Joyce Carol Oates' “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is spooky, eerie, and all together uncomfortable to read. However, its theme is timeless and must not be avoided. Authors like Oates are important because they make readers face topics that they might otherwise be inclined to skim by.
Children are constantly trying to make themselves appear and sound older than they actually are. Girls as young as nine years old are shaving their legs, wearing belly shirts, and applying makeup. Boys no longer play with G.I. Joes and skip right to violent video games. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Oates points out the dire consequences of forfeiting one’s childhood. A very unfortunate young girl named Connie gets sucked into a shallow existence. The only things she is preoccupied by are boys and her outward appearance.
Most children do not realize that the world can be very unsafe and scary. There are people who cannot be trusted and people who commit crimes. Because they do not have experience or knowledge, children are susceptible to believing almost anything that someone tells them. They also have a difficult time distinguishing bad people from good people, believing every adult to be as safe and secure as their parents are. Connie is able to act like an adult when life does not present her with any challenges, but has not been taught how to handle herself in difficult situations. It is evident that Connie is not as ready to grow up as she thinks when Arnold Friend emerges in the story.
Arnold Friend pretends to be a teenage boy to lull Connie into a false sense of security. He performs a good cop/bad cop show to make himself appear better than his comrade Ellie. He uses music he knows she likes to relate to her and a “sing-song” voice to coax her out of her home. He also dresses and speaks just like all the other normal teenage boys Connie has met, but exerts a control over her that she is not quite sure how to respond to. The strong, confident Connie withers away, leaving behind a shell of a young girl with no methods for disposing of her unwanted guest. Arnold Friend is obviously aware of her inability to resist his control. He needs no force to get Connie to succumb to his requests. His mental power over is so intense that she eventually walks into the arms of her rapist by her own free will.
Rape, a very obvious theme in the story, is a sad but evident truth in our world. The imagery in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is virulent and extreme. When Connie finally comes to the realization that she is in serious trouble, “she cried out, she cried for her mother, she felt her breath start jerking back and forth in her lungs as if it were something Arnold Friend was stabbing her with again and again with no tenderness.” This quote is a perfect example of the existence of sexual violence. It also refers to the point in the story where Connie tries to revert back to her childhood and escape. She does not like the lack of tenderness that she is experiencing. As children become adults, they often experience a similar situation. Young adults cling to their past because they do not like the reality and harshness of the real world. Unfortunately for Connie, Arnold Friend is her reality and it is too late for her to escape by wishing that she had listened to her mother more often.
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*sorry this was late. my best friend's dad had heart surgery and i have been at the hospital all day. hope it's not a problem!*
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2 comments:
Uno, I like the phrase "forfeiting childhood." There's something there. And when you say, "Young adults cling to their past because they do not like the reality and harshness of the real world," I think perhaps there's another side that this story is exploring, that young adults are sometimes in too much of a hurry to run away from their past, and in so doing they expose themselves, often without realizing until too late that they are doing so, to the reality and harshness of the world.
Good post!
PS--Yes, you're OK on this one. My general rule is that when someone has establish a pattern of meeting deadlines and being conscientious about work, she's entitled to one day's benefit of the doubt. So a little slack is cut.
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