...INTRO “I consider tragedy the highest form of art.” Joyce Carol Oates reveals her very realist outlook though this quote, which she stated on a PBS interview in 2008. As an American Author from 1963, being a woman writer was overlooked, however, she managed to make a career out of something she started to love as a child. Throughout this speech, I will tell you about Joyce’s life, the book of hers that I read, and how she connects to what we’ve learned in English Lit thus far. BODY 1. The Author Joyce Carol Oates was born on June 16th on her parents' farm, outside the town, and went to the same one-room schoolhouse her mother had attended. This rural area of upstate New York, straddling Niagara and Erie Counties, had been hit hard by the Great Depression. The few industries the area enjoyed suffered frequent closures and layoffs. Farm families worked desperately hard to sustain meager subsistence. But young Joyce enjoyed the natural environment of farm country, and displayed an interest in books and writing. Although her parents had little education, they encouraged her ambitions. When, at age 14, her grandmother gave her her first typewriter, she began consciously preparing herself, "writing novel after novel" throughout high school and college, said American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies. Without the typewriter from her grandmother, she may not have even started writing seriously. When she transferred to the high school in Lockport, she quickly distinguished...
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...The Truth Behind Arnold Friend In Joyce Carol Oates short story, “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?”, it is argued that the antagonist in the story is the incarnation of evil; Arnold Friend. Connie, the protagonist in the story, was a naïve fifteen year old who was fascinated by boys and was constantly out of the house with her friends. She always talked about the positive effects of her looks, but never realized the negative attention that could draw from how she dressed and acted outside of her house. Arnold Friend was drawn to Connie from the first time he saw her. One day Arnold visited Connie's house harassing her to come take a ride with him and he would not take no for an answer. That was the negative attention that Connie did not want. It is concluded at the end of the story that Connie gave in and went with Arnold knowing her fate would probably be death. Joyce Carol Oates never actually let her audience know who or what Arnold Friend represented, but it is argued that he may or may not be the devil. Throughout the story, Oates used many different ways to show that Arnold could be the incarnation of evil including lust, symbolism, and various religious references. At 15, most young girls in the 1960s were not as adventurous with boys as Connie. It was looked down upon by just about any adult for girls to be alone with any boy at her age. Connie was never really interested in the individual boys she had met, but more of the feeling she got from being in that...
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...tough the film “Smooth Talk” & Joyce Carol Oates’s short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” are supposed to be the same story, one can only wonder if the same message is actually being presented. Through extensive research on the criticisms of both the story and the film, I have come to the realization that the overall moral & the characters of the story have been changed so much for the film version that at the end it’s questionable at best if the overall message of the story comes across as intended. Beginning with the moral of the story, in an article by Joyce Carol Oates herself entitled "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? & Smooth Talk: Short Story into Film” she discusses how she “deferred in the end to Joyce Chopra's [The Film’s Director] decision to reverse the story's conclusion… [in which] the film ends not with death, not with a sleepwalker's crossing over to her fate, but upon a scene of reconciliation, rejuvenation” (Oates, “Where” para 10). Yet, as this deferral might seem slight, in actuality it changes the whole tone of the story, as critic John Simon put it, “[this] disgraceful ending… turns allegory, Gothic horror, and tragedy into soap opera” (Simon, “Lowering” para 1). Yet, besides the ending Joyce Carol Oates did approve of the film, in the same article she also stated, that “Laura Dern is so dazzlingly right as "my" Connie that I may come to think I modeled the fictitious girl on her” (Oates, “Where” para 9). Before I go on...
