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In her critical overview of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (Activity 2) scholar Rena Korb discusses several different interpretative views of the story. One interpretation reads the story as a sort of “inverted fairy tale.” Other critics see the story as “a tale of initiation” into the evils of a depraved American culture. Still others may read the story as a “feminist allegory.” Ideas in these interpretations often overlap, and there is no one simplistic key to understand the story. With reference to the article by Korb, discuss your own understanding of the story, which may include ideas not mentioned by the critic.
Please be sure to include your section number at the end of your response. There are 3 sections of students in our big discussion group!
Also, address comments to others by name so we can all follow along.
97 thoughts on “Week 13 Discussion”
Throughout my reading of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, I found myself returning to the characters of Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” (Week 7). Specifically, in the climatic confrontation of both story’s main protagonist and antagonist: Connie and Arnold Friend in “Where Are You Going” and the Grandmother and the Misfit in “A Good Man”. Like the Grandmother, the reader finds that “by the time [Connie] ignores the superficial and concerns herself with what lies underneath Arnold’s teenage mask, it is too late” (Korb). The idea of superficiality encompasses much of Arnold Friend’s character as well, for on the surface it is easy to associate him as an embodiment of evil behind the makeup he wears to hide his true age and self. In the final moments of their interaction, Arnold ultimately succeeds in getting past “Connie’s at-home personality – cynical, distant, superior – with his false show of allegiance” resulting in her loss of identity and life (Korb). Here, there is much to suggest that the “feminist allegory” understanding of the story prevails heavily amidst the other interpretations. For me however, I regarded the story to be quite in line with Rena Korb’s characterization of it as a sort of “inverted fairy tale” in that it reminded me of some of the darker themes within Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Korb herself acknowledges the story as a piece of American folklore when comparing Connie’s house to “a cardboard box” that Arnold can “knock down anytime,” a sly reference to more traditional stories like “The Three Little Pigs” (Korb).
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Hello David. It is interesting that you found a comparison between this reading and O’Connor’s short story as when we are first introduced and given details into Arnold Friend’s character I drew a comparison between his character and the Misfit. Now that you explain the involvement and comparison with Connie and the Grandmother character as well, it makes the two stories even more similar in comparison. Although I do agree with the feminist allegory that you mention being whelved within the story, I believe an argument can be made that the theme of coming of age is most prominent within the work.
Hi Richard – thanks for your comment. I just want to be clear that although I did mention that much in the text would support the “feminist allegory” interpretation, I am decidedly preferential to the “inverted fairy tale” approach.
Richard, one distinction I would make between the Misfit and Arnold Friend is that the Misfit is brutally honest to both himself and others. He does not pretend to be anything he is not.
Hi David!
Quite honestly, the one thing that ran through my mind while reading this story was also the Grandmother in A Good Man is Hard to Find. Korb notes how much attention to detail Connie puts into her appearance, and points out how she methodically fixes her hair before approaching the screen door to meet Arnold. It reminds me of the very specific way the Grandmother dressed and presented herself on the day to day basis. But I also see the parallels of them both in the final moments of this story. Connie is only brought to reveal her true self when her life is hanging in the balance of Arnold, just as the grandmother finally gains empathy when she faces her own mortality with The Misfit. The parallels are very haunting and I’m really glad your brought this up.
The Story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” By Joyce Carol Oates, I interpret it as Connie’s process of transformation from girl to woman. I mean, the whole plot unfolds with a teenage Connie. In addition, Arnold Friend would personify the transformation factor that would lead the protagonist Connie to be a woman. In the end, the plot unfolds in constant struggles between Arnold’s seduction and Connie’s resistance. I envision Arnold as destiny, a destiny that Connie refuses to reach, that destiny would be to grow up, mature, broaden her horizons, be an independent person, and eventually leave her family to live her own life. The terror and psychological pain that Connie suffers from Arnold is something that many teenagers go through as they become adults. Just like Connie, teenagers have a moment of fear when they leave the protection that a house offers them. The course of destiny, in this case, represented by Arnold’s friend, seduces and invites the adolescent Connie to leave the house and start her own way who refuses to do so. Many times this process is painful, which is why many adolescents go through moments of depression and insecurities. Like metamorphosis, when we think it’s the end it’s just a new beginning.
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I think this story reads very much like a piece of moral folklore or a religious sermon told by a priest. The story feels like it was written to scare young girls about the dangers of becoming a woman. Plus, how vanity can play a negative role in a young person’s development. In the story, we see how Connie has two personalities one for home and one when she is out with friends. The narrator also mentions “One Sunday Connie got up at eleven—none of them bothered with church—and washed her hair so that it could dry all day long in the sun.” At this point, we understand this family is not very religious and lacks morals and discipline. Later in the story we learn that Connie has been followed home by what I think is the devil pretending to be a teenager. The story gets particularly creepy when Arnold Friend (the devil) tells Connie where her family is and what they are doing down to the small details. As we know Arnold friend is a man and can physically dominate Connie if he wants to, but he manages to persuade her into damnation making the ending terrifying to read as she descends into his arms.
Like the boy who cried wolf tough us about lying and trust, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” can teach us many things bout family, vanity, and the dangers of being a developing young adult.
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Hey Kevin, I really enjoyed reading your post and the take you took. I shared my interpretation as a criticism to the dark sides of American culture. I like how you added the dangers of becoming a woman and the unfortunate threat that comes with it. While it might teach girls to be carful, it also reminds parents of the horrible things that can take place even in their own house hold. I find it natural for children regardless of gender, to experiment and rebel as that is the way we grow and learn, from our own mistakes. I wonder if Connie was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The vanity and dangers of being a maturing young adult are far beyond is truly something the ready can take out of this story. Thank you for your post !
Hello David,
I agree this story can also be a cautionary tale for parents. Sometimes parents can be very trusting of others especially parents in the USA. I see why you say the dark side of American culture. Manny teens are not ready for the freedom they receive. In some cases, freedom can lead to teenage pregnancy and car crashes. I can say from experience that I know friends who have had issues with freedom at an early age. I think as a culture we have become very comfortable with teenage pregnancy and teens getting into car crashes. We need more stories like these to scare the hell out of us because there are still many Connies out there while evil still lingers.
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Hi David,
What you wrote about wondering if Connie was just in the wrong place at the wrong time is really interesting to me. I looked into the background of the story and found it was loosely inspired by the crimes of serial killer Charles Schmid, also known as the Pied Piper of Tucson. I’m unable to post the link to the page, but I thought you might find his description interesting-
“Schmid was a short man who wore cowboy boots stuffed with newspapers and flattened cans to make him appear taller. He used lip balm, pancake makeup and created an artificial mole on his cheek.[8] He also stretched his lower lip with a clothespin to make it resemble Elvis Presley’s.[9] He was called the “Pied Piper” because he was charismatic and had many friends in the teenage community of Tucson. Women liked him and he frequently met them at the Speedway area of Tucson.”
Many of Arnold Friends characteristics are mirrored here. Unfortunately, many crimes committed are crimes of opportunity. If it were not Connie, I fear you are right, it would have been someone else.
Ashley
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Hello Kevin,
This story evoked fear because it was so close to real life. Arnold Friend dominated her mind. He used her own fantasies to lure her similar to what the Devil is known to do. It was an interesting story. I did not anticipate the ending when first starting to read it. In Korb’s review, it touched on the parents being somewhat disconnected, in which I could see after reading the story. This too could have played a part in the conclusion.
