Where are you going, where have you been?
October 24, 2008
ecee
I couldn’t understand the story when I first read it. The protogonist, Connie is a complex character and very ambivalent inside. Being double minded reflects her thoughts which made me confuse about the story. However, after we discussed it in the class I understand the charecters better.
I assume that Arnold, in this story is an imaginary character that is being shaped with Connie’s thoughts. What makes me think this is because of the way he acts in the story. He is described as a rebel guy like the type that girls want to be with and Connie sees him as a ‘boy figure’ maybe most like a sexual object. Connie wants him to like her and the way she looks and Arnold tells her ‘She is cute’. This makes Arnold an imaginary charecter because her ideas are dependent on Connie. She actually leads the whole situation. While reading I got tired of Arnold’s insistence to Connie but there is reason for this: Connie can’t decide if she wants go with Arnold or not. So she saves some time to herself using Arnold and eventually decides to go with him. Even though she gives us the feeling that she is trapped between Arnold and her parents and likely to dismiss Arnold, she doesn’t! This opens a question that she wouldn’t make him insist this much unless she wants to choose her family over Arnold.
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jo | October 28, 2008 at 3:01 am
Connie is very ambivalent, two sided, maybe this is what Oates is showing us about teenagers, about women, and all of this is reflected in the title, where are you going (the next stage) where have you been (the previous stage)- so this ambivalence is reflected by those in the middle of two stages/phases, or even by anyone who has two sides, i.e. Connie at home and Connie in public.