"Where are you Going, Where Have You Been?"

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses and summarizes "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", Joyce Carol Oates's giddily frightening short story about a teenage girl's terror when confronted with the character of the wolf-like predator Arnold Friend. The paper describes Connie's thoughts and feelings and how they ultimately determine the story's outcome.

From the Paper:

"Arnold's threatening words and actions while outside Connie's doorstep are foreshadowed early on when he warns Connie after first noticing her outside a drive-in restaurant: "Gonna get you, baby" (p. 2279). From then on, Arnold's quest to "get" Connie feels to Connie, in its dangerous intensity, like the predatory evil of the scariest fairy tale characters, e.g., the Big Bad Wolf. Shaggy-haired Arnold who drives "a jalopy painted gold" (p. 2279) first notices Connie at a "drive-in restaurant where older kids hung out" (p. 2278). Like Connie, the reader becomes frightened by the appearance, words, and actions of Arnold and Ellie Oscar. Both seem to Connie, suddenly, like evil incarnate when they arrive at the front door and refuse to leave."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Oates, Joyce Carol. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women. Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar (Eds.). New York: Norton, 1985. 2277-2291.

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