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...Nairobi Essay The short story ‘Nairobi’ is written by Joyce Carol Oates. The story takes place in the upper class Manhattan, where every day is a new opportunity to climb a step higher in the social hierarchy. The main characters are the rich Oliver Lehay and his female friend Ginny. As the story opens, Oliver is taking Ginny to a lot of expensive shops, where he is buying her fancy clothes and accessories, so she can look ‘appropriate’ for their visit to Marguerite and Herbert Crew’s apartment. After spending a little time with the couple, Olive decides to leave. He signals a cab for her and they separate. The realistic short story focuses on the difficulties there are in the highest social class of Manhattan. It is a twofaced world, where the characters put up “mirror faces” to hide their true identity. Nairobi is a savannah in Africa, where the food chain is fundamental for all life. The food chain is like the social hierarchy – the ones on the top of the pyramid are the most powerful. The novel focuses on appearance, social status and superficial relationships, which all are aspects of how New York is portrayed in many songs, poems and movies. It is clear, that the idea of a materialistic upper class life blinds Ginny and makes her forget about her own identity. When Oliver and her shop at an expensive shoe store, he asks her if she wants to keep her old shoes. After debating with herself for a while Ginny says:” No, the hell with them, she said. They’re too much...
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...Marek Hullinger Mike Fiscel English W132 26 September 2013 From Tribes to Literature The word Goth derives from a German tribe referred to as the Goths. The term Gothic was later used during medieval times for the construction of buildings with pointed arches and vaults (Lad). In my essay, I chose to discuss two pieces of Gothic fiction. The first piece of Gothic fiction I decided to discuss is, “The Cask of Amontillado.” It was published in 1846 by the famous short-story writer and poet, Edgar Allan Poe. The second piece of Gothic fiction I chose to discuss is, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” It was published in 1966 by Joyce Carol Oates. In Gothic literature there any many characteristics to its writing and famous short-stories such as “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” contain many of those Gothic fiction characteristics. Summary “The Cask of Amontillado” is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. Montresor is the main character of the story and also acts as the narrator. The story begins by him vowing his vengeance towards Fortunato for insulting him. Montresor hides his animosity towards Fortunato so he does not expect anything. He maintains a deceiving presence towards Fortunato and plots to exploit Fortunato’s weakness for luxurious wines. Carnival season came upon the city and Montresor finds Fortunato at the carnival. He invites him to try some of his sherry at his home. Montresor doubts Fortunato’s skill with...
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...Nairobi - Essay Nairobi is a novel written by the author Joyce Carol Oates in 1984. The act of the text takes place in the city known by its thousand skyscrapers, New York, where a low class girl suddenly is offered the opportunity to taste the rich jet-set life, but the pleasure is only brief, during this experience. She undergoes a negative development as she feels the loss in that she has been objectified, "bought" and given a completely new identity. One of the other themes that the text Nairobi deals with is the implicit discussion on the exploitation of the Western World towards countries like Africa, which is parallel to the identity and objectifying conflict in the text. The protagonist of the story is called Ginny. She's a somewhat uncertain, ignorant and fragile girl, who lives a lower class life. This is shown by that fact that she doesn't own more clothes than the clothes she's wearing fact that she lets a complete stranger "buy's" and give her a temporary new identity only to accomplish the "buyers" own individual purpose. She says that the city has made her weak: When Ginny had been much younger - which is to say, a few years ago, when she was new to the city - she might have had some questions to ask. In fact she had had a number of questions to ask, then." The city has changed her compared to how she was just a few years back. She has experienced the drawbacks which the big city also possesses but normally isn't associated with. During the...
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...Grammar and Mechanics ________of 20% The writer displays mastery of punctuation and mechanics adhering to grammatical rules. The student uses formal and Standard English avoiding slang and casual language. Content and Subject matter ________of 20% The writer has successfully created a paper displaying original, creative thought and content. There is no redundancy and the writer stays on topic creating an interesting essay for readers. Parallelism, unity, and coherence ________of 20% The writer’s work is clearly organized, and each paragraph adheres to the topic sentence. Additionally, the paper does not ramble and is easily understandable and rational using transitional devices. MLA formatting and documentation ________of 10% The paper adheres to all the strictures of the MLA format including in text citations, direct quotations, and proper Works Cited documentation. Thesis Statement and Application ________of 10% The thesis statement is present and concise pointing to a clear path/direction in the Research Essay; the thesis statement is consistently applied throughout the course of the paper. Outline, contents page, and title page ________of 10% The outline, table of contents, and title page are all properly formatted. Length requirements, margin settings, format ________of 10% The paper has the proper length and research paper...
