45 pages • 1-hour read
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
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Literary Devices
Allusion
A literary allusion is a tool employed by a writer for referencing a culturally significant idea or theme from history, another piece of literature, a folk tale, a work of art, or a piece of popular culture. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Oates alludes to the medieval European tradition of the Death and the Maiden, an archetypal theme in art, reflected in musical scores, poetry, wood blocks, and paintings. The theme represents death’s inevitability and the irony of its corrosive effects on the vanity of youth. Oates expresses her allusion to Death and the Maiden through imagery. The repeating image of hair is a medieval symbol for vanity and often a focal point in Death and the Maiden depictions. Arnold’s mirrored glasses and constant smirking habit create the visage of a skeletal death-head. Most prominent is Connie’s arc, which begins in her own pride and youthful vanity and ends in her sudden acceptance and acquiescence of her fated demise.
Foreshadowing
Literary foreshadowing is a technique used as a signpost or misdirection to create suspense and irony for a reader. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Connie is often nettled by her overbearing mother, whose constant nagging makes Connie wish “her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it was all over” (250). Yet when Arnold Friend threatens the life of her family, Connie decides to sacrifice herself. By placing this simple sentiment in Connie’s interior monologue at the story’s start, Oates foreshadows and lends weight to the story’s climactic end.
Free Indirect Discourse
Free indirect discourse is a stylistic form applied to third-person narratives which uses stream of consciousness, fragmentary sentences, and distinct sensory details of the first-person mode to affect the qualities of consciousness. Born of the modernist literary movement of the 20th century, free indirect discourse was originated to reflect the abrupt shift in public consciousness as a reaction to the horrors and fragmented political climates of World War I. In breaking the normal rules of a consistent third person perspective, Oates uses free indirect discourse to represent Connie’s extreme disorientation: “The kitchen looked like a place she had never seen before, [...] and there were dishes in the sink for her to do—probably—and if you ran your hand across the table you’d probably feel something sticky there” (262). By applying free indirect discourse, Oates introduces a metatextual dimension, suggesting that the very words on the page have become slippery and broken from their meaning.
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