JOYCE CAROL OATES, “WHERE ARE YOU GOING, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?”: AN ANALYSIS
The “where are you going, where have you been” is a short story narrative which is a work of fiction. It caters in detailing and attempting to explain the struggles experienced by the adolescents as they try to make their cut in the family and the world which surrounds them. It is also a depiction of the reality of adulthood which is usually a fantasy for adolescents especially when viewed from the perceptive of sexuality. The leading character is a female protagonist who is pitted as at the crossroad in determining her place in the family while struggling with issues which come with adolescence. Her situation finds her in a dangerous situation where she has no choice but to get into the flow of the family and the society. The author draws attention away from the would be a killer and deflects it to the actions of Connie and her social circle.
At the end of the story, despite some of the misgivings of the lead character, the author gives her a heroic attitude after doing the necessary to avoid causing harm to the family, a family she has little attachment to. The setting of the story is in the American 1960s where women empowerment was a hot issue in the public domain. The tone of the poem is in such manner that it is serious and sympathetic. Since the story is told from Connie’s point of view, it is, therefore, engaging the reader to sympathize with her thoughts and feelings. The tone gets more serious when Connie engages in a confrontation with Arnold at her home.
The short story can be placed at multiple genres where it can be placed under parables, realism, coming of age, and psychological thriller. It is in coming off as it is a story where the lead character comes to the point where she must face the harsh reality of adulthood. It is both moral and sexual transformation from her childhood to adulthood in a kind of baptism by fire. All the story is about the feelings and thoughts of Connie in that it can fit into the category of a psychological thriller. The people in the story be archetypes for something else, for example, Arnold can be interpreted to be the evils of adulthood and the actions of Connie to be the innocence and ignorance of adolescence, making it be categorized as allegorical.
The short story has a slew of literary structures and devices which are employs by the author to bring out a complex but a freaky story which has multiple interpretations. There are several prominent themes in the short story, and one of them is sexuality. It features as the most prominent theme in the short story where it is a case of the struggle of matters of sexuality. In the setting of a situation of a female protagonist by the name of Connie and a male predator, Arnold Friend, with his companion Eddie. The story tries to expose the oppressive attitudes toward female sexuality by the society and the struggle to ward of the jeopardy of a woman’s sense of self and the sexual violence directed towards women. Being set in the American 1960s, it is easy to deduce that it was highly inspired by the hotly debated issues of sexual mores and the conventional place of women in the society.
It is therefore of importance to note that the character of Connie in the play brings about the theme of reality versus fantasy. The beginning of the story explores how Connie struggles to depict an aura of a mature and an independent woman towards her mother and sister. She also exudes the idea that she is experienced with men and can handle herself, but when she meets Arnold, it is revealed that it was all a farce. She had simply created the image of adult women to get attention from boys. However, she is reluctant to command the attention she draws from the boys and seems to like it when the boys pursue her with sexual innuendos. Going into the alley with Eddie is a show that Connie is trying to experiment with sexuality in an adult way, but she is fearful of finally getting into adulthood.
There is also the emphasis on the theme of the search for independence. Connie creates a self-absolved image which puts her into conflict with her family members. In this regard, it can be deduced that she is on the path of the quest of gaining personal independence from the watchful and scornful attitude of her mother. However, the family is only the familiar territory she knows, and her being driven into the alleys by her friends is a show that she is trying to explore the world beyond the familiar one. It until the advent of Arnold that she realizes which brings the contrast of the life she had with other boys and the one she will have with him. Arnold arrives and engages Connie as the mature woman she presents herself, he then whisks her from her suppressed childhood into the adult world she claimed to be into. The things which Arnold tell her is an implication of her long-searched independence, for example, “You're my date. I'm your lover, honey," and “The place where you came from ain’t there anymore, and where you had in mind to go is canceled out.” The character of Arnold is presented in such a manner that it is an embodiment of the fears and doubts which engulf the adolescents in their quest for personal independence. The end of Connie is swayed into a dark tone; a more permanent feature will mark her initiation to adulthood and independence.
