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Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Introduce

Here’s a spooky truth: it’s hard to get through even an Intro to Lit College class without catching the weirdness of Joyce Carol Oates.”Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?And once you do, you will never forget it. Perhaps you will be blown away by the psychological depth of the main character. Maybe you will forever be fascinated by the unforgettable villain. It might be hard for you to understand the hidden meaning — what do the numbers on the side of the Arnold Friend convertible mean? Or maybe you’ll just be hooked by a bleak but transcendent ending. Are – like us – affected by all of the above.Read more: where to touch a woman to seduce her | Top Q & AFirst published in 1966, “Where have you been, where have you been?” became an instant classic. It is frequently included in the literary anthology of good fiction and was even adapted into a popular 1986 film, Smooth Talk, starring Laura Dern. The antagonist of the story, is an elderly man who specializes in hunting underage girls. So what prompted Oates to write this little story? Is she mesmerized by the twisted psychology of murderers? No – not exactly. What caught her off guard was “the disturbing fact that some teenagers – from “good” families – abetted and abetted his crimes” (Source). the killer turns killer – who is still said to be absolutely terrifying – and directs attention to the victim, Connie, and her noisy suburban existence. The chaos of the times smolders just below the surface. You know about the 1960s — it was a decade when moral and social conventions were being challenged left and right, and post-World War II American optimism and materialism were being put under pressure. question. This was the time of the Civil Rights Movement, the birth of the hippie counterculture, and the frenzied popularity of rock bands like the shaggy-haired Beatles. Issues like feminism, sexual freedom and adolescent sexuality were hot topics, in other words, it was a time of much contentious upheaval and like the 1960s, this story has caused a lot of controversy since its publication. Oates described Connie’s actions at the end of the story as an “unexpected gesture of heroism,” a decision to sacrifice herself to keep her family safe. But not all critics are convinced. Some read the story as an anti-feminist allegory: Arnold Friend was Connie’s punishment for having feelings for a boy. Others read the story as a feminist critique of a masculine society: the ending is essentially tragic, Connie’s submission to Friend Arnold because of the ways in which women are oppressed in a patriarchal society. Some even read the final scenes as proof of Connie’s psychosis: there’s no enviable act here, just a fragile psyche broken (see the “Introduction” section) by Showalter for an extensive outline of the debate). in leaving a haunting open ending. Connie’s blinding “big land full of sunshine” at the end of the story could well be the series of insights that generations of readers bring to topqa.infoh as one reason the story continues to capture sucks us in, cares about us, and haunts our dreams. Read more: Where is the nectarine mattress made