Analysis

“Where are you going, Where have you been?”

The text under analysis is a frequently anthologized short story “Where are you going, Where have you been?” written by Joyce Carol Oates. Joyce Carol Oates is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, poet, literary critic, professor and editor.  Oates was born in Lockport, New York. Joyce Carol Oates was born into a working-class family. Joyce Carol Oates developed a love for writing as a child under influence of such writers as Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Fyodor Dostoevsky, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, and Henry David Thoreau. Oates began writing at the age of 14. The Vanguard Press published Oates' first novel, “With Shuddering Fall” (1964), when she was 26 years old. Her famous works include the novel “Them”, “Black Water”, “A Garden of Earthly Delights”, “We Were the Mulvane’s”, “Blonde”, “The Gravedigger's Daughter” and “The Accursed”.

The story presents a life of a main character, Connie, a beautiful 15-year-old girl, who lives with her parents and her sister. She is very pretty, but light-headed girl. She doesn’t reach an understanding with her family, particularly she has misunderstanding with her mother, who she thinks old-fashioned, and she is a rival with her older sister, who is loved and admired by both mother and aunt. Connie spends a lot of her time with her best friend visiting different cinemas and meeting boys. One evening she captures the attention of a stranger. His name is Arnold Friend. He tells Connie he is 18 and has come to take her for a ride in his car with his sidekick Ellie. Connie slowly realizes that he is actually much older, and starts to be afraid. When she refuses to go with them, Friend starts to threat her, saying that he will harm her family. The girl at last attempts to save herself and calls the police, but then feels emotional devastation after the unsuccessful attempt to call the police and her absolute obedience to Arnold’s will.

The basic theme of the story, I believe is looking for independence. Every teenager is dependent on the adults in her life for care and discipline as well as for enabling her social life. It happens very often that they are annoyed by parent’s control and care and they start to search for independence. Unfortunately, there is a happy end not in every case, and the teens get in awful situations, like the protagonist did. Connie’s search for independence has a brutal outcome. 

As for the setting of the story, it’s difficult to define for sure where the events happen, because the author doesn’t present the name of the town and time. But of course we can guess that the story take place somewhere in a suburb of America in 1960s in Connie’s house. Redding the beginning of the story it’s hard not to notice the places which Connie visits together with her friends: movie theaters, shopping malls and drive-in restaurants. It’s not a secret that all these were popular in 60s. These conditions influence Connie’s lifestyle, the way of thinking and the behavior in general. The protagonist realizes that life of adults is not so innocent and sweet as they said.

From the point of view of presentation the text is the 3^rd person narrative, because the author doesn’t take part in the events of the story, he is just an observer.

Speaking about the characters of the story the author presents two main characters – Connie and Arnold Friend. There are also some minor characters, such as Connie’s parents, sister, her best friend and the driver. The protagonist, Connie, is 15-year-old girl, who lives with her parents and her sister. She is very pretty, but light-headed girl: “she knew she was pretty and that was everything”. Connie thinks a lot about her appearance and spends a lot of time before the mirror: “she had a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right”. All her thoughts are occupied with boys.

Connie doesn’t reach an understanding with her family, particularly she has misunderstanding with her mother, who she thinks old-fashioned, and she is a rival with her older sister, who is loved and admired by both mother and aunt. Connie spends a lot of her time with her best friend visiting different cinemas and meeting boys.

The antagonist of the story, Arnold Friend, is like “a man from another world”. We know just some things about him. He is about 30, well-dressed fashion man. He has a gold car which no doubt attracts girl for the first time.  But then she realizes that “everything about him and even about the music that was so familiar to her was only half real”.

Speaking about the plot, it’s worth saying that the events of this story are very unpredictable. The story starts with the exposition, where the author presents us the protagonist, Connie, 15-year-old girl, who lives with her parents and her sister. She is very pretty, but light-headed girl. She doesn’t reach an understanding with her family and spends her time with her best friend visiting different cinemas and meeting boys.

The development of the story depicts Connie gets acquainted with a stranger who calls himself Arnold Friend.  He invites Connie for a little ride and starts threatening her in making some harm to her family if she refuses.

The climax is when the girl at last attempts to save herself and calls the police, because it’s the most emotional part of the story. As for the anticlimax, it’s when the author describes Connie’s emotional devastation after the unsuccessful attempt to call the police and her absolute obedience to Arnold’s will.

It’s necessary to say, that the author manages to present the main idea of the story and the characters with the help of dialogues between Connie and Arnold, to which the most part of the story is given. There is no conclusion here.

It’s worth saying that this story is mainly narration with the elements of description.

Reading the story it’s hard not to notice that it’s written in journalistic style.

          The author uses lots of dialectical words (toldja, wanta, don'tcha, can'tcha), colloquial (a dope) and low-flown vocabulary ("Like hell you are." "Like hell I am", “Get the hell out of here!"). With the help of these words the author underlines Connie’s age, because it’s typical for a teenager to use such words; also she shows   Arnold Friend as low-educated and ignorant man, because of his speech.

Speaking about the stylistic devices, the author uses a similes "...he hadn't shaved for a day or two, and the nose long and hawk like, sniffing as if she were a treat he was going to gobble up and it was all a joke..."to show Arnold’s passion toward the girl; "His eyes were like chips of broken glass that catch the light in an amiable way." to describe Arnold’s appearance. Also there are different metaphors “to a single face that was not even a face but an idea, a feeling” to show Connie’s daydreaming habit; “was, the back yard ran off into weeds and a fence-like line of trees and behind it the sky was perfectly blue and still” to describe her emotional state which is shown in a progress from the first thought of danger to overflowing horror.

   It’s necessary to say that the author creates the story as an allusion to the tradition of Western European allegory known as Death and the Maiden. Here Arnold Friend is death personified and Connie is his young, female victim. Arnold Friend, with his wild black hair and connection to music, is an allusion to Bob Dylan, an American singer-songwriter, artist and writer.

   I believe that Oates brilliantly uses all expressive means and stylistic devices to present her characters and to make the reader create an image of their personalities.