Transcript Where are you Going, Where Have you Been?

“Where are you Going, Where
Have you Been?
Joyce Carol Oates
Connie
• Adolescence
– Fifteen
– “Quick, nervous, giggling habit”
– “Checking other people’s faces to make sure her
own was all right” (1)
• Rebellious
• Vain
• Self-centered
– Transitioning from girl to woman
Connie
• Identity and search for self
– “Everything about her had two sides to it,
one for home and one for anywhere that
was not home:”
• Likeable character
• Values outward appearances
• Holds others to her standards
Connie
• Identity and search for self
– Establishes identity by testing boundaries
of parents
– Disparages sister, fights with mother
• “she was so plain and chunky and steady that
Connie had to hear her praised all the time by
her mother and her mother's sisters.” (2)
– Foil to Connie
– Connie is stereotypical “pretty girl”
Connie
• Identity and search for self
–
Connie values physical beauty
• “Her heart began to pound and her fingers snatched at
her hair..wondering how bad she looked.” (
• Connie is transitioning between adolescence and
adulthood
– Unstable identity cause her to be susceptible to Arnold
Friends
– Represented by the screen door
– Arnold Friend will use her desire to be an adult to get her
to come out
» Causes nervousness and anxiety
Connie
• Appearance verses Reality
– “Who the hell do you think you are?”
• First impression was her type of guy
• Enables him to lure Connie
– Creates tone of tension and uneasiness
– “Connie liked the way he was dressed…the nose
long and hawklike, sniffing as if she were a treat he
was going to gobble up and it was all a joke.”
American Society
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1960’s
Growth of suburbs
Loss of community and cohesiveness
A place of security and safety
– Contrast to the violence implied that will ensue
– “…the backyard ran off into the weeds and a
fence-like line of trees…The asbestos ranch
house…”
American Society
• Changes in family bonds
– Lenient mother
– Rising tensions
• “didn’t bother talking much”
• “Her mother who noticed everything and knew
everything”
– Disconnected father
• “away most of the time”
• Repeated phrases
American Society
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Sexual permissiveness
Feminism
War
Increase in violence and crime
Music representative of this
Arnold Friend
• Attracts Connie due to physical appearance
– “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…’” ()
– Suitor who will woo Connie
– Use Connie’s vanity and need to be liked by men
to seduce her
Arnold Friend
• Blends romance in order to appeal to a
girl unsure of her identity
– “I took a special interest in you, such a
pretty girl…We ain’t leaving until you come
with us.”
– Uses her lack of identity to manipulate her
Arnold Friend
• A Fiend
• “’I know your name and all about you. Lots of
things…I took a special interest in you, such a
pretty girl, and found out all about you- like I
know your parents and sister are gone
somewhere and I know where and how long
they’re going to be gone…” ( )
• Psychological and physical intimidation
• Represents violence and evil
Appearance verses Reality
• The devil?
– “His teeth were big and white”
– “…how thick the lashes were, thick and black as if
painted with black tarlike material”
– “-thirty, maybe more”
– “…as if he were indeed wearing a wig”
– “the boots must have been stuffed with something”
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Connie sees underneath the outward appearance
Hooves?
Marks the sign X - marking his victim
Seems unable to enter house without an invitation
Appearance verses Reality
• Sexual and emotional undertones
• He assumes the role of a suitor
• Reality is he will most likely rape and kill her
– “…I’m always nice at first, the first time. I’ll hold
you so tight you won’t think you have to try to get
away or pretend or anything because you’ll know
you can’t. And I’ll come inside you where it’s all
secret and you’ll give in to me and you’ll love me.
• Connie’s terror makes Arnold stronger
• Realizes the futility in escape
Appearance verses Reality
• “She watched this smile come, awkward as if
he were smiling from inside a mask. His
whole face was a mask she thought wildly,
tanned down to his throat but then running
out as if he had plastered make-up on his
face but had forgotten about his throat.”
– Did represent sexuality now fear and violence
– House should provide security
• Arnold shows weakness in this thought
• Reality of the violence in America
Appearance verses Reality
• Reality of situation
– “’What are you going to do?’ ‘Just two things,
maybe three…But I promise it won’t last long and
you’ll like me the way you get to like people you’re
close to. You will. It’s all over for you here, so
come on out.’”
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Recognizes the actual significance of physical beauty
Tone- Gothic horror
Effect of violence on human psyche
Only identity left for Connie is that of a victim
Appearance verses Reality
• Ellie Oscar
– Transitions from harmless friend into a
threat of violence
– Changing perception of both Friend and
Ellie
– “’You want that telephone pulled out.’”
• Loyal follower with equal evil intent
Resolution?
• “…I’m not going to sleep in my bed again.
Her bright green blouse was all wet…’The
place where you came from ain’t there
anymore, and where you had in mind to go is
cancelled out. This place you are now-inside
your daddy’s house- is nothing but a
cardboard box I can knock down any time.
You know that and always did know it.”
– Loss of control and innocence we think we have
control over
– Friend symbolizes sins
– No matter how hard we try to control or handle our
lives, we are taken over by the outside world
Resolution?
• “’My Sweet little blue-eyed girl,’ he said in a
half-sung that had nothing to do with her
brown eyes but was taken up just the same
by the vast sunlit reaches of the land behind
him and on all sides of him so much that
Connie had never seen before and did not
recognize except to know that she was going
to it.”
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Title of song to entice her
What lays ahead for her?
Psychological realism
Gothic horror
Music
• "... and listened to the music that made everything so good;
the music was always in the background, like music at a
church service; it was something to depend upon.” [36]
• "Connie let the screen door close and stood perfectly still
inside it, listening to the music from her radio and the boy's
blend together.” [44]
• "Part of those words were spoken with a slight rhythmic lilt,
and Connie somehow recognized them—the echo of a song
from last year, about a girl rushing into her boy friend's arms
and coming home again”
– Represents romantic aspects for Connie
– Culture and time period Connie uses to dictate how she
wants others to see her