Victoria Chen Discussion 13

This week’s reading “Where are you going? Where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates brought up a lot of mixed emotions. For starters, the author’s writing style which was compared to Fyodor Dostoevsky as Rena Korb pointed out in her overview, is very intriguing with its elements of gothic horror and chilling effect that sucks you right in. The story unfolded very naturally and I couldn’t foresee such a plot development quite frankly. One of the things that stroke me is the contrast of how the author emphasized the superficiality of the characters and their everyday life until Arnold Friend appeared in Connie’s driveway. From that point on the intensity and grotesque of the terror and break down Connie goes through escalates quickly. One of the things that was very clear from the narrative is a complete lack of moral guidance from Connie’s family. It’s pretty normal for a teenage girl being self absorbed and pay so much attention to one’s looks as she is growing into a young woman and learning. On the other side her mother and Connie’s older sister seem to be on the same emotional level as her despite their age and instead of worrying herself with being a supportive parent her mother argues with Connie “over something of little value to either of them”. “Inverted fairy tale” is a twisted but accurate take on interpretation of this complex story where as per Korb “Connie’s adolescent dream turned into a nightmare”.