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

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

Joyce Carol Oates wrote her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” after reading about the 1950s serial murders of Charles Schmid, a story that was profiled in Life magazine. For one thing, she was concerned with the increasing fixation on sexual themes in the youth culture of the 1960s.

What does Ellie represent 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 …

What do the numbers mean in Where Are You Going Where have you been?

In interpreting the numbers 33, 19, 17, which are painted on the side of Arnold Friend’s jalopy in Joyce Carol Oates’s story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (in The Wheel of Love and Other Stories [New York: Vanguard Press, 1970]), Mark Robson claims that there exists an allusion to Judges 19:17–the number …

What does Arnold friend symbolize?

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.

What does Ellie offer for Arnold friend?

Ellie Oscar serves as Arnold Friend’s largely silent sidekick, sitting in the car and listening to the radio for most of the story’s action. Eventually he offers to cut Connie’s phone line, bolstering Arnold Friend’s ambiguous and seductive verbal threats with the possibility of real, physical violence.

What does Arnold friend look like?

He wears mirrored sunglasses, has translucent skin, and has hair that is so wild that it looks like a wig. When he walks, he wobbles, as though his shoes don’t fit properly. Some critics suggest that his unsteadiness hints at the possibility that his feet are actually hooves, as the devil would have.

How is music used in Where Are You Going Where have you been?

Music. Music functions as Connie’s bridge from the real world to her fantasy world. Connie enjoys escaping her life by listening to music and daydreaming about boys, and she gathers her ideas about romance primarily from songs on the radio.

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

From the outset of the story, music symbolizes Connie’s inner life, specifically the pleasure she takes in romantic relationships and romantic ideals themselves. In this way, the symbol of music represents not only Connie’s inner life and pleasure, but also Friend’s violent sexual desire and evil intentions.

Where Are You Going Where have you been irony?

The dramatic irony of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” conveys the tone of warning about temptation. Connie’s situation is that she does not feel appreciated at home and uses her looks and actions to get attention and appreciation from boys even if it is short-term.

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been mother?

Connie’s Mother Connie and her mother bicker constantly and disagree about almost everything. Connie’s mother envies Connie’s youth and beauty, which she herself has lost. At the end of the story, Connie’s mother is whom Connie cries out for when she is presumably attacked by Arnold.

Is where are you going where have you been a dream?

In Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” the reader can conclude that this story is Connie’s realistic dream. The narrator leaves the reader to decide Connie’s fate, which is waking up from this awful nightmare relieved that her dream was not reality. Works Cited. Oates, Joyce Carol.

Why does Connie wish her mother was dead and she dead herself?

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 and she herself was dead and it was all over. Connie wishes for death to end her toxic family dynamic.