I believe the main interpretation of this story is that no matter how highly women think of themselves, it doesn’t protect them from the predators of the world. The story opens with Connie’s description of her physical beauty; “Connie would raise her eyebrows at these familiar old complaints and look right through her mother, into a shadowy vision of herself as she was right at that moment: she knew she was pretty and that was everything.” (Oates) She knows that she is pretty, therefore she feels more superior over her “plain” sister and mother. Connie doesn’t care about anything else, hence the beginning of the story where her mother lectures her about cleaning her room and helping around in the house. She always daydreams and wants to meet boys because getting their attention makes her feel like she got it all. But when Connie catches the attention of Arnold Friend, she later realizes the danger she is in.
In a way this story also portrays “mother knows best” because although mothers sometimes can be very naggy they also want what is best for their child. In the beginning of the story Connie wishes her mother was dead and complains about her to her friends bu towards the end of the story she cried out for her mother.
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Angela, I agree with everything you observe about Connie’s behavior. However, she’s also pretty typical of many girls at that age. This is why I find the ending so brutal. It’s not as if she were a thirty-year-old woman, who one hopes would know better. I depart from your feelings when it comes to Connie’s mother. She tells Connie not to be so conceited and not to look in the mirror so much. She laments that she can’t be more like her sister. But does she ever tell her anything about the dangers out in the world? Does she ever ask, “Where are you going?” or “Where have you been?”
I kind of felt that way towards the mother because I could relate to Connie myself personally…
My father is also the type of man who speaks very few words and my mother is in my ear all day. I think because of my parents behavior, I.want to go out and find adventures too just like Connie. I can’t say that is what the story is 100% about but I am just making a personal connection here. To be I honest I wish this story could’ve of been told me to me when I was a teenager haha
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Angela, your comments are interesting. I think it’s true that most adolescents long for adventure and even a touch of danger. There are also parents who are so restrictive that they drive their children right into rebellion.
Angela. I definitely agree, a mother will always know what’s best in certain situations for their children. Connie suppression in involving in activity from her parents also caused her to go against them and wanting the worst for them. Even though they were difficult their drive for parenting still kinda pushed her away. I feel like in a world today it’s good to come half and half to an agreement with your parents because you still need that elderly advise.
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is without judgment an Americans family biggest fear. We are introduced to a maturing girl named Connie. As she goes through puberty we are exposed to both her little girl personality and her seeking maturity as a fight against her sister and mother. She rebels and tries to detach herself from her family disadvantages. Left at home alone, Connie at last experiences some family freedom, that is interrupted by a gold car pulling up to the drive way. The reader is put into a situation that fears every parent in the United States. The unfortunate turn of events results in a life of a girl taken away from her by the cruel parts of the American culture. I trend to agree with the interoperation as self criticism to the United States, facing a mirror on the obvious problem of kidnapping. There are individuals and communities that do not follow the norms of Americans and their ethical beliefs. Connie was one of many that go through horrifying and traumatizing events such as these. I believe the story was very well written by giving the reader imagery of the last thing that Connie saw, which was the transformation from a free girl to an enslaved one.
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Hello David Bar-Aharon
I agreed with you the fact that Connie is in a maturation phase in her life, it can be explained by her going through puberty, or her mother who draw a contract of her compared to her sister, who describes a more steady than Connie, she is more a rebel and has vanity. What happens to Connie is indeed an unfortunate situation that will affect her family.
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Hi David! I wanted to comment on your post because out of all the possible interpretations of the story, I consider the “cultural criticism” route the most difficult to support. And only because there’s little in the text itself – to me, at least – that makes that connection difficult. That being said and far from any critique on your post, I actually admire that you went on to make a claim toward this interpretation of the story. I’m still unsure if I personally buy into the story as a “self-critique on America” per se, but you’ve given me a little more to think on as it relates to this way of approaching the story.
David, I know you’re not altogether discounting the interpretation of the story as an indictment of American society in the mid-1960s, and I’m glad David’s remarks have given you more to think about. I do see a rationale for this interpretation when I consider Connie’s obsession with pop music and Hollywood movies that present romance and sex in dumb or unrealistic ways; these things strike me as very American. Connie is also completely obsessed with her looks (though not unlike lots of teenage girls) and hanging out at that quintessentially American meeting place: the shopping mall. She expresses the idea that looks are really all that matter, going so far as to suggest that her mother is jealous because her own looks have faded. I think these are cultural values that are seen in the story.
Hello David,
I chose to comment on your post because some of your points were interesting to me. As you mentioned this can be every family’s horrible nightmare and I think making sure that children are ready for the real world with all its dangers and horror is very important.
The fact that she was beautiful and the “devil” was interested in her was an interesting point. Because even though the writer emphasizes her beauty, at the end of the story the “evil” addresses her as his ” Blue eyes girl” although she has brown eyes. I think this might suggest that her beauty is not the factor important enough to the evil as her innocence is. The evil sees her in the ways he wants despite reality, so she might as well be any other girl but her innocence was unique and made her an easier reach for the evil.
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Afsaneh, I also read Arnold’s Friend’s ignorance about Connie’s eye color as an indication of how he does not see her as an individual person but only as an object or piece of prey.
David. I agree, not only is it an American family fear but also every family fear. It’s hard to compromise with your parents these days but it’s all hard to go against them. Connie wanting her own way caused a lot for and it turned into a big situation which her family always fear. I always say you make children but you don’t make their mind. I think it was best for her parents to teach her a lot but not to keep her away and in from it because it’s good to explore at a limit.
Hello David,
I agree with your perspective. It’s horrifying to know that this is a reality for some. I also agree that this is a well written tale. Oates conveyed this horror with descriptive details through the typical adolescent stage of finding their identity. Arnold Friend’s character appeared to be nonthreatening and an ordinary “teenager” at first glance. Only his victims would have recognized his true intentions when it was too late. A true American horror story.
Hello David,
I agree with your perspective of the short story. It’s super scary how real this story is. I can only imagine how scary and unnerving it is for others who have read it. I got such a presence of evil inside the story when I was reading it, the character Arnold Fiend really made me open my eyes to the dangers of the world that I kind of forgot in this quartet one. The author made Fiend appear threatening and then boom he just ended up being such a menace.
Professor Conway,
I realize that it says my post was posted late, but it actually wasn’t I posted this at 11:58 officially. I had to restart my internet due to the amount of people that are currently on it and interfering with the connection speed.
Turns out I posted a comment on the 20th sorry for the mix up professor seems like my mind is deteriorating on me haha.
The Story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” By Joyce Carol Oates, a young girl is led out of her house, a creepy fellow and being kidnaped. The story is mostly about Arnold, Connie. Connie being attractive added to her vanity puts her in trouble. There are many possibilities that Arnold can represent the Devil, he knows where Connie’s parents are what they are doing, he is more knowledgeable than he is supposed to, those are some things in the story that are suggestive of Arnold is in fact representative of a devil figure. Connie is given a hard time by her mother, and her father does not necessarily play a big role in her life, the absence of masculinity in Connie’s life might make her less aware of the true nature of men in general. Another theme in this story is about popularity and trend, what happened before, what happens now, or what is true or not.
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Hello, Suadou bah. I find your point of view on Connie’s parents very interesting, especially her father. Considering that Arnold was a serial rapist and murderer, he already knew Connie’s name and life, also where her family was located, having more caring parents would not have made much difference in my opinion.
