Where Are You Going Where have you been coming of age theme

Oates has described “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” as slipping and sliding between genres. … The story also fits within the coming-of-age genre as it follows its adolescent protagonist as she faces some tough decisions.

What is the theme of Where Are You Going Where have been?

The main themes of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” are appearance versus reality, the embodiment of evil, and self-sacrifice. Appearance vs. reality: Both Connie and Arnold have two-sided natures, presenting an appealing self when necessary and withholding another.

Why does Connie act like an adult?

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” is about a teenager named Connie who is trying to come to terms with her transformation from childhood to adulthood. Through this process, Connie attempts to act older than she is an tries to gain the attention of boys.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been theme analysis essay?

Thesis: ”Where are you going, where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates uses symbolism to portray youths’ desire for independence but overall gullibility to life’s illusions. … Arnold friend himself is symbolic of the evil that lurks hidden with the world.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been theme of evil?

In the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Connie and Arnold clearly symbolize the theme of good versus evil, and Joyce Carol Oates portrays that the strength of evil can easily overpower good. Arnold embodies the fundamental nature of evil, while Connie’s soul is pure and innocent.

What does Arnold Friend's car symbolize?

Arnold’s Car Arnold Friend’s flashy gold car, with its outdated phrases written on the sides, is an extension of Arnold himself: extreme and not entirely right. … Once Arnold’s true, violent nature comes through, the car becomes a symbol of all that is dark and ominous about his character.

Who is Arnold Friend based on?

Oates has described how she based the character of Arnold Friend on the real life serial killer, Charles Schmid, who also wore makeup and stuffed his boots in order to alter his appearance, and was known for preying on teenage girls—taking three of their lives in Tuscon, Arizona the 1960s.

Where are you going and where have you been symbolism?

“[The] story is clearly an allegory of the fatal attractions of death (or the devil),” Oates explains. “An innocent young girl is seduced by way of her own vanity; she mistakes death for erotic romance of a particularly American/trashy sort” (source).

What does Connie represent in where are you going?

Connie, also, has been said to represent many things: Eve, troubled youth, or spiritually unenlightened humanity.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been setting?

The Suburbs, Early 1960’s America The story takes us on a tour of early 1960’s suburbia from the perspective of a teenager: drive-in restaurants, movie theaters, shopping malls, “ranch”-style homes.

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Where do Connie and her friends go when they leave the shopping plaza?

Connie and her friends enjoy being dropped off at a shopping plaza without adult supervision, wearing ballerina slippers and charm bracelets. Often after being dropped off, they run across the highway to a drive-in where older kids gather.

What kind of person is Arnold Friend?

Despite his strange appearance, Arnold is initially somewhat appealing to Connie in a dangerous way. He is an older, highly sexualized man who offers to take her away from her life as an unhappy teenager. He is incredibly different from Connie’s family and the other boys she knows, which intrigues her.

What does Arnold Friend want Connie?

Arnold Friend: A mysterious figure who visits Connie while her family is not at home and continuously demands that Connie to get in the car and go on a ride with him.

What happens to Connie at the end of Where Are You Going Where have you been?

Connie is compelled to leave with him and do what he demands of her. The story ends as Connie leaves her front porch; her eventual fate is left ambiguous.”

Why does Connie go with Arnold and Ellie?

This fear, this defense that Connie has developed, is another reason that she ends up with Arnold Friend in the end. … Her insecurity, her low self-esteem, and her fear of intimacy all aid her in her unconscious decision to leave her house and go with the devious Arnold Friend in his gold convertible jalopy.

Where Are You Going Where have you been sacred building?

Joyce Carol Oates often describes music in an almost religious sense in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been.” The restaurant where the girls go to listen to music is referred to as “the sacred building” (2) and the text mystically describes the “glow of slow-pulsed joy that seemed to rise mysteriously out of the …

How old is Connie in Where Are You Going Where have you been?

