THE CONNIE’S ADOLESCENCE AND IT’S IMPACT TO HER DECISION TO LEAVE WITH ARNOLD FRIEND
On Joyce Carol Oates / Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
I. INTRODUCTION
1.1 General Statements
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates, first published in 1966. Joyce Carol Oates was born in 1938. As a child growing up in Lockport, New York, her preparation for her future career began early. At the age of fifteen she submitted her first novel to a publisher. Oates completed her college education at Syracuse University in 1960 and earned a master’s degree in English at the University of Wisconsin. Oates was inspired to write that story after hearing Bob Dylan’s song, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”. She dedicated her story to Dylan and used some of the words from his song.
During the early 1960s, the growth of music genre is very significant. It influences the life-style of the youth. As told in the paragraph below:
“They sat at the counter and crossed their legs at the ankles, their thin shoulders rigid with excitement, and listened to the music that made everything so good: the music was always in the background, like music at a church service; it was something to depend upon.” (6)
In this story, Connie is the main character. She is fifteen years old. It’s the age of adolescence, that is a period of heightened "storm and stress". It views and examines 3 key aspects: conflict with parents, mood disruptions, and risk behavior.
1. Conflict with parents. Adolescents have a tendency to be rebellious and to resist adult authority. In particular, adolescence is a time when conflict with parents is especially high.
2. Mood disruptions. Adolescents tend to be more volatile emotionally than either children or adults. They experience more extremes of mood and more swings of mood from one extreme to the other. They also experience more frequent episodes of depressed mood.
3. Risk behavior. Adolescents have higher rates of reckless, norm-breaking, and antisocial behavior than either children or adults. Adolescents are more likely to cause disruptions of the social order and to engage in behavior that carries the potential for harm to themselves
and/or the people around them.
The family environment can be a strong source of support for developing adolescence, providing close relationships, strong parenting skills, good communication, and modeling positive behaviors. It can also be a problematic environment when those supports are lacking, or when negative adult behaviors are present. Where adolescence health is concerned, clearly the family matters, and parents matter.
This story tell us about how Connie refuses all her mother advices because she thinks that her life is hers. She also thinks that her mother more care to her sister, but factually, her sister is really nice girl. Because of her thought, she tries to searching for her independence, but unfortunately, she takes a wrong way by decides to leave with Arnold Friend.
1.2 Statements of The Problem
1. How is the conflict between Connie’s adolescence to her family described?
2. Why Connie actually decide to leave with Arnold Friend?
II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Concept of Family in America
Family (from Latin: familia) is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children. Extended from the human "family unit" by biological-cultural affinity, marriage, economy, culture, tradition, honor, and friendship are concepts of family that are physical and metaphorical, or that grow increasingly inclusive extending to community, village, city, region, nationhood, global village and humanism. A family group consisting of a father, mother and their children is called a nuclear family (old-fashioned family). This term can be contrasted with an extended family (new-fashioned family). (http://wikipedia.org/family)
Then – here – one must understand family is the interesting places which is we can find the most enjoyable, and the influences we experience form certain events that have an effect on our behavior. In a family, it’s needed a good relationship, so there will no a misscommunication that can cause a breaking.
2.2 Concept of Adolescence
Acording to Cayne (1998) the word adolescence is interpreting a period of time in life in which an individual changes from childhood to adulthood. An anthropologist calls the events that take place during this time "rites of passage". He stated that a adolescent can be measured by many factors, which differ from country to country. Some apply the years while others observe the physical development. Many societies that the years from 12 or 13 years to 21 to 22 years.
In other description, Downey (1986) stressed that adolescence starts during puberty and it is also called the physical beginning of womanhood and manhood. It happens at an average of about 13 years, lf it is a girl and 14 years if a boy. Adolescent time is a stylistic period. The word stylistic is word that expresses different aspect of manifestation that can also be called changes in any life. It also includes the idea of not being steady and a time things combine in character.
According to Durojaiye (1980) the adolescence life is made up of bad manners, contempt for authority and disrespect for elders. In addition, he viewed the period of adolescence as a time when the individual develops some value of beauty. Another reference is to Aristotle, who viewed the period as a time when the individual has to make choice of school, job or life partner. These according to him are culturally determined and are influenced by the society.
In other source, G. S. Hall’s (1904) has his own view about adolescence. He say adolescence is a period of heightened “Storm and Stress”. This “Storm and Stress” view and examine three key aspect : conflict with parents, mood disruption, and risk behavior.
Then – here – there’s no specific age bracket has been generally accepted. The concept of adolescence involves the development of the organs of the body towards full maturity. The physical changes during the period include the development of the voice, increase in height and change in body configuration of girls, the appearance of first menstruation and breast development becomes preminent. ln both male and female, physical development is major landmark in adolescence. But adolescence should be considered as psychophysical and psychosocial period during which most young persons adjust to radial changes in their body, outgrow the psychological response of childhood and begin to acquire the behavior pattern of adult with varying degree of success. This concept is necessary to contain two major perspectives of adolescence namely tradition and contemporary ideas.
III. ANALYSIS
3.1 Characters
3.1.1 Connie
Connie, a fifteen-year-old teenager, is preoccupied with her appearance. Her mother notices her to stop admiring herself in the mirror, but Connie ignores her mother’s criticisms. It’s shown in this paragraph below:
“Her name was Connie. She was fifteen and she had a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right. Her mother, who noticed everything ..... Connie would raise her eyebrows at these familiar old complaints and look right through her mother...” (1)
She tries to appear older and wiser than she is, and her head is filled with daydreams and popular music that feed her ideas of romance and love. It is shown in this paragraph below:
“They sat at the counter and crossed their legs at the ankles, their thin shoulders rigid with excitement, and listened to the music that made everything so good: the music was always in the background, like music at a church service; it was something to depend upon.” (6)
3.1.2 Arnold Friend
A dangerous figure who comes to Connie’s house and threatens her. Arnold has pale, almost translucent skin, his hair looks like a wig, and he appears both old and young at the same time. It is shown in this paragraph below:
“She said suddenly, "Hey, how old are you?"