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Throughout my reading of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, I can say that the title kind of like shows evocation times which means it will be about future and past. What holds the story together is like the reference they used to the present. Moving forward, the title ask a question that Connie never asked herself. Connie was kind of going wherever time was taking her. She wasn’t really paying attention to where she wanted to go or where she was before then. I can also say she was kind of blinding her own self because she was not able to see the danger that was right at her door in Arnold Friend. The incapacity of Connie kind of blinding herself from seeing real things or the real world is what made her suffer continuously. All the suffering she was having was consequence of her innocence.
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Hi Jeidy,
Your comments about the story is very interesting; how the setting could be either past or present. I’ve read other interpretations on the story and one critic suggested that everything that was happening to Connie was sort of like a dream and that dream starts when she is alone in her room. It could be that her first encounter with Arnold had shook her and she starts to dream about him later on but it becomes a nightmare.
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Jeidy, you make an interesting point about the future and past in the title of the story. These are also questions asked by concerned parents when their teenage children go out into the world. And yes, Connie lives in a fantasy world she has constructed from listening to music and watching romantic movies.
The reading this week of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates struck me as fascinating as it is a story that has many layers which causes it to be explored in many different ways. The interpretation I found most prominent that I believe Oates is most likely trying to get readers to take away is the coming of age story. One can even find a sense of loss of innocence within the work as well. The way in which I see this interpretation is in the way Oates uses the character of Arnold Friend as a figment of Connie’s imagination. This can be seen in how Arnold is described as being more and more fake in appearance as the story goes on and Connie begins to lose her mind. Arnold wants to take Connie away as she begins to see everything that was normal for her everyday life begin to change before her eyes. She is leaving behind her childhood and transitioning into adulthood with the help of Arnold. This has been my favorite reading of the semester thus far for its middle section that is full of intensity that leaves readers intrigued and anxious due to the way in which Oates writes Connie’s breakdown before she gives in.
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Hello Richard,
I find your interpretation of the reading very intriguing: I never considered that Arnold Friend might be merely a figment of Connie’s imagination, simply a presence to indicate her loss of innocence and transition into adulthood. Although I took the story more literally, I can certainly see how this might be the moment in which Connie transcends from childhood in a very dark, twisted sort of way. I also wrote about how Connie sees her life change before her eyes, but I primarily summed it up to her own shift in identity and perception of the world around her due to Arnold Friend’s sadistic manipulation. This has also been one of my favorite readings, and I certainly was surprised at the ending! I wish there was more closure, although we can all infer what happened next…
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Emily, you write that we can infer what will happen to Connie. This makes me think again of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” (Thanks again, David Flick) where most of the violence, as in Greek tragedies, occurs offstage. This is much more terrifying, I think, as our imaginations are set loose to envision the array of horrors to follow.
Richard, I appreciate your use of the word “intensity” to describe the most excruciating part of the story when the blinders have come off Connie’s eyes and she realizes what is happening. It is nightmarish sequence as what was once familiar becomes foreign, and the most unthinkable evil becomes real. You are so right that the story operates on multiple levels, and that one of those levels includes an exploration of innocence versus evil. Devastatingly, there is nothing on the other side of this initiation for Connie. She will lose her innocence, but any “knowledge” she gains will be brutal and useless to her. This is a true horror story.
As I was reading the story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, I was thinking about the family structure and the support and help one should get from them as a critical tool for survival.
My interpretation might seem a bit exaggerated, but I think the lack of a strong, caring man as the father figure plus the lack of structure, discipline, and kindness in the house were as important factors as the “evil” of this story to cause a young girls’ life story horrifying.
Although this was a story from a real event I think Joyce Carol Oates’s story covered more than just repeating a terrifying event from the past.
I believe we can interpret the story as a moral guide for families. That the outside world can be ugly and dangerous. I think Oates wanted to emphasize the importance of making children (young generation) ready for the real, harsh world and giving them what they need to be ready to transform into independent individuals who can make the right decision and protect themselves and those around them.
I think it is needless to say that the family structure is very important to help a young person be ready for the challenges that the world might represent and that is what I understood from the story.
I think we can see a similar implication in the last paragraph of the story. “so much land that Connie had never seen before and did not recognize except to know that she was going to it.” Is a clear sign that she was forced to a reality and a world that she wasn’t ready for.
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Hello Afsaneh Akbarzadeh, I really liked the parallels you made in the story to that of having a perhaps neglectful father. Having a father figure in your life can give you so many strengths, and they are one of the first people you gain admiration from. This can lead to young people looking for admiration elsewhere, which is maybe why the girls ended up at the burger joint that summer night, they were looking for that attention they so desperately wanted from their father.
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The story “ Where are you going, Where have you been ?” By Joyce carol Oates. Defines a young woman Connie who is finally coming into her own self and is being judged and critique by her mother and her expectations she wants from Connie. In the story she’s compared to her sister June, which makes her very unhappy because it’s hard to come into her own with such a dysfunctional family. Her father who doesn’t care about them that much and her mother who dislikes her. Connie personality caused a split because of her situation at home. When a guy invited Connie to eat and he took her in his car to drive the feeling of her being free from the drama at home was very exciting and eye opening for Connie. Connie visit to the mall made her realize how much she was missing out on growing and becoming herself. This situation happens in most household. The parenting of parents sometimes can take a tole on a lot of our upbringing and it causes us to dislike and build a lot of animosity towards our parents. Parents can be very hard with their expectations and Connie parents expectations and envy towards her was very harsh. So her being free that day and having a breath of fresh air was very satisfying for her mental health. The story overall showed how a dysfunctional family was hard on their daughter because of the admiration for herself and just wanting to exist and the determination of their parents to be apart of the upbringing process of their children.
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Taheed, I think your remarks also highlight the mastery of Oates as a writer. Just as we can feel Connie’s terror in the later part of the story, we can also feel, in an almost physical way, the exhilaration of freedom a young person feels when out of the house on a summer night. I know I can remember that thrilling sensation of liberation and possibility.
Korb discusses many possible avenues of interpretation in her analysis of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” however the meaning I derive from the story is primarily related to the idea of identity, and how Connie’s perception of herself and others changes throughout the story. Korb states in her piece, “Unfortunately for Connie, by the time she ignores the superficial and concerns herself with what lies underneath Arnold’s teenage mask, it is too late. When Connie leaves the house for the last time, she has lost her own identity to Arnold’s desires.” We are introduced to Connie through her own superficial tendecies; we see how self-absorbed she is in terms of her appearance, and the way that she displays almost a duality in her personality between home and any other environment. She initially views Arnold Friend as yet another boy in pursuit of her affections: she even begins to admire his style and notice the accentuation of his muscles through his fitted clothes, however, as time progresses, she begins to percieve him very differently. She notices the subtle details about him that make her feel as if something is off. He uses slang incorrectly, references songs that are no longer popular, appears to be wearing a wig and makeup, and even has lifts in his shoes. How she first viewed him is suddenly very different. What was once only vaguely annoying becomes very real and very dangerous, and Connie finally sees him as a predator. Even her own identity is lost to him in the process of his threats and persuasion. She feels empty, and she no longer seems to belong to herself as she opens the screen door. Finally, how she views her family and the world changes, as well. Arnold is able to convince her that the home she once saw as solid is as easily destroyed as cardboard, the family that she once found insignificant but loving, suddenly would not do the same for her given the same circumstances. Ultimately, Arnold Friend singlhandedly is able to change Connie’s own identity, as well as her perception of everything around her. This, I believe, is the power of predators.
