Connie in Joyce Carol Oates' Short Story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Joyce Carol Oates created a very provocative and interesting character when she created CONNIE in her well-known short story, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Sexual imagery, sexual dreams, innocence and a hormone-driven desire for sexual intercourse - all these elements help Connie survive her lonely experiences, and why not? Indeed, what is a young woman to do when seemingly trapped in an environment that practically enslaves her emotionally and physically? Connie, the protagonist, is a lot like Cinderella. She has a mother who is unloving and jealous of her sexuality. Connie is only 15, a typical American girl, pretty but very innocent and very beaten down by family and circumstances.One of Connie's biggest battles is with her mother and sisters. Her mother constantly reminds Connie that her older sister June does everything right and Connie does nothing right. June "...saved money and helped clean the house and cooked and Connie couldn't do a thing" because her mind was filled with "trashy daydreams" (Oates 1967, p. 450). Her mother was jealous because her mother "...had been pretty once too...but now her lo
She had a collision of emotions, a battle with herself, when one boy she had met introduced her to the worse possible experience for a young girl who has a burning desire to explore physical love. A bad boy named Arnold Friend showed up at her house on a Sunday when her parents and sister were gone. another wave of dizziness and fear rising in her so that for a moment he wasn't even in focus but was just a blur. Still, Connie also felt a sense of guilt - "Her mother was so simple, Connie thought, that it was maybe cruel to fool her so much" (453). Connie's other war was within herself; she was at war with her hormones, and with her dreamy desire inside to reach out and touch romance, to interact with a boy, to have a taste of sexual love if possible. This is serious stuff, wanting your mother dead and considering suicide as a sidebar story to her hoped-for mother's demise. She was initially turned on at the thought of a boy showing interest in her, but she was wary too.
Common topics in this essay:
Connie June,
Arnold Friend,
Where Sexual,
Carol Oates,
boys girls,
hormone-driven desire,
mother dead,
arnold friend,
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Acceptance Essays