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...“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” with Joyce Wags’ View on Grotesque Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is more than a horror about a fifteen-year-old girl’s daydream turning into nightmare. Attracted by the complex structure and message of this story, Critic Joyce M. Wegs expresses her appreciation to the “multiple levels” the story’s structure and its ability to “[reach] beyond the surface of realism” (Wegs 66). Before turning to her reasoning of Arnold Friend’s true identity as the Devil, Wegs suggests that Connie’s tragic fate is a result of her “excessive devotion to …popular culture” (Wegs 66), and her lack of parental guidance. However, questions remain in Wegs’...
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...LITR221 January 26, 2014 All Good Things Must Come to an End A Course Review of 2013-2014 Winter Semester of LITR 221 The amazing thing about literature is that it can be interrupted differently by each person who reads it. Which means that while one piece of writing is amazing, creative, and witty to one person to another person it could be the most boring, uninteresting, and redundant piece of literature they have ever read. In this semester of Literature 221, I was given the opportunity to read works from many different genres, time periods, and styles of writing. Some of which, like Emily Dickinson’s Life I and Life XLIII, Joyce Carol Oates’ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?, and Sherman Alexie’s What You Pawn I Will Redeem I thoroughly enjoyed and learned from. While others such as Ernest Hemingway’s Big Two-Hearted River, Mark Twain’s excerpt When The Buffalo Climbed a Tree from Roughing It, and the excerpt from Sula by Toni Morrison weren’t exactly my cup of tea. Emily Dickinson is a remarkable poet who often writes from a very emotional and self-examining perspective. This is why I really enjoyed the two selections of her work we had to read this semester. In her first poem Life I, the very first two lines make you stop and think, “I’M nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too?” (Dickinson 2) Bam! I was hit in the face with self-reflection. Am I somebody? Or am I a nobody? Emily Dickinson continues by saying “how dreary to be somebody!” (Dickinson2...
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...RAPOSO Women we know: a biographical critical analysis on Unless by Carol Shields Belo Horizonte 2013 Sumário Introduction 3 Men and Women 4 Writers and Readers 7 Goodness 9 Mothers and Children 10 Referências 13 Women we know: a biographical critical analysis on Unless by Carol Shields Introduction Unless is the last novel written by Carol Shields, before she passed away of breast cancer in 2003. The novel is structured in a first person narrative; the narrator is Reta Winters, a 44-year old writer and translator. Throughout the narrative, the reader follows a linear chain of thoughts by Reta on the central theme of the novel, which is her quest to find out why her daughter Norah decided to drop out of university and live on the street with a sign on her chest written "Goodness". The essay will be developed through research in primary sources – interviews – in order to analyze Carol Shield’s work using mostly, but not only, her own concepts and reflections on Literature, writing and being a writer, and composition process of Unless. Many scholars have made researches on the novel, especially about language resources, metafiction and gender issues. The most cited work is Nora Foster Stovel’s ““Because she is a woman”: Myth and Metafiction in Carol Shield’s Unless”. By investigating her compositional process in interviews, the intention of the essay is to create an analysis on the novel; the focus of the analysis will be...