There are several motives which are exhibited in the story, and one of them is music. In this case, it is a way in which Connie uses to cross over from the reality to the fantasy world. According to (Chatterjee, Srirupa and G. Neelakantan 225), She fancies listening to music which helps her escape from the real world to fantasize about boys, where she gets ideas about romance and how to handle boys from the songs. She finds happiness from living in her fantasy world with the boys rather than with the boys themselves. She finds herself charmed by Arnold when she realizes that the music she is listening to is the same as the one in which Arnold is playing in his car. Eventually, her encounter with Arnold is a sure way to note that romance exuded by music is more appealing than seduction and adult sexuality.
The other motive is dizziness. Connie is engulfed by dizziness when she realizes that Arnold will eventually overpower her. She is torn between fear and desire when Arnold first proposes his intention to her, but after a persistent Arnold, she is overtaken by fear. When she comes to terms that both men are lying about their age, “a wave of dizziness arises,” which recurs when she resists Arnold, and he becomes brutal and persistent. She feels that her actions have gone overboard and that realization makes her feel vulnerable and that she can do nothing about what is about to come. The fallback reaction she feels is the one which lets Arnold takes a huge grip on her, and manage to unwillingly convince her to ride with them.
The story has literary devices such as symbolism, allegory, and imagery. One of them is the car which Arnold drives, it is golden in color and exudes a youthful and spirited life. However, it can be noted that all over the story, there is immense mentioning of women drivers but never a situation where a woman is depicted as driving a car. This is despite the mention of the crazy women driver who is derogatorily described after leaving a dent on the car of Arnold’s car (Little 123-125). In this case, cars are being used as a form of empowerment, mobility, and freedom which is not enjoyed by women.
Imagery is employed immensely in the story. Our first introduction to Connie is in the description of “habit of craning her neck to consider mirrors or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right" it is also allegorical in that manner that when one looks at someone, straight to feel him or herself from the other person, it is a form of control over the one who is being looked at (Coulthard 505). Connie is used in a symbolical manner in that when she meets Arnold at the parking lot at the restaurant; she is the one who gazes at him most of the time. This is in contrast when Arnold shows up at her door wearing sunglasses, hiding Connie from his view but Arnold can ogle at her the way he wants. This is an implication that women are objects for men to ogle and envied by other women (Chatterjee, Srirupa & Neelakantan 225).
In conclusion, the short story is a clear message and a detailed version of what adolescents go through in their lives. It is an indication of how society views the matter of sexuality especially from a woman’s point of view. Of core function is its message to the adolescents, who yearn for freedom and mobility. It gives the lessons of the importance of the family and what they should do when given the options of between matters of family and themselves. It is also a story which shows the ills which an in adulthood and makes an appeal to the adolescents to savor their times before the crossover. Adulthood is far different that the fantasies depicted in the media and other modes of communication.
Annotated Bibliography.
Chatterjee, Srirupa and G. Neelakantan. "Oates's Beasts." Explicator, vol. 67, no. 3, Spring2009, p. 224. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.
This is a book of literary criticism which highlights the depiction of sexuality and attitudes and the united states popular culture. It is a depiction of the sexual intensity of characters as depicted by the author in the story.
Coulthard, A.R. "Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" as Pure Realism." Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 26, no. 4, Fall89, p. 505. EBSCOhost.
The book discusses the employment of realism in the short story where there is there is the characterization of Arnold Friend as the devil or a supernatural demon. The author explores how the characters of Arnold is exhibited from the perceptive of the turn of events of Connie, in the naturalistic realism of the innocent and the devil.
Hurley, D.F. "Impure Realism: Joyce Carol Oates's `Where Are You Going.." Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 28, no. 3, Summer91, p. 371. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.
The Journal is a literary criticism of the Joyce Carol Oates's Where Are You Going.” It is, therefore, a book that reviews the literal structure and the realism as employed by the author in the short story.
Little, Geoffrey. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? The Evolution Of The Academic Library Web Site". The Journal Of Academic Librarianship, vol 38, no. 2, 2012, pp. 123-125. Elsevier BV, doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2012.02.005.
The journal is a compilation of various works of fiction and their overall implication in literature. It explores the literary structures and devices as Joyce Oates uses them in her short story. It, therefore, comes handy in the analysis of the texts and its different forms of literature.
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