Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been theme analysis?
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been theme analysis?
The main themes of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” are appearance versus reality, the embodiment of evil, and self-sacrifice. Appearance vs. reality: Both Connie and Arnold have two-sided natures, presenting an appealing self when necessary and withholding another.
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been Connie character analysis?
The protagonist of the story, Connie is a pretty fifteen-year-old girl who loves spending time with her friends and flirting with boys. Connie takes great pleasure in her appearance, so much so that her mother often scolds her for being vain.
What is the symbolism in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
“[The] story is clearly an allegory of the fatal attractions of death (or the devil),” Oates explains. “An innocent young girl is seduced by way of her own vanity; she mistakes death for erotic romance of a particularly American/trashy sort” (source).
How does Arnold Friend manipulate Connie?
As the story comes to a close, Friend successfully manipulates Connie: he has worn down her agency and free will so completely that she is unable to act in her own best interests.
Why does Connie go with Arnold and Ellie?
Due to her insecurity and low self-esteem, Connie is just gullible enough to believe that it really is “all over for [her] here.” She is willing to go with Arnold Friend not because she actually wants to, but because she thinks he is right; Connie has nothing keeping her, not her friends, her family, or any of the …
What does Connie symbolize?
Connie, also, has been said to represent many things: Eve, troubled youth, or spiritually unenlightened humanity.
What does June represent in where are you going?
June represents the child that Connie’s mother wishes for and the chasm that was created between Connie and her mother. June is an overweight girl with no ambition or thought for looks. She is dutiful to her parents and does her chores.
What does Connies house symbolize?
Slowly, both Connie and the reader come to understand that if she leaves the house, Friend will take her away with him and rape her, perhaps even murder her. The house, then, comes to represent Connie’s adolescent innocence and the safety both her family life and status as a child provides her with.
What does Arnold symbolize in where are you going?
Arnold Friend, the antagonist in Joyce Carol Oates’s story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” represents the devil who arrives to bring Connie to the underworld. For example, his unusual appearance implies that he is an inhuman being, unlike what he wants to lead on.
What is the significance of the expression man the flying saucers on Arnold Friend’s car?
Arnold’s Car She complains that the color of the car is so bright that it hurts her eyes, and she is puzzled by the phrase “Man the flying saucers” on the front fender, which was an expression that her peers used to use but that has fallen out of fashion.
Is Arnold Friend the antagonist?
The story’s antagonist, Arnold Friend is a deeply sinister character—a man who pretends to be a teenage boy in his effort to kidnap, rape, and murder Connie.
Where do Connie and her friends go when they leave the shopping plaza?
One midsummer night, Connie and her best girlfriend are dropped off at the local shopping plaza as usual by her best friend’s father. Here they pull the oldest trick in the book. Instead of hanging out at the shopping plaza, they run across the highway to a drive-in restaurant where the older kids hang out.
