Literary Analysis Essay on "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been"

Introduction

This is a piece that is written by Joyce Carol Oates, where she uses music, the modern world and cultures to come up with her story. This short story's main idea is that of a young girl by the name of Connie. At her teenage, she is rebellious and disobeys her mother several times, always lying of her whereabouts. Connie isolates herself from her family, and this makes her have conflicts with Arnold to a point where she reaches her breaking point. The story chooses different literary devices such as characterization, symbolism, point of view, tone, imagery and setting, which play a significant role in the creation of fantasy versus reality theme.

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Carol Oates brings out the fantasy versus reality theme, where Connie is shown to try being a mature woman that has a range of experience with men. However, the encounter she has with Arnold shows the way she presents herself with clothing, general behaviours and hairstyle is a poor performance (Oates 1). She listens to love songs and follows the modern pop culture believing that she can command the attention of the boys with her style. In reality, she only draws herself closer to sexuality and the fact of becoming an adult. At some point, Connie experiments with sexuality where she goes with Eddie into the alley. Due to her fear of becoming a mature woman, she refuses Eddie's sexual advances. Arnold friend forces her to become a woman that is mature where she forcefully abandons the fantasy she had as a child.

Characterization is brought out in Connie and Arnold. Connie is a naive teenage girl who is conscious about her looks, making her an easy target for antagonists such as Arnold. Arnold is over twenty and is attracted to the weakness of Connie, which brings out the reality about him against Connie's fantasy (Oates 3). The literal device of symbolism is used in the short story wherein the walkway to Eddie's car. Connie sees a golden convertible vehicle where the owner waves at her, but she dismisses him as an average harmless guy. The golden vehicle is a symbol of his old age and a sign to warn Connie not to trust Arnold, who is the owner of the expensive car. Connie's fantasy is to be driven in the fancy car and have a great time with Arnold without sharing her sexuality with him. Reality hits her when he forces himself on her.

Symbolism is also brought out in music which symbolizes the fantasy world of Connie and the way that she drifts away to negative realities while searching for fun and true love. In the end of the story, Connie feels dizziness as she is threatened, and this is a symbolism for fear of Arnold and the defeat she faces (Oates 9). The tone of this story is brought out in the point of view of the third person where sympathy is displayed towards Connie. The sound of the story at the time she meets Arnold is flirtatious, but it changes to nervousness and sadness when she realizes that something is wrong with him. Tone changes to being terrified when he threatens her family, making her get into the car with him.

The setting of the story conveys Oates' message, where she sets most of the story in Connie's house and not a public area. Home is supposed to be a harbour of security and comfort, but Arnold tracks Connie, where he finds out the trends of her family members (Oates 5). The action brought out in this setting brings out the suspense in the story about the safety they have in their homes. Fantasy and reality are also brought out by Arnold, who is hard to predict and know his traits. Oates uses imagery to show Arnold's human and inhuman characteristics and does not bring him out either as reality or fantasy. The reader of this story has a hard time understanding whether Arnold is a nightmare or just a strange man to Connie. The interaction she has with Arnold changes the way she sees the world ultimately.

In many instances in the story, Connie is seen to spend a few hours in an alley with boys. However, they always drive her home to the safety of her family. When she knows Arnold Friend and pretends to be the mature woman she has always wanted to portray herself as he firmly places her into the world of adulthood where she cannot be rescued by anyone (Oates 6). Connie has always had a fantasy of having the independence to perform any endeavour she wishes. This search comes to a dead end when Arnold threatens her and her family, and she walks down the stairs back to his car never to return.

Conclusion

The short story ends with Connie cringing towards Arnold and driving off with him after he insults and threatens her and her family. Oates does not explain where she is driven to but leaves the reader to suggest Connie's fate. Connie's actions are sympathetic to the reader because modern culture shows the sexual power of males to be more potent than honesty and a woman's respect. Women are expected to be submissive to men, and this forms the basis of the short story from the beginning to the end with women being sexual objects and the fantasy they have as the primary basis.

Works Cited

Oates, Joyce Carol. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" By Joyce Carol Oates". Cusd200.Org, 1966, https://www.cusd200.org/cms/lib/IL01001538/Centricity/Domain/361/oates_going.pdf. 1-9.