A critical chapter focusing on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story ‘where are you going, where have you been?’ PDF

Preview

Summary

Joyce Carol Oates is an American author who was born on June 16th 1938 in Lockport, New York. Oates wrote her first novel at the age of fifteen in 1953 but it was rejected because the subject matter was too depressing for a teenage audience. Oates attended Syracuse University after high school to wh...

Description

S170337 – A critical chapter focusing on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’

A critical chapter focusing on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story ‘where are you going, where have you been?’ Joyce Carol Oates is an American author who was born on June 16th 1938 in Lockport, New York. Oates wrote her first novel at the age of fifteen in 1953 but it was rejected because the subject matter was too depressing for a teenage audience. Oates attended Syracuse University after high school to which she studied English. She graduated and then enrolled into University of Wisconsin graduate school. Oates decided to become a writer when she located one of her short stories in Margaret Foley’s collection of Best American Short Stories. The first short story book she had published was in 1963 titled By the North gate however, the first novel that Oates had published was called With Shuddering Fall in 1964. This then begun her theme of violence and evil that is later significant in many of her short stories. Although, Oates is believed to be a dark writer, Cologne-Brookes states that ‘if anything Oates is the complete opposite’ (Cologne-Brookes, 2006, p. 386). This critical chapter is mainly going to be discussing ‘where are you going, where have you been?’ whilst referring to her other work that has similar themes. It will aim to highlight the narrative structures that are elements of her individual style. These elements will be shown by referring to her other short stories such as ‘Spider Boy’ (Oates, 2006), ‘The Cousins’ (Oates, 2004) and ‘I stand before you naked’ (Oates, 1991). All of which have completely different story lines but are connected by similar techniques, her main theme of violence and generally social unacceptable subjects for the time that they were written. It has been suggested by White that ‘Joyce Carol Oates has a Balzacian sweep to her work – a vast rage of sympathy and understanding. But she isn’t analytic like Balzac; rather she can be as dark and gothic as Faulkner’ (White, 2006, p. 396). This short story was dedicated to Bob Dylan after listening to his song ‘It’s all over now baby blue’ (Dylan, 1965). There are also various references to this song throughout the story which will be discussed in further detail later in the analysis. It has been suggested that Oates created ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’ after reading a story in a life magazine about the serial killer Charles Schmid. Oates admitted herself that she has gained the most recognition for this story which may have been because it was based on a real life story. It has also been adapted into a film called Smooth Talk in 1985. She has been

1

S170337 – A critical chapter focusing on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’

compared to the poet Sylvia Plath, however, she does not agree with Plath’s romanticism about suicide. Oates began to write stories in the Gothic and Horror genre and was mainly influenced by authors such as Kafka and James Joyce. ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’ was set in the 1960’s and presents a story of a young girl who attracts unwanted attention from an older man called Arnold Friend. He tries to persuade Connie to leave her house otherwise he will harm her family. In the end Connie leaves the house and goes with him and her fate is left unknown. According to McKee, a ‘story is about originality, not duplication’ (McKee, 1999, p. 8). This could be one of the reasons why Oates is a significant short story writer because she takes ordinary subjects and turns them into something dark and violent. This makes the reader question the darkest parts of their humanity and put themselves into the protagonist’s shoes. Leading on from this Knudson celebrates Oates’ work and states that ‘Few writers of our time can match her productivity (over four hundred published stories, according to her own count) or the number of truly memorable individual stories she has written.’ (Knudson, 1994). The narrative of the short story is written through a heterodiegetic narrator because they are not part of the story line. It is also an extradiegetic narration and is internally focalised through the main character. It is written in third person narration and could be considered a unreliable narration because it could be considered biased or judgemental. This is shown through the hostility towards Connie’s sister June who ‘with her in the same building – she was so plain and chunky and steady that Connie had to hear her praised all the time by her mother and her mother’s sisters.’ (Oates, 1966, p. 250). This can be considered similar to Oates’ short story ‘Spider Boy’ (Oates, 2006) as Phillip feels the same way about his mother as Connie does in ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’. In ‘Spider Boy’, Phillip’s father is put in prison for helping a young boy run away by hitch hiking. Phillip begins to become overwhelmed by his mother that he ends up running away just like the boy his father helped hitch hike at the beginning of the story. Similarly, the narrator expresses that Connie has hostile feelings towards her mother and sister. There have been many different interpretations of this short story and some scholars have looked into the numbers that are etched onto Arnold Friend’s car. He says to Connie ‘Now, these numbers are a secret code, honey,’ Arnold Friend explained. He read off the

