In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” we can observe a motif similar to fairy tales.
The main character is a fifteen-year-old girl entering adulthood, who is discovering herself and naturally has conflicts with her parents. The mother, according to the girl, is jealous of her beauty, since her beauty has long sunk into oblivion. The oedipal problem of mother and daughter; a mother who feels that she is growing old against the backdrop of a beautiful and flourishing daughter, at the same time, she feels that she is losing control over her daughter and fades into the background. By the way, the mother copes with the older sister of the main character, most likely because , at the time of her growing up, her mother was younger. And the daughter believes that she is better than her mother and her sister in everything. Also, in the story, like standard fairy tales, there is a weak figure of the father, who sits with his head down, does not talk to anyone, and naturally is not able to perform any functions of the father.
According to the Bettleheim, “it is the father’s duty to protect the child against the dangers of the outside world, and also those that originate in the child’s own asocial tendencies. The mother is to provide nurturing care and the general satisfaction of immediate bodily needs required for the child’s survival”. We understand that the father is completely unable to do this, and the mother is not able to understand and help her daughter with understanding her growing up and her love and possibly erotic unrest.
After that, Friend appears in the story, a person from outside, in part, perhaps his name was chosen just like that, a friend is not part of the family. The main character is looking for answers outside her family circle. Unlike Snow White, the protagonist does not have the ability to resist temptation, and the antagonist of the story is not a dwarf, but an absolutely opposite character with diabolical seduction, a “hunter” – as opposed to his father, and a man who openly declares that he will show her pleasure and tells about the love side of adult life, unlike her mother. As a result, it is not surprising that such a teenager is very easy to seduce
One thought on “Amalia Lima Discussion 15”
Hi Amalia, you piqued my interest with the description of the relationship of the parents and child in fairy tales, and the connection (or dis-connection) to Arnold Friend in specifically “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”. The absent father and cold (step)mother is a common theme in fairy tales. These circumstances make it very hard for the child in the story to be completely out of harm’s way, or to not be in some kind of vulnerable position because of the lack of care. Their dissatisfaction at home and curiosity will naturally make them look for answers outside of the family unit, like you state in your post. Snow White has her seven dwarves, who help her and provide the support parental figures could not. Connie however seems to have no one to help her, which leads her to her downfall into dangerous seduction.