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Emily, there’s so much to say in response to your comments. First, I think that you have vividly described what is the real horror of what happens to Connie. You are so right, as survivors often say, that the power of predators is this robbing of one’s whole sense of reality. Survivors of sexual trauma often speak of this sense of being stripped of their identities, their perceptions, and the very sense of self. This is why it is so hard to heal from rape and assault. And somehow the author is able to convey some of that feeling to us, the readers. You also note the very chilling way in which reality creeps up on Connie. It is gradual, and I think, strikes a chord in all of us when we think of our own moments when our instincts are tweaked and we begin to recognize warning signs in the world around us. What an insightful post.
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” by Joyce Carol Oates indeed seemed like an “inverted fairy tale.” However, it also had an eerie truth to it. There was no wonder after reading Oates, Wall Street Journal article that this was inspired by a Life Magazine article about a serial killer in Tucson, Arizona. Just like a typical teenage girl, Connie fantasized about boys, love, and worried about her appearance a great deal. She was still very much naive to the cruel reality of a broken heart and malicious intent. I believe that Connie perhaps at first felt flattered at Friends’ obsession with her. For after much time talking she realizes he is not at all what he’s portraying and this is not a fantasy. It seems very similar to how women get seduced into abusive relationships, not only from negative intentions from the abuser but from unrealistic fantasies within the naive individual. This spoke to me more as a parent and how crucial it is to be brutally honest with your growing children on the dangers of the world.
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Hi Arlene, I agree with you that you mention “This spoke to me more as a parent and how crucial it is to be brutally honest with your growing children on the dangers of the world”. Life is sinister, because every step you take will affect the future of life. I believe that being honest with my family is the most important thing. Because no matter what happens, your family will always be your backing.
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Arlene, yes, this is definitely a horror story for parents, like yourself. In so many ways, Connie is just a typical American teenager, obsessed with appearance and romanticized ideas about boys as gleaned from music and movies. While she imagines herself wise and sophisticated, she is at heart a naive child, utterly unprepared for the likes of Friend. He, on the other hand, has chosen her specifically for these reasons. He understands her psychology. He knows what matters to her, or what she thinks matters to her. He puts his X on her because he knows how easy this will be.
Hello Arlene,
I think you’re on to something with the statement “from unrealistic fantasies within the naïve individual.” I can definitely view parts of the story through this lens. Connie’s unrealistic view of the world, which is not by any means her fault, clouds her judgment and natural instincts, at least at first. She’s led closer and has her walls broken down in no small part due to Arnolds flashy appearance, hand crafted for her. I think this is very comparable to how young adults rush into relationships of all sorts purely based on the superficial, with naïve hopes, that only run skin deep. Often once pressure is applied the negative is found out, and starts to strip away and reveal the truth. I think this could be a parallel to the story.
What a frightening story, I could almost feel the fear Connie was describing and it all made me very uncomfortable. While reading this I remembered back to times of being home alone as a child, hearing the doorbell, and hiding in a far back room waiting for the person to leave.
The entire time i was reading this story i imagined the character of Arnold Friend as the Grim Reaper, coming to take her away. Until I reached the end of the story I even believed maybe she was already dead. In a way though, if he kills her he is sort of the grim reaper in a twisted way. Another way I find him to be similar to the Grim Reaper is his overwhelming confidence in the fact he could kill her entire family.
After reading an overview of the story by Rena Korb i found she too mentions a connection to a hellish, underworld theme. She says in her review “readers have pointed out similarities between Arnold Friend and the devil” and that “his disguise, his supernatural knowledge of the whereabouts of Connie’s family, his ability to lure Connie to him against her will, even his very name, which is by no coincidence close to ArchFiend.” These notions of other readers leads me to believe perhaps there is some deeper spiritual meaning in this story.
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Hello James, I really enjoyed reading your comments on this short story and you comparison of Arnold Friend to the Grim Reaper definitely made me laugh. Despite this story being a fiction, I can say from discussions I have heard that Connie’s experience with Friend is very much real and alive. Young girls of nowadays really go through this experiences and have this encounters with men, some of the older.
James, I so agree with you about the contagious fear that is transmitted by this brilliantly written story. We literally feel as if we are in Connie’s sweating skin as her fingers try to dial the telephone (way before the days of cell phones). The sense of terror does dredge up memories of the most frightening moments of our own lives. I think the comparison of Friend to the devil, while suggestive of the mystical, is also quite representative of reality and the fact that evil, embodied in human beings, truly does exist in the world.
Hey James,
I really enjoyed your comments on this story. I compared Arnold Friend to death too, so seeing you do the same is really funny. There’s a lot of ways to interpret this story like any other and I really get the strong sense of evil from this story mainly because of Friend of course. Even though this is a work of fiction this story really touches on the situations of reality prominently and highlights the danger that we face in the real world especially with young females. The fact that this happens in real life again makes the story that much more chilling.
The short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates highlights an experience with young Connie and Arnold Friend. My understanding is that this story showcases the eagerness of many young girls to become grown-ups and act like women when they are very much younger than they act. This is very common in present day American lifestyle whereby individuals act and behave older than they are but aren’t equipped for the dangers that come with those actions. I believe Oates wrote this story in a cautionary lens in order for young girls to get a glimpse into what the life of a woman looks like. I also believe this story says more than Connie being a center piece, it lays a concrete representation of Arnold Friend as a very sneaky person. “He think he slick” as I would say in a round table discussion with my friends. But it shows us from the beginning of their conversation when Friend said, “I know my Connie,” he already had the mentality of ownership and domination over Connie even before the had any meaningful communication. I think that exchange is very overlooked but might be one of the important messages the author is trying to tell us.
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Ebube, thanks for a great post. I think you’re right that “I know my Connie” speaks worlds about Friend and about all successful predators. As I remarked in response to a previous post, Friend is shrewd. He is a psychologist in many ways. He has watched and stalked Connie. He has chosen her because he does know her so well. He knows her weaknesses, her innocence, and her desires. He knows what she likes and wants. And he knows where she lives and where her family is for the day.
Hello Ebube! After reading your post, I really can see and understand how this story in a way represents the feeling that “young girls to become grown-ups and act like women when they are very much younger than they act.” I think this doesn’t only apply to woman of course as most teenage boys love to act older than they truly are, know it alls most would call them. When you reiterate how Arnold Friend says “I know my Connie,” that reminded me of how I felt when I first ready the story. This really does represent how truly evil and sick people are. Again to restate what I said in my post, I love how this story can be interpreted in so many ways and have access to the understanding of different readers minds.
David
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The story of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. From the story, what I understand is Connie that she paid too much attention to the aesthetics of appearance, she ignored the importance of “inner beauty”. Although her thoughts are extreme. For example, she said: “ He didn’t bother talking much to them, but around his bent head Connie’s mother kept picking at her until Connie wished her mother was dead”. Judging by her words, she is an extreme thinking figure. In order to let her mother not restrain her, she secretly hoped her mother could die. This is selfish behavior because she did not take into account the feelings of others. Although her behavior was grossly wrong, she had this idea because too many things were tied together. However the religion is mentioned in the story, but this is not closely related to religion. Although Korb didn’t mention Connie’s opinion of her mother in his article, but I think it can be mentioned because it is the “dark process” that leads her thoughts to become extreme.