2

S170337 – A critical chapter focusing on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’

numbers 33, 19, 17 and raised his eyebrows at her to see what she thought of that, but she didn’t think much of it’ (Oates, 1966, p. 254). It has been suggested that the numbers could refer to biblical references however; it has also been raised that this may be the ages of Friend’s previous victims. Due to the fate of Connie being left unknown it is not clear whether he is a psychopath, a rapist or even a murderer. Regardless of Connie’s fate it is made know that Friend is a manipulative character within the story which is similar to Oates’ character Pitman in her short story ‘so help me god’ (Oates, 2006). However, the ending is very different because Lucretia ends up shooting Pitman after being manipulating for so long. Alternatively, Connie has been considered as like a hero because when Friend begins to threaten her family she decides to go with him to prevent any harm to them. Oates could be thought of as a significant short story writer due to her feminist outlook on her short stories. Her stories usually contain a female whether they are the damsels in distress or not it has been argued that her feminist characters are more overpowering than they are given credit for. According to Araujo, ‘violence and madness have maintained an undeniable presence in the Oates cannon’ (Araujo, 2006, p. 411). Violence is not shown in a physical form within this particular short story. However, Arnold Friend is a manipulative character who is identified as a lot older when Connie ‘could see then that he wasn’t a kid, he was much older – thirty, maybe more’ (Oates, 1966, p. 258 – 259). This appears to be free indirect discourse that is reflected through the narrative thereby giving the reader an insight into Connie’s thoughts. This seems to be a common tool used by Oates such as in her short story ‘The Cousins’ where the protagonist states through a first person perspective that ‘I am sick still hearing that voice’ (Oates, 2004). This could enhance Oates’ style as a writer and make her significant because most of her stories are quite dark and violent it gives the reader a reflection of how the victim or the protagonist feels. This would therefore create sympathy such as in ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’. By this being focalised through Connie the reader feels empathy for her. In modern times today, this would be a form of grooming by Arnold Friend trying to persuade her to come out of the house. It has been suggested that in order to write a significant story and that ‘to understand the substance of the story and how it performs, you need to view your work from the world through your character’s eyes, experiencing the story as if you were the living character 3

S170337 – A critical chapter focusing on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’

yourself’ (McKee, 1999, p. 156). Oates explores this in ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’ by focalising the narrative through Connie and forcing the reader to put themselves in her position. According to Holmen, ‘Oates has provided the perfect character to undergo a healthy dose of psychoanalytic criticism’ (Holmen, 2010, online). It is thought that ‘Connie is suffering from insecurity, or having an “unstable sense of self” (online). This could be similar to Oates’ short story ‘Spider Boy’ (Oates, 2006) because the protagonist Phillip also seems to not know who he is when he asks himself ‘what is your new name?’ (Oates, 1966, p. 3). However, unlike ‘So help me God’ (Oates, 2006), where the protagonist has a relationship with her father by the end of the story, Connie only refers to her father once. ‘Her observation that she only ever sees her father at supper time and that ‘he didn’t bother talking much to them’ (Oates, p. 250) clearly indicates that the feeling is more than mutual’ (online). This labels Oates as a significant short story writer because her narrative style of focalising through the main characters such as Connie, Phillip and Lucretia enables the reader to observe the story world in a first person perspective. When the main characters begin to question their sense of identity this could then be duplicated in the reader’s response by questioning their own self-identity. This makes Oates significant because she does not simply tell the reader a story but challenges their views of themselves and the world. Another reason that this short story is a significant part of Oates’ short story career is that it was dedicated to Bob Dylan and gained much attention on the repetition of the song lyrics of ‘It’s all over now baby blue’ (Dylan, 1965). According to Kielbach, the Bob Dylan song is implemented in the short story by being ‘strongly related to Arnold’s use of his voice in a “singsong way”’ (Kielbach, 2009). Music also appears to be a theme within the story when Connie and Arnold Friend are discussing different types of music. For example, they are talking about Bobby King and Arnold Friend states ‘I listen to him all the time. I think he’s great’ (Oates, 1966, p. 255). It has been noted that Arnold Friend and Bob Dylan have similarities such as Friend’s ‘shaggy, shabby black hair that looked crazy as a wig’ (p. 254) and ‘the tight jeans that showed his thighs and buttocks and the greasy leather boots and the tight shirt’ (p. 258). This is an unusual style for Oates by basing one of her characters on a real life person such as Bob Dylan. It is worrisome that Bob Dylan, a highly recognised and 4

