They all feel that urge to associate themselves with the popular group and will try anything to meet those standards of today’s society. Teenage social conformity and lack of individuality is an issue in Joyce Carol Oates’ story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Oates demonstrates throughout her story that an adolescent’s sense of approval from their peers could lead them into making rash and carless decisions. Many people believe they need to dress and behave in a
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“In Where Are You Going and Where Have You Been?’ Joyce Carol Oates tells of a girl longing for independence and freedom. She suffers with her identity search, because she is young, she is still trying to find herself. In her fight for identity she loses her innocence along with her independence. Oates also uses a lot of biblical archetypes, along with a strong selection of detail and word choice in order to teach the reader lessons about life through allegory. In the beginning of the story we see
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Elijah Kearse Professor Martin English 110 Paper#3 November 11, 2012 Aspects of Identity In both stories Battle Royal by Ralph Ellison, and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates, the characters both live in a made up world. In the story, Battle Royal, a young African American boy grew up during the segregation and slavery period. He thought of himself as an “invisible man.” He was naïve and couldn’t find himself and was asking everyone but himself. He is in distraught
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In the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”- Written in 1966, as a tribute to Bob Dylan- Joyce Carol Oates, tells the story of a teenage girl Connie, and her struggles with discontent, vanity, and attachment. Despite some tensions with her parents Connie has a decent summer and goes to the town center with friends often. She loves to engage with pop-culture and the sweet sounds of the 1960’s. Despite being a highly courted young lady, Connie dreamt of the perfect boy, to capture
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Joyce Carol Oates’ short story “In hiding” is about a woman who is working as a poet, translator and part-time college teacher. Furthermore, she is a single Mother of a fifteen-year-old son. Suddenly she finds herself in an unusual relationship whit an inmate at Kansas State Penitentiary for Men in Fulham, Kansas who is sentenced to life. They have never met in real life and suddenly she just receives a letter from a man who goes from being number AT339I4 to Woody. He sends her poems and diary excerpts
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Why Are You Going There: Analyzing “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
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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
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Who are you? The story “Where are you going; Where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is a popular story among the younger college audience. It is without a doubt considered a classis, as it has stood the test of time and been passed down for almost 50 years since its original publication. Not only is it a marvel because of its lengthy existence in schools around the country, but also because of the lessons that it teaches and how they can still relate to people in today’s changed society. Miraculously
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Adapted When most books or stories are turned into movies, the movie usually does not follow the written story to the letter. The movie usually differs in the amount of detail presented as well as how and when events throughout the book happen. However, this common practice holds false when it comes to the adaptation of the movie Smooth Talk and the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” After evaluating the story and the movie, the short story was successfully adapted to film
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school, Georgetown Day School. While he was in high school, Safran Foer wanted to be a brain surgeon. Safran Foer went to post-secondary school “[at] Princeton university he majored in philosophy, but took a creative-writing class taught by Joyce Carol Oates, who encouraged him to pursue his craft further” (Newsmakers) and graduated in 1999. Safran Foer had many jobs before he became a novelist. He was a receptionist, jewelry salesperson, math tutor and morgue assistant. He eventually started writing
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