Where Are You Going Where Have You Been essay topics?

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been essay topics?

The short story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates highlights the female stereotypes of the era through the protagonist Connie. The story is set in the 1960s, which was a time of great change in America. Topics like feminism, civil rights, sexual freedom, etc.

Where Are You Going Where have you been theme statement?

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.

What is the significance of Where Are You Going Where have you been?

The allusion parallels Connie’s decision to sacrifice herself so that Arnold Friend will not harm her family. The title also points to the strained relationship between Connie and her parents, who nag her about her behavior but do not question her actions.

What is the central conflict in Where Are You Going Where have you been?

Connie Vs. Arnold Friend– The main conflict in this story, Arnold Friend and Connie clash. Connie is playing the scared, traumatized role while Arnold Friend is aggressor. He is making all the moves to get closer to kidnapping Connie.

How is Arnold Friend the Devil?

Arnold Friend clearly symbolizes the devil through his physical traits, his knowledge of Connie, and his power over her kind of like he was hypnotizing her to go with him. First, Arnold Friend’s physical traits portray him as Satan.

Who is Eddie in where are you going?

Eddie is a teenager, slightly older than Connie, who picks her up at the drive-in restaurant and with whom Connie spends an evening. Ellie Oscar is Arnold Friend’s older, charmless sidekick whose primary interest is his radio and who volunteers to disconnect the telephone in Connie’s house.

What does Ellie symbolize in Where Are You Going Where have you been?

In her 1990 journal article published in Studies in Short Fiction entitled “The Shadow of a Satyr in Oates’s ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” literary critic Joan Easterly posits that the name “Ellie Oscar is a parody of the name of the Greek god of mercy, Elios.” This is a highly defensible theory of the …

Is Where Are You Going Where have you been an allegory?

“[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).

Where Are You Going Where have you been feminist allegory?

The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates can be interpreted from a feminist perspective. There are many parts of the story that seem to symbolize the oppression of women. The story symbolizes the exploitation of women by men, and how women allow themselves to be controlled.

Where Are You Going Where have you been realism?

Oates has described the form of “Where Are You Going” as “psychological realism”; or “realistic allegory,” a fictional mode that is “Hawthornean, romantic, shading into parable.”2 At the same time, the story deals with a terrifying possibility of contemporary American life, a situation of invasion, abduction, and …

What is the situational irony?

Situational Irony occurs when actions or events have the opposite result from what is expected or what is intended.