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Mei Yan, yes, some readers are shocked when Connie says she sometimes wishes her mother were dead, but I know lots of people who have said things like that when young and full of yearning to be left alone. It is particularly poignant at the end of the story when Connie thinks, “I will never see my mother again.” Every superficial part of her is wiped away in the bleakness of her new reality. Yes, Connie is selfish and foolish, but she’s just a fifteen-year-old girl. She doesn’t get the chance to learn and grown and maybe come to a less traumatic way of realizing that she actually does love her mother.
After reading this petrifying tale “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates as well as the analysis by Rena Korb I can agree with Korb when she says some people view this story as an “Inverted Fairy Tale.” I really like how she states “Connie is joined not with Prince Charming but with the Prince of Darkness.” As this is literally the complete opposite of what we come to know as fairy tale ending. Something that bothers me about this story is the lack of detail. I know this is a “short story” but I feel like I am not alone in wanting to know more details. For example, how did Arnold Friend know where Connie lived, where her family was, her friends names? The ending to me represented self-sacrifice in a way because Connie chose to go with Arnold and not risk her family getting hurt by this clearly psychotic man. I also do however see how this could be interpreted as a “feminist allegory.” Later Korb also states that “it can also be enjoyed as a finely crafted story.” This is what makes this story so great, it could be interpreted in so many ways which gives access to the minds of all types of readers.
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I interpret the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is the presence of evil, as the story is unraveling a man by the name of Arnold Friend, exploits and bothers Connie. I also take that Connie is raped and killed by this same person and to me he kind of embodies the definition of death or just evil incarnate himself. This combined with the brief glances of religious imagery really ties this all together. With the story’s beginning line stating “Her name was Connie,” you can really get that sense of dread and death which is why I got an implication of Friend killing Connie. The sense of evil starts to become more prominent as we delve further into the story and are around Friend more, as he is talking to Connie we can sense of negative energy specifically, manipulation, sadistic, and the feeling of threat which ties into the mentioning of evil. The character in a sense is also ironic or at least his name is, because his last name is “Friend”, but he is the exact opposite of what and how a friend is supposed to act. Touching back on the religious imagery, the numbers that pop up in the story kind of stood out as weirdly placed to me and when searching it up (under a religious context of course because of religious references) I found a bible verse that actually references the stories title “Where are you going? Where did you come from?” I just thought this was super cool. This makes me wonder if this was meant as foreshadowing, describing Friend, or just the author trying to make the story interesting.
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Hi Zakiyah,
I agree with you “the presence of evil, as the story is unraveling a man by the name of Arnold Friend” because Arnold Friend isn’t a good man you can tell how he behaves with her after meeting. Also, he is not very nice to Connie. I think that if Connie was more like Arnold Friend than she would have been able to get away without him. In the end, we see that Arnold Friend is a bad person who has no morals and values. He doesn’t care about what other people think or say about him or his actions. I liked how you connect Bible verse and the story together.
In my opinion, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a story about what can happen to young girls who aren’t very aware of the world. The story can be used to frighten young girls about the dangers of predators. Women are more vulnerable. Most women I have met have a sexual assault story, a story about being taken, or have been raped. Or a scary experience involving men in general. This story portrays Connie as very naïve and egotistical. She believes to be above her sister and mother because of her looks. And the story confirms Connie’s vanity when she checks the people around her to make sure she is the prettiest in the room. This story conveys that vanity and lack of self awareness can be and is dangerous. Especially to kids. In the story, we see how Connie isn’t monitored at all. Her friend’s father drives her friend group to the mall and picks them up at night. The friend group is never asked about what they were up to. Connie’s mother doesn’t care where Connie goes either. And her dad is just a hollow presence in the home. Later in the story we learn that Connie has been followed home. Connie believes herself to be invincible. In her mind, vanity is her shield. And without being educated about the dangers of the world, she doesn’t think much abut the fact she was followed home. The story gets frightening when Arnold Friend tells Connie information about her family that he shouldn’t know. Arnold Friend is a man and can force Connie to do whatever he wants to. This story makes my stomach turn when Connie willingly goes into his arms. This story portrays how dangerous it is to be a girl in the world we live in. Connie was fifteen. She wasn’t a young adult, she wasn’t a young woman. She was a child unaware of the dangers of our society. And that is what makes this story so frightening. The moral is: be more aware of your surroundings. And the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence.
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The short story “ Where Are You Going, Where Are You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates about Connie being self obsessed over her appearance. She is constantly comparing herself to others and trying to be like them. Connie’s obsession with beauty causes her to lose interest in other people. When she first meets Arnold Friend, he is a handsome man who has an attractive face. Connie thinks that he is handsome because of his size. This story shows how Connie feels about her body. The author uses imagery to show how Connie feels about her body. When Connie sees Arnold Friend, she immediately starts to think of him as a beautiful figure. I didn’t like how Arnold warned Connie about her family “You don’t want them to get hurt,” Arnold Friend went on. “Now, get up, honey. Get up all by yourself.” This quote shows me that Arnold isn’t a good man.
I think this is a very interesting story because it shows us that we should never let our desires control us. It’s just another example of how people can be so easily influenced by others and how they can become victims of their own desires. Connie is the victim of her own desire.The author uses many examples to show how people can be so easily manipulated by others.
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Hi Humayra, thank you for your post! I find it interesting that you consider Connie a victim of her own desire, because I believe you get to see pretty well how terrified she is by the end of the story. She first “realizes he wasn’t a kid, he was much older—thirty, maybe more”, so she stops seeing him as desirable, and instead grows afraid of him as his threats get worse. Eventually she succumbs to a nervous breakdown, after “. Something roared in her ear, a tiny roaring, and she was so sick with fear that she could do nothing but listen to it … ” and then the story describes how “She cried out, she cried for her mother, she felt her breath start jerking back and forth in her lungs as if it were something Arnold Friend was stabbing her with again and again with no tenderness”. At this point, I doubt she finds anything desirable about the situation she is in at all, let alone about the man who is accosting her and bringing her to this level of fear. Perhaps, instead of being a victim of her own desires, Connie is portrayed as a victim of her own naivety. Her life and desires are shallow because she is immature and naive, and she pays the ultimate price for failing to recognize that not everything is as it seems until it is too late.
The story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, was hard for me to analyze. While some poems or short stories are easier to understand, I think is interpreted in many ways. After reading Rena Korb’s critical overview, I think this story represents a feminist point of view, but in a way, we are not usually used to see. I think this story shows how today’s society is referring to sexual assault or rape. Unfortunately, even today at the end of 2020 we can see that many do believe that if a woman has been raped or assaulted, it’s her fault since she must have done something wrong to “deserve it.” We can meet people who believe that if a woman is dressing, talking, or walking in a certain way that means she “asked for it”, and I think that this is the cultural critics Joyce Carol Oates was trying to point out to her readers. Connie is a young lady fighting everyone and everything to prove she is a strong independent woman. Like many of the girls her age, Connie is genuinely concerned about her appearance, and she thinks that by changing her look, her family will finally see her the way she sees herself- a woman. She is changing her hair and clothes to look sexier and more mature, and as Arnold Friend sees her he feels like he has the right to tell her “Gonna get you, baby” even though she doesn’t know him. As the story continues, Arnold is stalking Connie to her home, and trying to convince her to come with him for a drive, which we all know is not going to end in a good decent way. He tells her that the moment he saw her, he knew she was the one, and he ignores her feelings and the fact she doesn’t feel that way. He continues to push her into something she doesn’t want to do while ignoring the many times she asked him to leave her alone. In the end, when Connie decided to walk with Arnold, the reader may think Connie has made her own choice, and everything that is about to happen is his fault since she decided to walk with him. I think this assumption is wrong, and I believe that a woman that said NO so many times and has been pushed into something she clearly afraid of and has no interest in doing, is a victim of a sexual assault, and she doesn’t have a choice. Today we are aware of a high number of sexual assaults, that some of them are even encouraged by society and media saying a girl dressing “this way” is asking for that kind of reaction.
