"A Critical Analysis of Joyce Carol Oates'
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Kakutani's remarks concerning thematic motifs in Joyce Carol Oates writings focuses on the opinion that the author has a taste for "mixing the mundane and the Gothic, the ordinary and sensationalistic, a fascination with the dark undercurrents of violence, eroticism and emotional chaos in American life" (Kirszener & Mandell 2000 508).
This critical observation is seen throughout the short story "Where Are you Going, Where Have You Been?" On the surface, this does appear to be a bit Gothic, since we have the classic pure heroine cowering in fear. The fear is prompted when 15-year-old Connie, while spending an isolated Sunday alone in her house, is visited by Arnold Friend, a dark and not totally uninteresting character.
Connie has seen Arnold before, and when he shows up in his convertible, with an even more curious Eddie as a passenger, and challenges Connie to come for a ride, she panics and runs inside her house. He follows, and in some rather interesting seduction techniques, manages to overcome her fear -- perhaps.
It is the thesis of this paper that rather than being a tale of a demonic and Satanic visitation, or a classic good versus evil tale, this Oates' work is a coming-of-age tale with very specific elements of sexual frustration. Connie is presented from the beginning as somewhat of a walking hormone. Within the first paragraph, we see Connie visualizing "a shadowy vision of herself as she was right at that moment; she knew she was pretty and that was everything" (Oates 469).
Later, while walking to a car with Eddie, she sees herself in this splendid description "Connie couldn't help but let her eyes wander over the windshields and faces all around her, her face gleaming with a joy that had nothing to do with Eddie or even this place" (Oates 471). On the way to the car, she glimpses Arnold Friend, a boy with...