My understanding of the story is that immediately from the start it takes a sad turn and dives in deeper in deeper as you continue reading. Highlight the main protagonist a 15-year-old girl named Connie. Known to almost everyone including herself she was not your average girl; she was extremely beautiful. In fact, her own mother treated her poorly and was even jealous of her. Her father was no better, not even speaking to the family going to work, coming home to read the paper, and eat after that off to bed. Connie’s life and upbringing has a theme of neglect. Her parent not caring about the slightest of things she does, and it causes major problems. While her mother disliked Connie she loved her big sister June. She was constantly being compared to her and was seen as an outcast within her own family. Her still being a teenage girl has caused her to have impaired thinking as she’s trying to navigate life. A predatory man Arnold turns the story from a sad story to a dark and twisted one where one’s quest for recognition will attract unwanted attention from some very bad people.
Daily Archives: April 30, 2023
In my understanding, the story can be seen as a cautionary tale about the dangers of youth and childishness, the power dynamics between the sexes, and the temptations of evil. The interpretation of the “inverted fairy tale” is particularly thought-provoking. The story follows Connie, a young girl who becomes obsessed with her beauty and the attention she receives from men. She is drawn away from the safety of her home and into the clutches of the villain Arnold Freund, who represents the quintessential wolf in sheep’s clothing. This reversal of the classic fairy tale of a young girl encountering a dangerous wolf in the woods is powerful and disturbing, highlighting the dangers posed by too much trust and naivete. I think the story can also be read as a commentary on gender power dynamics. Arnold Freund uses his muscle power, personal charm, and manipulation to seize Connie, who appears vulnerable and powerless in his presence. Connie’s mother, on the other hand, is portrayed as weak and submissive, constantly deferring to her husband’s wishes. Thus, the story can be seen as a critique of a patriarchal society in which men have power over women, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
The story is about a rebellious 15 year old girl named Connie, whose mother constantly berates her for obsessing over her appearance and not being more sensible like her older sister, June. Oates wants to emphasize the inequality of men and women, and at the same time she is bringing forth her feminist beliefs that should be known to society. Connie, one young woman out of a country of young women, must confront her own questions and anxieties as she transitions into adulthood. The story’s title points up the threshold on which Connie stands, looking back to where she has been (childhood) and where she is going (adulthood). She presents a different version of herself when she’s home and when she’s out with her friends for validation.
The reading “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” By Joyce Oates follows a story about a 15 year old girl named Connie who is obsessed with her looks. While her family was away and she was home by herself, she gets approached by this charismatic/manipulative man named Arnold who was in a car in front of her house. Connie at first is interested in Arnold but soon realizes he is not who he seems to be. As the story goes on Arnold becomes more sinister and dark. Threatening Connie to go with him. The understanding I have for the story is the dangers and risks of trusting strangers. The story shows very well the vulnerability of young people who are easily manipulated and naive.Connie herself in the story is portrayed as naive and careless. The story ends with Connie going with Arnold leaving us the audience uncertain of what her fate is.
My interpretation of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates was a story of dark, evil and power taking over innocence. In the article by Rena Korb, she states different interpretations of the story and I see her point in all of them. Early in the story, Oates made it clear that Connie was prettier than most and that she herself was aware of it as well. Connie was very much into appearances-which was what “allowed” the whole encounter between her and Arnold Friend in the first place (she liked his appearance). In the story their first encounter was also intriguing to her. “It was a boy with shaggy black hair, in a convertible jalopy painted gold. He stared at her and then his lips widened into a grin. Connie slit her eyes at him and turned away, but she couldn’t help glancing back and there he was, still watching her. He wagged a finger and laughed and said, ‘Gonna get you, baby,’….” This was Connie’s first time seeing Arnold Friend. While he was consistent on trying to get her to come outside of her house, Connie held her ground and did not actually step out-she knew well enough not to since she didn’t know him. Once Connie starts getting afraid, she starts feeling like if her heart, that is pounding so heavily, is no longer hers as well as her own body that she felt shaking. This is the dark and evil presence getting in her head and taking control. At the end of the story, she ends up getting out of the house and going with/towards him because he manipulates her by saying, “‘…Be nice to me, be sweet like you can because what else is there for a girl like you but […]
The story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” was an interesting, but eye-opening read. I believe that this story focuses on how young girls can easily fall for the words of older men. I’m sure that Arnold must have been a 30 year old, trying to make a move on a young girl. One mistake Connie made was opening the door and continuing to entertain the conversation with Arnold. As a young adult, she should not have been speaking to a stranger. I feel that if she hadn’t opened the door at all, the situation could have been different. Also, Connie was very much into her looks, I’m sure she was a beautiful girl, so that may have ben a reason that she allowed Arnold to give her attention, because she wanted her beauty to be seen. In the article, Korbs suggests said many who read the story view it as a feminist allegory. The way I viewed the story, I believe that it is important for parents to communicate with their children as long as they are responsible for them, because Connie’s parents didn’t seem to care about where she was going or what she was doing. When parents start to neglect their kids, it can often put the kids in unpleasant situations.
My interpretation of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” was that it is a story about the curse of being beautiful. In the beginning of the story, Connie is the black sheep of the family because of her beauty. For example, her mother constantly berates her by saying, “Stop gawking at yourself. Who are you? You think you’re so pretty?” (Coates paragraph 1). Connie is treated ugly because she’s pretty and this leads her to relish the attention that she gets at the hamburger place. Connie gets attention from one boy, Eddie, in particular and enjoys herself. This is when she has her first encounter with Arnold Friend and “He wagged a finger and laughed and said, “Gonna get you, baby,”” (Coates paragraph 7). This makes Connies feel uncomfortable, but she dismisses it and continues with her night. In Korb’s critique of the story, she includes how some readers interpreted the story as a as a “feminist allegory which suggests that… the spiritual death of women at the moment they give up their independence to the desire of the sexually threatening male” (Korb paragraph 4). This goes along with my interpretation of how beauty is a curse in this story because Connie was only seen for her beauty; her mother treated her like Cinderella’s stepmother. and boys gawked at her. Most importantly, her beauty was a curse in the end when Arnold Friend seduced her into coming on a drive which readers can interpret led to her being raped. He was sexually threatening, and she was still pure not only in her beauty, but also as a virgin and this shows how in society, a woman’s beauty often times attracts unwanted attention and women are stripped of their purity.
My own understanding of this story is the dark, evil subliminal flow throughout the story along with the realism that is brought out by the life of Connie and how something as your family life and the way a parent cares for their child or treats their child, or harmless intent decisions a young girl makes can create an outcome of men behaving sadistically and disgustingly towards a girl as young as 15.Connie is a shallow girl who is uncared for by her parents and who is often compared to her sister, obsessed with her looks she is fully aware of how beautiful she is. Having parents who do not typically ask where you are going will lead a young girl to involve herself into dangerous, but “fun” things that young teenage girls typically should not involve themselves in. Being a girl that beautiful and easy to talk to, men will think this is a easy target. Unfortunately for Connie, this man was very demanding and was very serious and was relentless in the fact where he really wanted Connie and targeted her weak, shallow thinking mindset and targeted her physically and mentally. The article states, “Since Connie so values appearances, she holds others to these shallow standards and uses what she sees on the surface as her criteria by which to judge them. This superficial view of the world leads her to embrace the drive-in restaurant, where older kids hung out and where Arnold Friend marks her with his X. Then, because at first she liked the way he was dressed, she does not immediately urge Arnold Friend to leave her driveway, and she stays talking with him, thus allowing him the time to create a physical space of psychological terror from which she cannot escape. ” The men […]
