The short story Where Are you Going, Where Have You by Joyce Carol Oates was very disturbing and creepy. The main character is a teenage girl named Connie. Connie is a pretty girl who has conflicts with her mother and older sister like a typical teenage girl. She wants to rebel and have fun, but her mom is always holding her back and comparing her to her boring older sister. Connie lies to her mom and flirts with boys at a hamburger place when she is supposed to be at the mall or the movies. She loves music and uses music to take a break from her life. Oates also integrates music throughout the short story. The story progresses when a man named Arnold Friend and Elle Oscar come to Connie’s house on a Sunday afternoon when nobody is home except Connie. At first Connie is flattered by the attention of the boys. Arnold speaks in a sing song way and is familiar to her because of the way he dresses and acts. As the story goes on Arnold starts to talk to Connie in a creepy way by saying personal facts about Connie and her family. Next, he threatens to hurt her family if she doesn’t leave the house and come with him. He makes it clear that he wants to take advantage of her. Connie is in a terrible position. Her flirtatious ways have put her in this bad situation. I’m not sure what I would do if I was in this situation. I would be very conflicted. When thinking about the question did she deserve it, I would say that she did not deserve it. It was bad not to be honest, but her dishonesty didn’t deserve a threat to her family. Also she did not deserved to what happened to her in the end.
One song that I thought of immediately when I was reading the short story was The Police's "Every Breath You Take". In my opinion this song was prefect because it is about a boy watching every move a girl makes and that is exactly what happens to Connie.
Link to the lyrics:
Link to the song:
No comments:
Post a Comment