Short Response Paper - Essay Example

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been Where are you going, Where Have You Been is one of the greatest story I have read. Characters are best placed to best describe the situation. Antagonism between Connie and her mother starts the story. He mother asks her, “Why dont you keep your room clean like your sister? How have you got your hair fixed—what stinks? Hairspray? You dont see your sister using that junk (Oates 1)." Her mother and her mother’s sisters paint June a ‘saint’, but this description suits her character.

Although Connie seems to fight against her mother and her family, this is the only group of people she truly knows. Connie tries a split personality with hope that, she will fit both at hope and elsewhere. She does this by having a selected smile, walking style, hairstyle, and even laughter style one meant for home and the other meant for elsewhere. The short story is from a potential victim’s view where Connie is a victim while Arnold Friend is a killer who seduces Connie and gives her promises of security (Oates 1-7).

Indeed, Arnold Friend depicts a strange and mismatched appearance that represents danger (Oates 4). He also seems to conceal threat by depicting a calm voice, gentle coaxing, and convincing voice (Oates 3-7). When Arnold visits her home in her parents’ absence, he is a hard character for Connie to define, he lies somewhere between young and old, human and non-human, calm and strange. She is unable to figure him out and his intentions. The author asserts, “She couldnt decide if she liked him or if he was just a jerk, and so she dawdled in the doorway and wouldnt come down or go back inside (Oates 3).

” Connie’s teenage rejects the role of daughter to her mother, sister to June, and “nice” girl to the family to cultivate her sexual persona, which flourishes only when she is away from her home and family.The music Connie listens to draws her into the world of fantasies. It paints an ideal love world and love life, which makes her daydream about boys (Oates 5-7). The author does not make it clear however whether Connie is just day dreaming busking in the sun while listening to her music from the radio or Arnold was at her home in reality.

This aspect of the story leave the reader with no clarity of Arnold and Connie escapade. Did it happen in reality or was she fantasizing?Works CitedOates, Joyce. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been." 1994. Web. 14 April 2015.