Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates - Short Story Summary, Analysis

[@thosetwobros6650]

You guys are carrying me through 10th grade honors English,THANK YOU!!!

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Good luck with your classes

[@TheJayofthejungle]

Freshman year literature. This story hooked me hard. So much so that I'm looking it up on KZbin at 42 years old.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Welcome to the club! 😂

[@charlesdexterward7781]

@8:45 Oates is great. She's right up there with Shirley Jackson. This story would never, ever be accepted from a new author today because publishing would have the same reaction as you did. A young female protagonist who is at least partly unlikable? Who is unable to physically beat up the adult male villain? Some mixed messages about the pros and cons of promiscuity? None of those are allowed in The Narrative.

[@angiethebookaholic]

I am definitely reading this! purely because of how thoroughly I enjoyed this discussion.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@Dantes_kiddo]

I think she leaves with A. Friend mainly because she feels like she has no other choice. He's threatened her and she knows she's not safe and doesn't want to antagonize him solely out of fear and hoping that complying will keep her safe. I say that because she's so terrified when she tries to use the phone and I never got the impression that she's attracted to him, also the mention of the serial killer at the beginning just colors the whole story for me.

[@silviasacconi2470]

I agree with this message:Connie has fear and she goes out.I saw also the fear of having done a mistake the night at the restaurant when she was attracted by the strange car and the bad man on it.She decided in that moment to let the bad boy going into her life and it caused his arrival at home later in story.Enjoy reading and speaking about novels!

[@TheNerdyNarrative]

When I first saw the thumbnail in my feed, I totally thought it said "Where Are You Going, We Have Your Beer!"

[@TheCodeXCantina]

How's your beer? Where is your beer?

[@TheNerdyNarrative]

@@TheCodeXCantina IN MAH BELLEH

[@angiethebookaholic]

Lezlie, 😂!

[@attention5638]

I need to pick up a collection of Oates. The connection with Dylan, and being a fan of Kierkegaard, I think I would like her work more than I originally thought.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

She seems like a popular writer. With the Flannery undertones to this I’ll definitely check out some more of her work!

[@jamesstout6280]

Oates was a master story teller

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Indeed!

[@Jlovell5]

Excellent analysis of the story.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Thanks!

[@PageTurnersWithKatja]

Great discussion; I hadn't heard of this one before.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

It was one of our friend's favorites. But that's the beauty of sharing what we read is seeing different options :D

[@Wiz92]

I appreciate thus channel

[@giselaserra2572]

Such an interesting talk about this short story! You are really great, guys! I've read that Oates actually inspired on a serial killer in the USA to write this piece of literature (he had kidnapped and killed three adolescents, young girls). So I'm now curious to know whether the writer really got the inspiration on Bob Dylan's song to write her own version of the real murderers. Besides, the movie "Smooth Talk" (1985) is based on this short story but the ending is completely different... I will not spoil it... 🥰🥰

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Thanks for the kind comment

[@FeministCatwoman]

Other than the devil metaphor already mentioned here, "Arnold" may also represent death itself, coming to take her away in his golden chariot (gold painted jalopy) once she accepts her fate. In fact the story alludes to and directly mentions death multiple times. Connie wished "that her mother was dead, and she herself was dead, and it was all over". The story begins with Connie preening in the mirror, directly referencing the "vanity and death" motif common in classical art. Allegedly, the short story was even titled "Death and the Maiden" previously. There's a moment where Connie closes her eyes and when she opens them again, she notices the passing of time with overgrown weeds in the lawn and the suddenly "three-year-old ranch house", and this realization disturbs her. The stranger keeps saying cryptic things like "you know me/I'm an old friend/you've met me before, but you just don't remember". He also tells her "Didn't you see my sign?" and draws an X in the air leaning towards her. In the first part of the story, it says Connie looks back "at the darkened shopping plaza with its big empty parking lot and its signs that were faded and ghostly now". She rests in "an airless room", and most chillingly of all, the stranger connects Connie to "an old woman down the street" who has died, throwing Connie into a panic. Connie is not ready, the entire beginning mentions at least twice how she enjoys life, "the pleasure of being alive", etc before drawing these parallels to death.

[@zharapatterson]

Are you going to discuss The Swimmer by John Cheever ? Or How about The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter?

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Our friend Brian from Bookish has reviewed both of these stories if you wanted to check them out! We have "The Swimmer" planned for Thursday. We have another of KAP's stories planned but not that one. We're working through the Patreon requests first.

[@janellemikeeconvocar2250]

THANKS FOR THIS :)

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Any time

[@serg2057]

Can you guys consider me as friends so when I cite you in my paper I won't get knocked for not writing out your entire or only last names lol.

[@scottmagri6306]

She was inspired by, "It's All Over, Baby Blue" amongst other things

[@TheCodeXCantina]

👍

[@Starscreamlive]

Great story! I've never really been in to Bob Dylan, so I'm glad Krypto explained the connection for me. Makes sense. First half felt like a fun little ride, then the second half Oates went all Flannery on us. I loved it! 8/10

[@TheCodeXCantina]

I missed that one completely!

[@magellagoldstein]

she starts to look closer and see that he's older and wearing lifts

[@kyridawn]

@@magellagoldstein it definitely read to me as if he had the cloven hooves of the devil that didn't fit into his shoes quite right.

[@dmanv69]

Devil 😈

[@merclineavallon378]

👿👿

[@honeybeeklo83]

😈

[@derrickjohnson1938]

😈

[@scarlettorres8932]

😈

[@ThatOnePersonOnYT]

😈

[@cindyrivera3228]

😈