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Reading this story, the ultimate interpretation I got from this story was ultimately Connie’s front finally being broken down due to this man seeking to take advantage of her. I think back to how Oates described Connie as a girl who always had her head in the clouds. Much of her time is spent with her friends, going to the movies, hanging out with boys, and creating a persona with the intent of separating herself from her family as much as possible. This all changes when Arnold shows up at her door. Suddenly this persona is gone, and she’s questioning everything about this man for her safety. As Korb notes, despite being much older, Arnold seeks to lure her in by taking on the persona of a teenager such as herself before Connie eventually finds out the truth. He mentions her friends and the music that she enjoys. It creates this sort of twisted mirror reflection that makes her second guess this identity she’s crafted for herself that eventually leads her to fall victim to him.
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I had an interesting time reading “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” this week because, over the course of my reading the story, I realized I have actually read it before! I first encountered this story in 8th grade, and I believe my earlier (younger) interpretation played into my current reading and understanding of the piece. At its core, I take this story as a cautionary tale that operates on empathy instead of judgement. I think my interpretation of the story aligns itself most closely with the “feminist allegory” of young girls ending up in “sexual bondage” mentioned in Rena Korb’s article, but my take is more personal than that theoretical approach.
When I first read this story as a young adolescent, I was younger than Connie and almost envied her for her fast-paced, fun-loving “double life”. Everything that she did seemed cool and “mature” to me, and I couldn’t comprehend the full scope of her psychological trauma when faced with Arnold Friend’s terrorization at the end of the story. In fact, at first, I believed she went willingly, because that felt like the mature thing to do.
Now, I am shocked by my younger self’s interpretation of the story. As a young woman in her early 20s, I recognize so much more of what the feminist understanding of this work explains–Connie is not going willingly to what will ultimately be her demise, and she is far from mature–she is a child in a world that sexualizes young girls and forces them into “maturity” before their time. To me now, I read the tale as more of a warning, imploring girls to take care and remember their age lest they be caught up in situations they cannot (and should not have to) handle.
However, I feel that treating “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” purely as a story about young girls being thrust into bondage is an unfair interpretation, because it doesn’t express the entirety of the lived experience of being a girl in America. While it is, in my opinion, a true fact of life for many women, I feel it is a somewhat cold point of view that fails to take into consideration the societal pressure those women face. I remember my original interpretation of the story and think about how I was taken in by that societal pressure, too. Considering this story was written by a woman, I doubt she would be blind to that pressure, and because of that, I feel a lot of empathy for Connie coming from this story. So, while I think the piece is a warning, I think it is a kind and understanding one rather than a punitive one.
It is not enough to warn girls against the dangers of hypersexualization without recognizing that it is not their fault that they are being sexualized. We should not indict the Connies of the world for the crimes of the Arnold Friends, and I believe this story espouses that point of view.
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Kia, I am shocked that this story was presented to you in eighth grade. I can well understand how you focused on the pleasure and freedom of Connie’s nights out with her friends rather on what actually happens to her. I remember that when I was a teenager, I thought the idea of running away from home was so romantic and exciting. Those were the hippie days. I had zero idea—less than zero—what it meant to be homeless and utterly vulnerable to the dangers of the street and the world. And I still get shivers when I think of how I almost got into a car with some old guy, who said he had a modeling agency and asked if I wanted to be a model. You would have a different English professor if I’d gotten into that car. (And it was my mother’s voice in my head that kept me from doing it.) I think you experienced a similar shock at your reaction to re-reading this story as an adult. I do not think this is a story for eighth-graders, not just because of the element of rape but because of the psychological implications and complexity.
Many ideas swirled about in my head as I read both Joyce Carol Oates short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” and Rena Korb’s article, which gave an analytic overview of Oates’ short story. Among the many points that stuck out to me, was Oates’ bravery on tackling the issue of rape and murder of young women by warp-minded men. Many of these psychopaths are oftentimes older than their female victims. Although this is indeed a problem that exists, many people would only speak about it with disgust in quiet corners, but not as openly as Oates did. This left me wondering if this is one of the reasons that men of this mind- set tend to feel a false sense of security in performing such terrible acts. They entertain the thought that it will be an issue swept under the rug therefore allowing them to get away with it
Korbs referred to Connie as being shallow based on the focus and time she spent on her physical grooming and more so the manner in which she would “glance into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right.” My thoughts were flooded with many questions while reading both pieces of literature two of which were; Does a girl who lacks attention from within her home make an extra effort to seek such attention outside of the home environment? Connie’s father had little time for her and her mother showered her sister with praises while picking on Connie. Secondly, does one have to dress and carry a plain demeanor in order to protect themselves from the wiles of evil seeking individual who prey on ‘pretty’ young women? Arnold Friend labeled Connie cute showing his preference for the way he likes his girls. Oates short story makes for a great conversation starter and then further discussion on the unfortunate fate of some women with men who sometimes see them as possessions to be had.
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With respect to all other interpretations, I take the side of the devilish nature of the story.
My mind couldn’t get past the strange nature of the conversation between Arnold Friend and Connie; the positioning of the characters, the very close attention Oates pays to the body language of everyone amplifies this for me. I’m a visually dominate person in most ways, so actions and body language, more so than words, are how I interpret a lot of things initially. Most of the time people are so busy with their words, they don’t pay attention to their body language.
This all comes together for me when Arnold doesn’t seem to want to come inside. I instantly thought of vampires, how they can’t cross your threshold unless invited in, and Korb mentions it “his vampiric inability to enter Connie’s house.” Similarly the devil cannot take part in you unless invited by various means. It seems like Arnold had to be invited; he needed some type of permission, like there was an invisible law holding him back. Maybe this is represented by the screen door, even though as Korb puts it “that the lock on the screen door can’t protect her.” and Oates’s own “It’s just a screen door. It’s just nothing.” I’m hesitant to see this as fact and I must lean on the interpretation that he needs to break through this barrier. What’s more likely though, as serial killers go, is they usually have a very specific need or criteria to be fulfilled in order to operate “predictably”. I’d wager he needs his victims to come willingly, or at least without physical force. This evil, blood boiling seduction applied by Arnold is perfectly illustrated for me in Oates’s writing of the kitchen around Connie, “Her eyes darted everywhere in the kitchen. She could not remember what it was, this room.” From here I start to feel the despair in Connie’s situation. This quote “He shaded his eyes and peered in at Connie, who was backed against the kitchen table”, puts me in the visual perspective of the outsiders while narrowing my vision to the claustrophobic and desperate position of the girl.
I can agree with Korb that I don’t know if Arnold represents the devil per se, but I firmly believe he represents evil, and the nature of it. Very rarely does any intention or action start out evil internally, or present itself as evil straightforwardly if external. It builds, breaks down barriers, and comes in disguise; until you perceive no alternative.
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Patrick, this is a beautiful rationale for your devil interpretation. It really gives me chills.
