Where Are You Going? :: Literary Analysis, Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oatess Where be You Going, Where Have You Been? tells the tale of a fifteen year old fille named Connie living in the early 1960s who is stalked and ultimately abducted by a man who c in alls himself Arnold Friend. The short story is based on a true event, but has been analyzed by many literary scholars and allegedly possesses numerous underlying themes. Two of the most popular interpretations of the story atomic number 18 that the completed scenario is only dreamt by Connie (Rubin, 58) and that the abductor is really the devil in disguise (Easterly, 537). But the truth is that sometimes people really female genitals just be in the defame place at the wrong time. Connie, a victim of terrifying circumstance will be forevermore changed by her interactions with Friend.Oates drew the character of Connie very well - she possesses many of the qualities that jejune children sh ar. According to developmental psychologists, adolescents become highly critical of siblings, and peer relationships subject precedence over familial ties during these years (Feldman, 455). These traits are apparent in Connies unflattering description of her older sister June, she was so unmistak open and chunky (209) and the fact that Connie spends many nights out with friends, but refuses to attend an good afternoon picnic with her family (211). In addition, a teenagers feelings of self price are dependent upon the approval of others. Connie displays this as she practices checking other peoples faces to make sure her own was all right (208). And of course thither is also the explosion of hormones and corresponding intimate urges and fantasies. Oates makes all of these characteristics clear in her descriptions of Connies actions, thoughts and feelings.Rubin attempts to convey the idea that Connie falls asleep in the lie and has a daydream in which her intense desire for total sexual experience runs headlong into her innate fear (58) and aspects of the story do search dr eam like - for instance the way in which the boys in Connies daydreams dissolved into a single face (210), but the supposition that the entire episode is a dream does not ring true. There are many instances in which Connie perceives the frightening truth quite clearly she is able to identify the many separate elements of Friends persona - that slipping friendly smile of his and the singsong way he talked (214). But because of the drop of attachment with her own family, and her limited experience in relating deeply to others, all of these things did not come together (214) and Connie is unable to recognize the real endangerment that Arnold Friend poses until it is too late.