Oate's Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

Joyce Carol Oates 'Where are You Going, Where Have You Been?' is a poignant although scary tale of going through a transition in life.

Joyce Carol Oates uses a number of symbolism to develop the plot and her characters. This helps establish the main theme in the story Where are You Going Where Have You Been, Where Have You Been which is the coming of age of Connie.

Joyce Carol Oates' Symbolism of Good and Evil

One of the allusions is Connie acting as if “everything about her had two sides to it, one for home, and one for anywhere that was not home” (Oats, pg 510). This means Connie has two identities. It could also mean the two sides of human nature- good and evil. One front, the good one, is for the benefit of the family. The other, a more evil Connie, she puts up for friends.

Connie, being a teenager, is at a crossroads. She has not settled in a self that she is comfortable in. She is still finding her spiritual identity, so to speak. When she's with her friends, she lets her hair down. She is not guarded in her actions like when she with her mom, who frequently criticizes her and calls her lazy.

Another allusion is the differences between the homely, elder sister June and the pretty Connie. Connie is perceived as lazy and unreliable by her mother and June is the plain, strong and dependable one. Again, dualities are being stressed - the good and evil.

Arnold Friend and Temptations

The second allusion is embodied by Arnold Friend. Arnold pretends to be a young man although he is way older than Connie. He represents evil, temptations or sins. He may not be the devil incarnate but he certainly is related or allied with the dark forces. Despite this, Arnold is a necessary evil to effect Connie’s transition to adulthood, albeit painful one.

When Connie leaps into a new world she finds herself surrounded by temptations. The short story is actually a metaphor on the eternal battle that humanity wages against sins. In this reading, one sees the innate nature of man being tested at some point, as he/she enters this harsh adult world.

Everybody falls and commits evil doings. This is probably what Connie realizes when she is confronted with the reality of an Arnold Friend.

Connie's Fall

Another symbolic allusion in the story is when Connie stands behind the screen door. She is in actuality standing in a threshold of adulthood. The anxiety she feels as she is about to leave the house and be with Arnold represents the feelings of anxieties one faces as one transitions from adolescence to adulthood.

Anxiety is particularly noticeable when Friend talks to her and forces her to go out of the house. She struggles with the decision all throughout the scene. This part of the short story depicts not just physical struggles but spiritual struggles as well.

Connie is believed to be symbolically aware that the innocent stage of her life will be over once she steps out of the screen door and into Arnold’s grasp.

At the start of the story, however, one can see a different Connie. She is eager to become an adult. She frequently tests the limits by pretending to be shopping or watching a movie with June and her friend when all the while she was out meeting boys. She “sometimes they went across the highway, ducking fast across the busy road, to a drive-in restaurant where older kids hung out” (Oats, pg 510). This shows Connie's desires to engage in adult acts and behaviors.

As Arnold forces Connie to make that transition permanent by forcing her to come out of the screen door and leave her family forever, she becomes nervous and reluctant. There seems to be ambivalence in her actions. She may be afraid at the prospect awaiting her but at the same time it seems she is curious as she stands at the “doorway” to know what adulthood means.

When Connie leaves the house for the last time, it implies that she is surrendering her own identity to Arnold’s desires. In the spiritual sense, this could mean she is giving in to temptations, even if forcibly. This is a struggle of good and evil. As Arnold succeeds in his plans, evil seems to have the upperhand.

The story does not offer a definite ending. Foremost in the minds of the readers would be the fate of Connie. If she falls, would she find redemption? Or, will she be forced to live a life of temptation forever.

Perhaps, the most appropriate ending would have to be a personal choice made by the reader. Would one triumph or succumb in the face of temptation? That is a question each must personally address in his or her life. That is the same question "Where are you going, where have you been?" poses to each reader.