This weeks read “Where are you going, Where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates was chilling and uncomfortable. My own understanding of the story was that Connie was your average pretty high school girl who had a rough home life being scrutinized by her mother, compared too much to her sister and ignored too much by her father. All of this leads to Connie living her life knowing her beauty is something that can get her the attention she is missing at home. That beauty only gets her so far when Arnold comes into the story and completely strips that attitude away from her. As Korb says in her analysis, Arnold gets past Connie’s “at home” persona, he is able to psychologically capture her. The story was so creepy to me because Arnold knows exactly what he is doing to the young girl. It made me wonder how many other innocent girls he must have done this to. The stalking, the showing up unannounced and the way he speaks to her to rattle her out of her “I’m above you” persona is truly demented.
Powered by:
top
3 thoughts on “Jasmine Thompson Week 13 Discussion”
Connie knew she was beautiful and it was everything to her. In my opinion, I see her beauty as her insecurity because it’s a lack of sense of who she really is. As mentioned, it was everything to her and without her beauty, she’s nothing. I agree Arnold knows what he’s doing because Connie can’t stand up for herself but rather obeys him which leads to Arnold taking advantage of that. I see Connie as a passive victim because she completely obeys Arnold even while being mentally broken by him, she has no identity of her own.
Hi Jasmine, thank you for your post. It is indeed very sad and unfortunately, a lot of girls have to go through this type of situation. Sadly some men use their power over innocent girls/ women to get what they want. In this story, Arnold got what he wanted and in the end, although Connie didn’t want to, she followed him and went away with him. Also, as you mentioned, her relationship with her family was what, in a way, got her into this terrible situation, which makes it even sadder.
Dear Jasmine,
Thank you for your post. It was interesting. I do agree with you when you mention that reading the story was uncomfortable. For me it was both, a little bit disturbing but interesting as well. It was interesting because the author mentions the importance and the influence family has over their children. In my opinion the story should make people think about the importance of their role in others lives, rather it is a family member or just a friend. It Is the sad story of a beautiful girl who lacks self confidence. Arnold definitely knew what he was doing and he has never felt ashamed.