Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been: A Critical Analysis

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 shadow

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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 954
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page)

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