Joyce Carol OatessWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been

Mystical voices of unity and liberty filled the youths spirits in the 1960’s, sparking what may have been America’s â€Å"golden ages†. For baby boomers, however, the new generation was being poisoned by talks of rebellion and uprising. Joyce Carol Oates, the author of â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?†, begins by introducing Connie, a stereotypical 15 year-old in the 1960’s, who voices the arrogance of the youth. Connie’s passion for glancing at every reflective surface she passes by, her attempts to appear older, and her daydreams of romance devised by music indicates how she believes the world is all a fairytale and how Oates perceives the mindset of minorities. In the short story â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦The 60’s legacies included the period of women rights, which was a whole new ideology for those in America because it stopped the suppression of womenâ₠¬â„¢s voices. Furthermore, Oates narrates, â€Å" She cried out, she cried for 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† (Oates, Page.9), inferring Arnold’s psychological torture of Connie is just as terrifying as the threat of physical harm as well as drastically inferring the control on women prior to the 1960’s. Connie loses the ability to speak for herself, to stand up for herself, making a connection to the days before women’s rights was implanted into society. This loss of speech is felt as an actual physical attack, a kind of death. In the end, the theme of the short story was to go in-depth with the violence portrayed in the society’s cultural shifts and into the betterment of society as changes such as women rights started becoming effective. Oates tackles the issue of danger within youth culture by taking advantage o f the character Arnold Friend, who is depicted as the devil and spiritual evil hovering over society. Arnold s mysterious and hazy nature symbolizes what the past generation envisioned, evil lingering within the revolutions taking place. For example, when Connie takes the time to analyze Arnold after having a conversation with him, â€Å"She recognizedShow MoreRelatedJoyce Carol OatessWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been?1098 Words   |  5 PagesFiction Analysis Paper: Where are you going, where have you been? Joyce Carol Oates’s Where are you going, where have you been? is a post-modernist story. The primary theme is childhood versus adulthood. The story explores Connie’s, the main character’s, ambivalence about adulthood. The plot of the story builds the theme. Throughout the story, Connie believes that she is playing 2 personas. One that is child-like, and innocent, and another that is lascivious and â€Å"adult-like† to the extent that she