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...William Faulkner’s captivating story “A Rose for Emily” is a shining example of gothic literature. Faulkner expresses sadness for the love that is not returned, and a drive that Miss Emily Grierson uses to get what she wishes for. He adapts a gloomy and mysterious tone in order to compare Miss Emily’s rejection to young adults today. Faulkner opens his story by expressing the amount of respect that is shown at Miss Emily’s funeral. It is said that the entire town attended this event, but also that some only showed up to see what the inside of her house looked liked because no one had been inside in over ten years. He explains this to show the mysterious appeal of Miss Emily. By explaining the mystery in Miss Emily, he conveys a dark tone that baffles the audience. Faulkner then shifts the story toward explaining what Miss Emily’s house had once looked like. It was a big grim house that was once white. It was the only one left on the street and many believes that it was an abomination to the community. It is evident that Miss Emily and her house are connected in a way. Miss Emily’s family was once one of the most prominent in the town because of the relationship the father had with Colonel Sartoris, but as she grew older the opinions of her social status changed along with her. Her father not only had great power within the community, he also had power over her as well. This authority is shown through the portrait that Faulkner painted in the story: Miss Emily a slender...
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...There are times where the conditions of a marriage can leave the people implicated in it feeling unfilled and unloved. These feelings can direct people to make dreadful choices. The biggest of them all adultery, which can have dramatic effects on the people involved. It can make the adulterous partner feel guilty and often lead to an overpowering confusion. There is a controversy in what makes a person do what he or she does, nature versus nurture. When it comes down to it people automatically see nature as being what environmentally influences them, and nurture as the way they are taught to feel and think about things. In the battle between nature and nurture “It is nature that wins”. The short story “The lady with the Pet dog” by Joyce Carol Oates illiterates it. The short story starts with a woman named Anna, who is at an event with her husband when she sees a man in the crowd and suddenly is anxious and in distress about it. She goes home her mind passes over him while she is with her husband and it is made apparent that the man she saw was at one time her lover. The author describes Anna and her husband laying there when she closes her eyes and thinks about the other man. “always this hot flashing of shame between them, the shame of her husband’s near failure, the clumsiness of his love” (771) she is unhappy in the marriage as she feels nothing towards the husband as he caresses her .the story then flashes back to several months prior. This time Anna is in Nantucket...
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...A Close Reading of William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” portrays itself as sort of a gothic sort of story. The elements of a gothic novel are meant to fashion a sense of trepidation, obscurity and unknown, which are vital in creating compelling stories. It has its fill of suspense and madness throughout its entirety, resulting in fastidious conventions in its type of writing structure, characterization, point of view, theme, and setting. Gothic novels are also known to contain an element of romance, which are often exaggerated to the extremes. I would say that the main point of view of this selected passage comes from an unknown narrator, told in the first person, who clearly is a resident of the town of Jefferson and knows the little-known life of the protagonist, Miss Emily. The “they” that is in the second sentence refers to the group of townsfolk who arrived at her house. The emotions of the crowd are a mixture of respectful condolences and curiosity. The men are present merely out of respect, giving off an air they only attend because it is an expected behavior and not because she was popular in the community. The women go out of curiosity to see the inside of the house. There certainly seems to be a general consensus among the group that she was living almost a secret life which was clearly meant to stay that way. The phrase “would have to be forced” makes it clear the group is anxious about finding out what has been kept from the...
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...In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, the character Connie is a typical adolescent girl. At her age, of course, her friends, herself and society are important elements, but the most important element is the role of her parents. Parents’ relationships and caring roles with their children continues to be important, and the roles are specifically varied by each stage such as infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Depending on how parents behave during the stages, children can be a complete adult who has positive personality traits: conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness to experience. However, in the story, Connie’s parents are not appropriate caregivers in her adolescent development. I believe Connie’s parents are all to blame for Connie endangering herself because of their lack of attention, communication, and inability to fulfill her emotional needs. First of all, her parents’ lack of attention is one of the causes to make Connie not open with her parents. Since adolescence is a time of rapid biological and psychological change, it is considered a trying time for all teenagers. Parents should be encouraged to understand the physical and emotional changes that occur to the children and understand their situations. However, Connie’s parents don’t monitor Connie’s behaviors which are increasingly important for parenting adolescents. For example, her mother who only cares Connie’s sister always blames and...
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