or our future. We don’t know what we want to be when we grow up‚ because we don’t even know who we are yet. Yet in a blink of an eye‚ we’re seniors and now the decisions we tried
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revolution consisted of women demanding their own rights so they could become more and more independent. There were significant shifts in social attitudes‚ behaviors‚ and institutional regulations at the beginning of the 60’s and also lasted through the 70’s. The sexual drive increased majorly and the amount of women that had sex before marriage also sky rocketed. In Where Are you Going‚ Where Have You Been‚ Connie wants sexual attention from men‚ and that hurts her self-confidence and puts a real strain
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