S170337 – A critical chapter focusing on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’

loved singer, is similar to Arnold friend, a stalker to young girls. It is unclear of the reasons why Oates has done this but due to the story’s similarities to his song it could have been done for recognition of his work. Alternatively, Friend may have been based on Dylan because he is a darker version of him which reinforces the idea of the protagonist questioning their identity. Oates blurs the lines between the fictional character of Arnold Friend and Bob Dylan by expressing different forms of humanity to which it appears Friend has none. ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’ has been compared to Oates’ work such as ‘’In the Region of Ice’, ‘How I Contemplated the World from the Detroit House of Correction and Began My Life Over Again’, and ‘Four Summers’’ (Knudson, 1994, online). As Oates is considered a feminist writer, Knudson furthers this by stating that ‘Oates is at her best as she explores the hearts and minds of a diverse group of women, from Sister Irene, the numb nun who discovers that she lives "in the region of ice," to "the girl" who yearns to escape her dull suburban life-style and ends up in a house of detention. Sissy of "Four Summers" and Connie of "Where Are You Going?" are what many readers would describe as quintessential Oates characters, typical of one strain in her work: uneducated working-class girls striving incoherently for something better, yet stifled by their environments’ (online). It is shown that in the majority of Oates’ short stories that there is no break or ellipsis within the narrative. This is a significant style of Oates’ because the narrative is continuous and the events are usually told in chronological order. For example, in ‘Spider Boy’ (Oates, 2006), Phillip’s story is told beginning with an analepsis and then after this the events unfold through the narrative. This is similar to Connie’s story because the narrative is told in chronological order however, she refers back to things that her mother has said to her previously such as ‘”Why don’t you keep your room clean like your sister?’ (Oates, 1966, p. 249). This is not always considered Oates’ particular narrative style as in ‘So help me God’, Lucretia’s narrative is told in chronological order but also contains analepsis and has flashbacks of different scenarios with her father. Lucretia also has a flashback of when she first met her husband Pitman. The difference between ‘So help me God’ and ‘Where are you going, where have you been’ is that the narrator appears to be unreliable because it is told through Lucretia’s perspective. However, due to the numerous amount of flashbacks, it could be suggested that the whole story is not revealed to the reader. Alternatively, in 5

S170337 – A critical chapter focusing on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’

Connie’s narrative it is told from a third person perspective whilst being focalised through Connie which could make the reader trust the narrator’s version of events. It is shown that within most of Oates’ short stories is that she leaves an ambiguous closed ending. For example, in ‘where are you going, where have you been?’, Connie’s fate is left unknown as previously discussed in this critical chapter. It could be considered that this makes Oates a significant short story writer because she leaves the reader to decide the outcome of Connie and Arnold Friend. It is evident that by the end of the short story that Connie is fearful of what lies ahead for her and she feels as though she is watching herself go into Friend’s arms. Connie ends the story by ‘she watched herself push the door slowly open as if she was back safe somewhere in the other doorway, watching this body and this head of long hair moving out into the sunlight where Arnold Friend waited’ (Oates, 1966, p. 266). By Connie leaving the house to go with Friend it could be considered an act of heroism because she is protecting her family. It has been mentioned in reports that victims of rape feel that they are watching themselves go through this traumatic experience. Similar to this, Oates’ novel ‘I stand before you naked’ (Oates, 1991) is a series of monologues that relate to different women that have been victims of rape. This is similar to ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’ due to the fact that Connie’s fate is left unknown and she could become a victim of rape herself. This is another one of Oates’ story that establishes the theme of violence. According to Atkins, ‘Oates makes the story of the protagonist archetypal, although she overlooks the very different experiences that women of color and White women have with regards to rape and violence.’ (Atkins, 2002, p. 444). This puts the reader in the position of these victims similar to Connie in ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’. In conclusion, Oates is celebrated as a significant short story writer due to the fact that she takes ordinary subjects and turns them into a dark, violent story, Oates uses focalisation in many of her stories such as ‘Spider Boy’ (Oates, 2006) and ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’ (Oates, 2006) in order to put the reader in the character’s shoes. Another typical style of Oates’ is leaving an unclosed ambiguous ending to the story. This leaves the reader to make their own assumptions on the end of the story. As discussed in this critical chapter, what makes ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’ a significant story is that it is unlike many of Oates’ other stories. For example, it is dedicated 6

