Abstract
This essay offers an expository interpretation of Joyce Carol Oates’ short story, entitled “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” It portrays the female protagonist’s urge to be accepted, admired, and thought of as beautiful, while she continues to put on a personal display of maturity and sexual attraction. Once the opportunity for her to be treated as a truly mature person presents itself, it becomes all too clear that she is far less mature than she originally presented herself to be.
Keywords: teenager, rebellion, adulthood, sexuality, seduction
Joyce Carol Oates’ short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” raises numerous unsettling issues as to the actions of the female teenage protagonist, Connie. Oats leaves more than one loose end to her story, sternly refusing to shed any light on the logic that is behind Connie’s actions. On one hand, it is possible to state that Connie leaves with Arnold in a final act of rebellion against her family and society in general. She takes painstaking measures to be utterly different from her sister and mother, under the guise of search for independence and physical experiments with her sexual appeal. On the other hand, a conclusion which offers a more plausible perspective given Connie’s age and behavior, is simply the fact that Connie tries her very best to present herself as a mature young woman, a careless seductress who is well aware of her charms, but is in no way a match for Arnold’s slithery language, who is treating her exactly how she wants to be treated: not as a little girl, but as a young woman. Thus, in her naïve and juvenile endeavor to age herself prematurely, Connie unintentionally falls into the clutches of the demon-like Arnold Friend, who will prove to be the final catalyst to her transformation from a child pretending to be an adult to a real adult.
At the very beginning of the story, Connie is presented as pretty much every other fifteen year old girl in the world: she is obsessed with her appearance, she goes out with friends and enjoys flirting with boys. Physical appearance is of the utmost relevance to her, “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” (Oates, 2002, p. 25). This action mirrors her insecurities about her own self image and the desperate need to be accepted and treated not merely as a good looking girl, but as a beautiful girl who catches everyone’s eye. It is common knowledge that teenagers make most of their decisions about others based on the others’ physical appearance. She is well aware of the fact that others find her beautiful, “she knew she was pretty and that was everything,” and she was more than eager to emphasize and flaunt her good looks, up to such an extent that she would have to endure her mother’s scolding: "Stop gawking at yourself. Who are you? You think you're so pretty?" (Oates, 2002, p. 25). The relationship Connie shares with the female members of her household is far from a normal, loving one. It appears the mother, once beautiful herself, but now a victim to the cruelty of age, favors the less attractive and more conventional older daughter, June, who “was twenty-four and still lived at home was a secretary in the high school Connie attended, and was so plain and chunky and steady that Connie had to hear her praised all the time by her mother and her mother's sisters” (Oates, 2002, p. 26). With the father’s ghostly presence in the evening, who wants else but to have his supper, read the newspapers and go to bed, Connie is forced to endure her mother’s incessant nagging about her inadequacy, or perhaps even her jealousy.
As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Connie is a “split personality.” She behaves a certain way when at home with her family, and then becomes a different person the moment she is outside. Being all too aware of her physical beauty, she endeavors to exude a certain maturity well past her proper age, through sexualized behavior, clothes and hairstyle. She demands attention from the male populace her age, and with her behavior, almost urges them to pursue her in a sexual manner. But still, despite the fact that she puts on a performance of maturity and seduction, and even allows Eddie to take her to an alley, she is reluctant to take the final step, which is something she will be forced to do, once Arnold appears in front of her door. Thus, her two personas pose as a symbol of reality and fantasy: reality being her downtrodden family life in her household, and fantasy being the sexually liberated version of herself, where she is the master of her own destiny where no one can tell her what to do or how to do it.
Consequently, the appearance of Arnold, with an ominously deceptive surname Friend, commences the process of merging these two worlds together, that of fantasy and reality, in treating Connie like a young woman, which is an image she herself has been projecting. At first, she is slightly enamored and intrigued by the fact that he has taken the effort to find out where she lives and has come to take her away, but is not taking him too seriously. Then, as Arnold becomes impatient and his vicious side slowly starts to emerge from his honeyed words, Connie sees that she has become a real player in this adulthood game. So far, she has perceived the world of adults through rosy glasses, an image abundant in movies she is watching and songs she is listening to. Suddenly, the harsh reality of the adult world, with its mature sexuality and seduction, comes in the guise of Arnold, and she loses the little grip she had of her own composure and decision making, and finally succumbs to his desires when he tells her: “’Yes, I’m your lover. You don’t know what that is but you will,’ he said. ‘I know that too. I know all about you. But look: it’s real nice and you couldn’t ask for anybody better than me, or more polite. I always keep my word. I’ll tell you how it is. I’m always nice at first, the first time. I’ll hold you so tight you won’t think you have to try to get away or pretend anything because you’ll know you can’t. I’ll come inside you where it’s all secret and you’ll give in to me and you’ll love me’” (Oates, 2002, p. 40). Next to such a devilishly “smooth operator,” Connie can do nothing else but concur with his wishes. In this game of seduction, she is no match for him.
In the end, her choice is obvious, yet her reasons are not. Like many adolescents, she is yearning for a life of adventure and unconformity and for relationships where she will be loved, unlike the relationship with her family. It appears that Arnold knows exactly what to offer her, dangerously, yet temptingly enough for her not to run away immediately but to listen to him until the very end and finally, succumbing to the influence of his words. Connie is a Holden Caulfield-esque heroine, who wishes to make herself appear knowledgeable about the world around her, yet who finally emerges as much less mature than she originally presents herself to be.
References:
Oates, J. C. (2002). Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?. E. Showalter, (Ed.), New Jersey: Rutgers.