Hi Patrick, I like how you pointed out the vampire analogy and connected in your own way to the story. I agree that he might have a sick motive to “prey” on his victims and it is in fact evil. Situations like this happen all the time (man and woman) and it is very unfortunate. This reading was interesting
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This story is written like a cautionary tale that begins as a look into the life of an ordinary teenager. It embodies the exact emotions felt by most teenagers and then took a drastic turn that I hadn’t expected in the slightest. Connie’s tale is one that is known all too well in homes throughout the world. I find this story particularly scary because I hope to be a proud “girl dad” when the time comes. There was nothing that Connie’s parents could of done to prevent this situation from happening while also allowing her some brief freedoms. It was summer break. The fact that Connie barely went out made it even easier for her to be able to go out with friends so what is a parent to do? I believe denying children their freedoms lead them to search for them elsewhere; however, even the occasional outing could be incredibly dangerous as seen with Connie.
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“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates may be my favorite piece of work that we have read in the semester thus far. The slow creeping horror and supernatural elements set against the sprawling Americana made the story read like a dark fairy tale. It begins on a bright note, excitement, possibilities, bright lights, youth, beauty, and “boring” parents who are at odds with their children. There is excitement in the danger of Arnold Friends words “Gonna get you, baby” and in his James Dean description contrasted by Connie’s innocence and teenage girl carelessness.
While Korbs offers several interpretations, the one that stands out most to me is as a tale of initiation into evil “with the end depicting Connie’s acceptance of the depraved American culture.” American culture places so much emphasis on the importance of youth and beauty and Connie embodies both. While she initially is unsure whether she will leave the house, as time passes and her interaction with Arnold Friend progresses it becomes clear Connie is being worn down and eventually resistance is futile.
As the story unfolds and as Arnold Friend begins to persuade Connie to come outside of the house, the harder he tries and more effort he puts forth, the more his sleek visage begins to crumble. Similarly, the more effort Arnold Friend puts in, the more Connie becomes hypnotized and loses control of her reality. The situation is a battle of wills that Arnold Friend will surely win, although it is clearly costing him immense mental energy to do so. The story allows the reader to feel the whirlpool spiraling out of control.
It makes me wonder. If not for Arnold Friend, would Connie become a carbon copy of her mother? Watching her youth and beauty fade and slipping into resentment of her children? In this way, does Arnold Friend ultimately save Connie from her worst (perhaps yet unknown to her) fears, by freezing her in time, at the height of her perceived beauty and invincibility? That murder would be preferable to slowly sinking into the obscurity of aging and perceived irrelevance supported by American culture is truly depraved.
Ashley
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PS. Arnold Friend has many elements of the Big Bad Wolf! I agree with Korb, this story is indeed a finely crafted story that I loved reading.
Hello Lauren
You made a really nice response as I see that it is your favorite one. I like the first paragraph when you say “It begins on a bright note, excitement, possibilities, bright lights, youth, beauty, and boring parents” These are the right word to describe this reading. This reading really emphasizes in American culture, how teens have freedom to hang out with friends and Parents don’t pay to much attention to them. It was not easy what Arnold did to Connie come outside but, finally he got it. .
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Hey Ashley, I agreed with your response to this story, when I read this story I just think of where are you going Joyce Carol Oates? and where have you been Joyce Carol Oates? She is a brilliant writer. This is indeed a finely crafted story. Now to Ellie, he really creeps me out, even Arnold thinks so. why was he so obedient to Arnold Friend? When I read it the third time Ellie was Arnold Friend’s consciousness or his mental state. He really had to work hard to get Connie out the door leaving everything good to her behind even the boring parents.
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Hello Ashley,
First, I would like to thank you for such an interesting, well-written post, I enjoyed reading your opinion.
When I was reading Korb critics on “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, my first thought was that her point of view regarding feminist was true, and it was easy for me to relate to that opinion. I wasn’t sure if I can see the “fairytale” relation to that story, but maybe I just didn’t want to see that connection since I enjoy reading tales so much. While reading your post, I finally realized what Korb was trying to say, and unfortunately, I seem to agree with some of the points you pointed out. I am not sure if I agree with the thought of Arnold Friend saving Connie by raping her, but I definitely agree that he has many elements of the bad wolf or a bad prince.
Thank you
Hi Ashley,
Your observation “does Arnold Friend ultimately save Connie from her worst (perhaps yet unknown to her) fears, by freezing her in time, at the height of her perceived beauty and invincibility?” grips me. Out of the many interpretations of the story I didn’t perceive this one, and I think it’s most astute.
There may be some substance to the psychology of your statement, as it pertains to each individuals battle with perception and reality.
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” a Horrific story written by Joyce Carol Oates recites the grim tale of a young girl named Connie who gets manipulated, followed, and then later kidnapped. I see the idea of an “inverted fairy tale” with this story. It portrays a young girl who is exploring this world of boys and appearance. Connie ends up meeting someone with ill intentions, but she doesn’t know of them yet because she is too fascinated with the amount of attention, he is giving her. This reminds me of the typically High school freshman falling over the senior scenario. Where the senior “whispers sweet nothings” to them, uses the freshman because he knows that she is naive and does not know any better. The same thing begins to happen to Connie, He plays the role of a “savior” someone different, who will save Connie from her life at home and present to her a fairytale. But she begins to realize all of too late and gets taken advantage of. Just like what ends up happening in the freshman/senior scenario.
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Hello Senia
Manipulated and later kidnapped are the right words to assume what happened after Connie came outside and ride into the car. I like the comparison that you made with seniors and freshman in High School. Kidnapped or any other abuse to women is always going to be from an older to an innocent young. I like when you say savior basically the bad person is going to use any language that is necessary to convince the victim.
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Hi Senia. I really liked your interpretation of this story. I think your high school senior/freshman analogy makes a lot of sense in terms of this story being an “inverted fairytale.” While this wasn’t the interpretation I had, I feel like this analogy can be applied to the religious interpretation that I saw. I saw Arnold as the devil, and the devil is known to trick people by offering them their wildest dreams; however, it isn’t what it seems. Despite the different interpretations, the analogy makes sense and touches on the sinister element of deception present in the story.
In the lecture “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates. Starts relating the life of two sisters that have a different behavior with their Parents. They are June and Connie. Connie is the protagonist of this story. The climax starts when their family goes to a Barbecue and Connie stays at home alone. Two men drive a luxury car into her house. They start convincing her to take a ride with them but, she refused. When they saw that she refused them they began obligating her to take a ride. She keeps refusing them and they threated her to take a ride. They threated her saying that something is going to happen to her family, because they knew everything about her. Connie told them that she is going to call the police if they don’t leave her alone. But they told her that they are going to break the door to enter and take her phone away. Finally, she didn’t accept to take a ride but not because she wants that was because she was threated, and she didn’t have any way to escape from them. The author didn’t tell us what happen next. But we can assume that she is going to get violated for these two men.
From this reading we can see how women are defenseless when they are alone. Defenseless anywhere they are alone not just at home. And the only way to obligated women to do something is by threating her family or any other kind of threat.
