What is the irony in Where Are You Going Where have you been?

The title Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? is ironic because Connie’s parents never ask her where is going or where she has been when she returns home. Ironically, while she uses her sexuality to create a new mature persona, Arnold Friend exploits the weakness that it creates in her.

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been essay thesis?

Thesis: Where are you going, where have you been? by Joyce Carol Oates uses symbolism to portray youths’ desire for independence but overall gullibility to life’s illusions. Arnold friend himself is symbolic of the evil that lurks hidden with the world.

Where Are You Going Where have you been setting?

Sources. Joyce Carol Oates based “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” on a true story of rape and murder in Tucson, Arizona, in 1965. Charles Schmid, a twenty-three-year-old man, was arrested for the rapes and murders of several teenage girls.

What is the importance of music in Where Are You Going Where have you been?

Connie mistakes music as a sacred force of protection because it gives her pleasure, failing to realize that it is actually a force of self- destruction. Oates uses music to transition between Connie’s two lives: the dull one that she lives with her family, and the exciting public one she lives with her friends.

Who is Ellie in where are you going?

Arnold Friend’s sidekick, Ellie is passive and quietly disturbing character in the story. He sits in the passenger seat of Friend’s car holding the transistor radio. Connie observes that while, like Friend, Ellie is also older than he originally appeared, he is also strangely undeveloped and completely submissive.

What does the name Arnold friend mean?

Arnold Friend symbolizes the exact opposite of what his name implies: he represents danger, potential pedophilia, and the end of life as Connie knows it.

How is Arnold Friend characterized?

Oates characterizes Arnold Friend at first glance as “a boy with shaggy, black hair, in a convertible jalopy painted gold”(581). Oates does make Arnold out to be a psychopathic stalker, but never objectively states the diabolical nature to his character.

Who is Arnold friend based off of?

Charles Schmid

Do the tone and connotations of her words when she is describing Arnold friend allude to what he is?

2.Do the tone and connotations of her words when she is describing Arnold Friend allude to what he is? Yes, she describes him as creepy and obviously a lot older than her. This description shows that he doesn’t have the best intentions with her.

Why is Where Are You Going Where have you been dedicated to Bob Dylan?

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a frequently anthologized short story written by Joyce Carol Oates. Oates said that she dedicated the story to Bob Dylan because she was inspired to write it after listening to his song “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”.

What in on the fender of Arnold friend’s car in Where Are You Going Where have you been?

Arnold’s Car Arnold Friend’s flashy gold car, with its outdated phrases written on the sides, is an extension of Arnold himself: extreme and not entirely right. The car gives Connie her first clues that there might be something wrong with or dangerous about Arnold.