My understanding of the story “Where are you going, Where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is very basic. I see a story of a normal American girl and her normal everyday life until she is caught in the sights of someone. The story which seemed innocent at first had become a tale of horror the moment a car that Connie didn’t know showed up on her driveway. Rena Korb saying that it can be seen as an inverse fairy tale was something I didn’t even think about but it made my understanding a bit better. The story which starts off innocently about a superficial girl and her day to day life as she tries to find love is very fairy tale like. However, Arnold, while he might have seemed like a charming prince at first on the surface, was everything but a prince. It reminds me of the original stories of fairy tales like Snow white or Cinderella where the original stories were much darker. In that sense this story could be seen not as an inverse fairy tale but more alike with the original stories.
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3 thoughts on “Alvin Tan Discussion 13”
In Korb article there were fairy tale references, however I didn’t agree with those views until I read your discussion board. Fairy tales as we know are far from what the original story perceives. The original “fairy tale” stories were extremely dark, and can compare to “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Arnold was able to fool Connie long enough to get to do what he really wanted to do all along, which was to take her soul. Connie entertained the thought of him being Prince Charming until it got scary. This story was such a thriller.
I agree with Lynette and would like to add that you started with s summary and then went on to talk about your understanding of the story many times, but after re-reading it a few times, I can’t tell what this understanding you are talking about is, besides the summary, but I feel that you can add more of your own thought to the discussion. I like your discussion because it’s so different from mine.
Wyman, I don’t understand this comment or what you are trying to convey to Alvin.