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Joyce Carol Oates’s short story “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?” explores the vulnerability of innocence through a haunting account of a girl losing her’s to a deceitful stranger. I would agree with Rena Korb that throughout the story, Oates places emphasis on “the publicity of identity”, as everything that happens in the story is not what it truly seems and the power of perspective often fogs reality. We see the duplicity in identity with our protagonist Connie as she presents herself as an innocent young teenager to her family but tries to act like an adult, socially changing her walk, her looks, and mannerisms in order to do so. It’s the duplicity of Arnold Friend that lures Connie in long enough to terrify her, presenting himself as a handsome younger man using makeup stilts and a gold car to impress Connie’s eyes. In Rena Koran’s analysis of Oates’s story, she quotes another critic Alfred Katzin who says the short story is a ‘sweetly brutal sense of what American experience is really like”. The American experience is founded on the duplicity of identity being a land of opportunities with few opportunities. The bright-eyed innocents who were raised here and came from elsewhere, are in America for success and contentment but are slowly robbed of that innocent as they fall victim to the harsh reality of the American experience- stressful 9-5 jobs, the bills that you can’t escape, the corporate ladders that can’t be climbed and the numerous hindrances placed on minorities like women and people of color. Used by the American system until your body is no longer yours much like Connie losing herself of the overpowering antagonist who assures her that he is gonna get her and the things she once saw as security never could really keep her safe. The inevitability of Arnold Friend and Connie’s fate resembles the inevitable assimilation to the American machine- whether you like it or not the innocence that once secured you, will be gone and you’ll be forced to take part in the American system.
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Syndoll, you have a pretty bleak outlook on the “American experience.” Your final analogy between Connie’s loss of herself and Americans’ loss of their identity and prospects is very striking. I truly hope things will be improving here as of January 20th. Am I naive?
After reading the story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oats, I thought the story was about religion. Rena Korb mentions that one interpretation that includes “demonic elements” not known to Connie. In this interpretation, Korb talks about the similarities between the devil and Arnold Friend. When I read the story, I thought Arnold was the devil, and he was trying to take Connie away. Korb mentions how Arnold knew all these different things about Connie’s family that he couldn’t have known since he wasn’t where they were. However, Arnold did know, even down to what some of Connie’s family was wearing and their appearances. He was also able the draw a visible “X” in the air with his fingers and even changed his voice to the voice that was on the radio. Arnold also had this hold over Connie with just his words and could get her to go along with him despite him not entering her house. The interpretation of Arnold being the devil makes sense to me because of all of the supernatural things he was able to do. As far as why Arnold came after Connie, I think the reason is mixed with another interpretation Korb mentions about Connie’s innocence. Korb writes that “The loss of Connie to Arnold Friend is thus not only the story of one girl’s fatal misperception of appearances but also a representation of a loss of innocence.” I feel like that is true since I believe Arnold is the devil, and he’s taking her away. In her acting like two different people, Connie exposes her innocence to Arnold, and that’s why he tells her he’s going to get her.
Section 0503
The short story “ Where Are You Going, Where Are You Been?” by Joyce Carol is about Connie, who is self obsessed over how she looks in front of others. She is always comparing herself to other people, trying to be like them which eventually makes her lose interest in being around others until she meets Arnold Friend who she really likes and thinks is handsome but in truth Arnold Friend is actually seen throughout the story as bad because of his cocky attitude. Throughout the story the author uses imagery to show how Connie sees and feels about herself and gives us hints to see how Arnold Friend attitude and why he’s a bad guy behind his good looks.
I think the way i understand the story is that its meant to give us hints at what is the main thing about the characters and how there actions in the story tell us who they really are and I wouldn’t call it a “evils of the American culture.” but as a look into what makes us act the way we act on a emotional level.
While reading “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Caroal Oates I realized this story had many sides to it. Connie was a beautiful girl that was easily to be attracted to. She was a girl that had two completely personalities. Connie was a very unconscious of her own situation. She was a young girl that was being harassed and manipulated by a “guy” that was older. I believed she was easily manipulated due to the lack of a men figure in the house. “Their father was away at work most of the time and when he came home he wanted supper and he read the newspaper at supper and after supper he went to bed.” Connie father did not pay attention to her and this cause Connie to make unthoughtful decisions. Arnold appears to sweet talk to Connie trying to convince her of his bad intentions. Some people can say it was Connie’s fault to continue on conversation with a monster. Other can say that Connie was a innocent girl that was persuaded and abused by her innocence. I can personally say sometimes parents have a fault. Parents are always so focus being at work and teenagers abuse that power to hide things from their parents. Parents give so much freedom to children without a limit causing situations that can be prevented. This was definitely a story to give women warning of their surroundings. Being a women means to be danger in a place where you most feel safe.
section 0504
After reading “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, I feel like my understanding of the story is that everything that happened after Connie was a nightmare that she was having. in the story after she “woke up” everything seemed to be happening in such a fast pace. From her sister asking her how was the “Movie” to her family getting ready to go over to a barbecue. Then when Arnold Friend showed up so shady like, he knew a lot about her and about what’s going on with what and where her family was going/doing. All of this for someone who just seen her real quick the night before and said “Gonna get you, baby” (Oates, paragraph 7). Sure you can bring up the argument of he’s a stalker but there isn’t much evidence of that before Arnold was introduced into the story. For example, there’s no mention of any boys hanging around Connie and her friends, or this weird sensation of being watched over. I feel as if Arnold knew way too much and knew what was happening at the exact moment things were happening with her family for it to have been real.
Section 0503
The story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, is about the coming of age for a woman. Unfortunately for Connie it’s in the form of the many fears woman have to face on a daily basis. At first Connie gives them the time of day and sort of entertains the boys even though she’s unsure of who they are. She’s not welcoming the danger necessarily but she’s oblivious to the risk she’s taking and is turn is oblivious to the risk women face all over the world. By not calling the cops immediately and interacting with Arnold she’s in a way playing his little game. It doesn’t help either that her mother often scolds her for essentially appreciating herself in the mirror, so any external source of validation might intrigue Connie. Unfortunately for Connie she’s playing a game where there is no winner for someone in her position. The ‘feminist allegory’ POV was something I never considered until reading this discussion post but was enlightened after reading the prompt. This story is one that I as a female can relate to and understand in depth. It’s a great depiction of how women are often backed into walls and at any moment their life can be placed into someone else’s hands. The harsh reality that there are cases when women are at the mercy of those who seek to harm them.
Section 0504
Personally, Oates’ story constantly had me thinking of “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”. I think this is another story with a lot of unspoken messages in a way to warn us of the true horrors of everyday life, In this case, I think the warning is the consequences of not listening to your parents. Connie’s rebellion at the drive in theater is essentially what led to the weird man child, driving up to her house. In the other story, the grandmother’s refusal to accept that she wasn’t in charge not only led to a car accident, but led to her being toe to toe with a prison escapee. For both ladies, these are unfortunate mistakes that cannot be reversed. And they suffer from their actions the hard way.
sec 0504
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” scared the hell out of me. As a child I can only image the terror, as an adult I could image the terror. Arnold is a creep, I would never had a conversation with him if I seen him a second time, especially in front of my house! This to me is the true American horror story. It’s typical, young girls are vain and very impressionable. A young girl getting trailed by an older man is unfortunately not unusual in our society and its something that’s spoken about as it should be. A lot of young girls are murder and more just like this. Oates did an amazing job on helping the reader imagine what he did and look like. This story gives me chills, because it goes tho show, you must teach your child to be vigilant and aware of her surroundings. Connie was caught up in her own world and that cause her ultimate demise, I believe. There’s alot of things Connie could have done differently. It just scaring to think how confused and fearful she could have been when she started to discover he knew so much information about her. It sounds like Arnold was completely “batcrap crazy” she 15 and by his description Arnold is 30, he begins to babble because I feel like he’s now in a manic state. Arnold breaks Connie down mentally after literally cutting her downs and then gains control over her by forcing her stand and come to the porch where I feel she died. Its sad a disturbing and the reason why you must see your young children close.
Section 0534