Connie. The fifteen-year-old protagonist of the story. Connie is in the midst of an adolescent rebellion. She argues with her mother and sister, June, and neglects family life in favor of scoping out boys at the local restaurant.

What did Connie do instead of go to a barbecue with her family?

Connie spends the summer avoiding her mother’s prying questions and dreaming about the boys she meets. One Sunday, her parents and June leave her at home alone while they go to a family barbeque. Connie washes her hair and dozes while she lets it dry in the sun.

Who is Ellie in where are you going?

Arnold Friend’s sidekick, Ellie is passive and quietly disturbing character in the story. He sits in the passenger seat of Friend’s car holding the transistor radio. Connie observes that while, like Friend, Ellie is also older than he originally appeared, he is also strangely undeveloped and completely submissive.

What would the numbers on Arnold's car 33 19 17 represent?

When Connie asks him what the stuff painted on his car means, Arnold goes through the various sayings and eventually comes to the numbers 33,19, 17. … Harold Hurley posits that the numbers carry a sexual connotations because when added together they equal 69, a sexual position.

What would the kitchen symbolize in the story?

Kitchens. In Yoshimoto’s Kitchen, kitchens symbolize the natural, repetitious rhythms of life, which is often what pulls the protagonist, Mikage Sakurai, out of a moment where she feels overwhelmed by the presence of death…

How does Arnold Friend manipulate Connie?

Friend seems to know that he can control Connie with his words: if she simply listens to him for long enough, the desired effect will take hold. … Friend’s use of manipulative language makes her believe she not only has no other option than to go with him, but that she has chosen to go with him.

Where did Connie go in Grapes of Wrath?

” This upsets Rose of Sharon, and she storms away to sulk in her tent. When she settles down, she realizes that Connie is gone. Al tells the family that he saw Connie heading south and presumably back to Oklahoma. Connie was never seen or heard from again.

How does Arnold Friend force Connie out of the house?

Though there is nothing to stop Friend from forcing his way into the house, it seems he cannot enter it himself, but instead has to slowly manipulate Connie in to leaving it of her own free will.

Why is music so important to Connie?

Music Symbol Analysis. From the outset of the story, music symbolizes Connie’s inner life, specifically the pleasure she takes in romantic relationships and romantic ideals themselves. Whenever she goes to the plaza with her friends, music is always playing in the background.

Where Are You Going Where have you been how old is Arnold friend?

The stranger identifies himself as “Arnold Friend,” and he insists that he’s 18 years old. Initially calmed by his smooth-talking, Arnold asks for Connie to accompany him on a ride to a far away location. He also introduces her to his partner, Ellie, who was eerily silent about Arnold’s intentions.

How does Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been related to Bob Dylan?

Joyce Carol Oates dedicated “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” to Bob Dylan, and she has claimed that the story was influenced by Dylan’s haunting song “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.” The story contains echoes of the song’s lyrics, such as the following: “The vagabond who’s rapping at your door / Is standing …

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been based on real story?

Sources. Joyce Carol Oates based “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” on a true story of rape and murder in Tucson, Arizona, in 1965. Charles Schmid, a twenty-three-year-old man, was arrested for the rapes and murders of several teenage girls.

Who arrives in Connie's driveway while her parents are at the barbeque?

At some point later in the summer, Connie is left alone at home on a Sunday when the rest of her family go out for a barbecue. A car pulls up in the driveway: it’s Arnold Friend and Ellie Oscar.

Is Arnold Friend a devil?

The most obvious aspects of Arnold Friend that suggest that he is the Devil in disguise are his physical features. For example, several references are made to the abnormality of his feet. … The devices that Arnold Friend uses to tempt Connie also suggest that he is the Devil.

Does Arnold Friend represent the devil?

Arnold Friend clearly symbolizes the devil through his physical traits, his knowledge of Connie, and his power over her kind of like he was hypnotizing her to go with him. … She knows he is threatening her and her family but it seems she is controlled by an unknown source that makes her go with him.