S170337 – A critical chapter focusing on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’

to Bob Dylan and makes many references towards him and his song ‘It’s all over now baby blue’ (Dylan, 1965). The villain of the story, Arnold Friend, is compared to Bob Dylan which has been suggested to explore the darker parts of his personality. This is what makes this story original is due to the fact that Oates’ exploits the themes of violence in many of her short stories and influences the reader to relate to these situations. The narrative is told through 3rd person and is focalised through Connie which could make the reader trust the narrator. Oates uses this in numerous different short stories which makes the reader trust what they are being told and hence making her a significant and important short story writer.

Word Count: 2,869

Works Cited Araujo, S. (2006) ‘Space, property and the psyche: violent topographies in early Oates’ novels’. 38.4. [online]. Available at: http://search.proquest.com.login.library.ucs.ac.uk/docview/212695518?pqorigsite=summon&http://search.proquest.com.login.library.ucs.ac.uk/pqcentral/advanced? accountid=17074 (Accessed on: 5th January 2016). Atkins, C. (2002) ‘This is what you deserve: Rape as a rite of passage in Joyce Carol Oates’ Naked.’ Women's Studies, 31:4, pp. 433-445. [online] Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com.login.library.ucs.ac.uk/doi/pdf/10.1080/00497870213666 (Accessed

on 6th January 2016). Cologne-Brookes, G. (2006) ‘Introduction: humility, audacity and the novels of Joyce Carol Oates’. 38.4. pp. 386 – 394. [online] Available at: http://search.proquest.com.login.library.ucs.ac.uk/docview/212628175/fulltextPDF? accountid=17074 (Accessed on: 5th January 2016). Dylan, B. (1965) ‘It’s all over now baby blue’. Holmen, N. (2010). ‘It's All Over Now, Baby Blue: Psychoanalyzing Connie in Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”’. 2:(2). [online] Available at: http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/181/its-all-over-now-baby-blue-psychoanalyzing7

S170337 – A critical chapter focusing on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’

connie-in-joyce-carol-oatess-where-are-you-going-where-have-you-been (Accessed on: 5th January 2016). Kielbach, A. (2009) ‘The Concept of Duality in Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”’. [online] Available at: http://www.grin.com/en/ebook/131031/the-concept-of-duality-in-joyce-carol-oates-s-where-are-you-going-where (Accessed on: 5th January 2016). McKee, R. (1999) ‘Story: substance, structure, style, and the principles of screenwriting’. London: Methuen Publishing. Oates, J.C (1991) ‘I stand before you naked’. New York: S. French. Oates, J.C (2006) ‘Spider Boy’. High Lonesome: New and Selected Stories, 1966-2006. New York: Harper Collins. Oates, J.C (2004) ‘The Cousins’. High Lonesome: New and Selected Stories, 1966-2006. New York: Harper Collins. Oates, J.C. (2006) ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’ High Lonesome: New and Selected Stories, 1966-2006. New York: Harper Collins. White, E. V. (2006) ‘Joyce Carol Oates: writer, colleague, friend’. 38.4 pp. 395 – 395. [online] Available at: http://search.proquest.com.login.library.ucs.ac.uk/docview/212704936/fulltextPDF? accountid=17074 (Accessed on 5th January 2016).

8...