The story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates was definitely not what I was expected to read. I thought this story is going to be light and funny by the begging of it. A story about family matters, or a love story maybe. Surprisingly I discovered that this story is very dark, and although in American stories you expect a happy ending, this one was a scary and sad one (since we anticipate what’s going to happen to Connie after she went with Arnold). Reading the critical overview of the story written by Rena Korb, the interpretation that touched me the most was “feminist allegory”. I find it true and very sad. The way Korb describes it in the article was very powerful: “When Connie, the innocent female, walks out of the house to meet what may be her demise, she also represents the spiritual death of women at the moment they give up their independence to the desire of the sexually threatening male”. Although there is much more awareness of it nowadays, there are still a lot of young girls and grown women who try to satisfy men’s desires, even if it’s not what they want. When men use their power over women in sexual situations to get what they want, many females feel weak and as if they need to obey. We see women get raped on the news all the time, and people blame them for being too sexual and highly maintained. As Connie in this story. She does put a lot of attention to physical appearance, but that is what she cares about as a young girl, and shouldn’t get punished for it.
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5 thoughts on “Tamar Abelson Discussion 13”
Tamar, thank you for the good comments. And thank you for answering the prompt and referring with specificity to the interpretation mentioned by Korb that resonates with you.
Hey Tamar! I felt the same way reading it. I might have let my personal views get in the way of an objective opinion on the writing itself, I found that the feminist allegory interpretation fit best. There was no real accountability to be had on Connie’s part. I hear that a lot these days when it comes to victim blaming, how women have to be accountable for their part in their attacks. You know, ” what were you wearing?” or ” why would you be outside at that time of night?” Similar to how mentioning Connie seemed to like feeling pretty and being attractive to boys. The moment I read how she usually roams the mall with her friends, wearing charm bracelets and flats, I pictured a child. Not a young a woman not anyone that could be considered grown by any measure. Even being driven around by her friends dad’s. Not even old enough to drive. Thank you for sharing!
Hello Tamar, its definitely a dark and scary story. In the story i realized her parents never asked her where are you going or where she has been when she came home, it seems like no one cares.
Hi Tamar I agree this story was a lot darker than I expected and I expected it to have a happy ending with her actually going with the boy and leaving her family because she didn’t seem to like what they believed in or how she was treated but it ends with her leaving the boy to go back to her family.
Hi Tamar! I couldn’t agree with your comment more. While thankfully there is much more awareness indeed, women still fall victim’s to this. Likewise from the beginning of the story I was expecting something completely different and was taken aback by the plot developement in such a heartbreaking direction. I think this story also teaches with it’s devastating outcome the importance mother figure plays in female’s development. Especially at the time the story was written with limited resource of self education outside of the environment one was born into.