His smiled faded. She could see then that he wasn't a kid, he was much older—thirty, maybe more. At this knowledge her heart began to pound faster...” (78 – 83)
He seems like a demonic figure, perhaps even a nightmare rather than an actual human being, but his true character is never fully clarified. He speaks calmly and quietly to Connie, which makes him seem even more threatening, and in an ambiguous scene near the end of the story, he may attack her inside her home. He ultimately convinces Connie to get in the car with him. It is shown in this paragraph below:
“He spoke in a simple lilting voice, exactly as if he were reciting the words to a song. His smile assured her that everything was fine...” (59)
3.1.3 Ellie
A friend of Arnold’s when Arnold drives up to Connie’s house, Ellie stays in the car, listening to music and watching while Arnold treathens Connie. He seems mostly indifferent to what’s happening but offers to disconnect Connie’s telephone, an offer Arnold refuses. It’s shown in the paragraph below:
"You want that telephone pulled out?" Ellie said. He held the radio away from his ear and grimaced, as if without the radio the air was too much for him. "I toldja shut up, Ellie," Arnold Friend said, "you're deaf, get a hearing aid, right? Fix yourself up...” (131-132)
His strange first name is close to the name Eddie, the name of the boy Connie was with on the night she first saw Arnold. It’s can be found in the paragraph below:
“A boy named Eddie came in to talk with them. He sat backwards on his stool, turning himself jerkily around in semicircles and then stopping and turning back again...” (7)
3.1.4 Connie’s Mother
A near-constant source of frustration for Connie. Connie and her mother bicker constantly and disagree about almost everything. Connie’s mother envies Connie’s youth and beauty, which she herself has lost. It is shown in this paragraph below:
“...Her mother had been pretty once too, if you could believe those old snapshots in the album, but now her looks were gone and that was why she was always after Connie.” (1)
“...If June's name was mentioned her mother's tone was approving, and if Connie's name was mentioned it was disapproving. This did not really mean she disliked Connie, and actually Connie thought that her mother preferred her to June just because she was prettier....” (11)
3.1.5 Connie’s Sister (June)
Connie’s older sister. June is nearly the opposite of Connie. Twenty-four years old, overweight, and still living at home, she is a placid, dutiful daughter. She obeys her parents and does chores without complaining. Because June goes out at night with her friends, Connie is permitted to do so as well. It is shown in this paragraph below:
“Her sister June was twenty-four and still lived at home. She was a secretary in the high school Connie attended, and if that wasn't bad enough—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. June did this, June did that, she saved money and helped clean the house and cookedand Connie couldn't do a thing, her mind was all filled with trashy daydreams...” (3)
3.2 The Description of The Conflict between Connie’s Adolescence to Her Family
Connie, a fifteen-years-old teenager, lives with her parents, and June, her twenty-four-years-old sister, share the same house. The relationship that Connie has with her mother is questionable because she always considers her daughter prettier and younger even though she also pretty as Connie. It is can be found in paragraph below:
“Her mother had been pretty once too, if you could believe those old snapshots in the album, but now her looks were gone and that was why she was always after Connie.” (1).
The relationship with her sister is also unpleasant because the mother more praises June because Connie rejects the role of her sister to be a nice girl. It’s shown in paragraph below:
“Her sister June was twenty-four and still lived at home. She was a secretary in the high school Connie attended, and if that wasn't bad enough—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. June did this, June did that, she saved money and helped clean the house and cookedand Connie couldn't do a thing, her mind was all filled with trashy daydreams...” (3)
With her mother constantly praising June as the better of the two, a great deal of resentment develops between Connie and her mother. In fact, she often wishes she and her mother were died, as in this paragraph below:
“...Connie wished her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it was all over...” (3)
Her father is also unhelpful because he works during the day, arrives home late each evening, and as a result, he never has time for get a little talk with his daughters, it can be found in the paragraph below:
“...Their father was away at work most of the time and when he came home he wanted supper and he read the newspaper at supper and after supper he went to bed. He didn't bother talking much to them...” (3)
Connie’s conflicts with her family cause her efforts to make herself sexually attractive. That’s a part of her search for independence. Her experiments with creating a sexy appearance and enticing boys in the local diner serve as her attempt to explore new world as well as a new side of herself. Her concerns are typically adolescent. She obsesses about her looks, listens to music, hangs out with her friends, flirts with boys, and explores her sexuality, and is in constant conflict with her family.
3.3 The Reason Why Connie Decides to Leave with Arnold Friend
In a profile such as this, one can recognize the basic psychological elements that comprise the character, many of which increase the desire they have for social acceptance, and in the case of Connie, she opens the door for people such as Arnold Friend to become a part of her life. When Connie looks through the door and sees Arnold Friend she notices that he is like the other boys she hangs around with. It’s shown in the paragraph below:
“...Connie liked the way he was dressed, which was the way all of them dressed: tight faded jeans stuffed into black, scuffed boots, a belt that pulled his waist in and showed how lean he was, and a white pull-over shirt...” (46)
Connie is comfortable with the way Arnold looks and there is a physical attraction by the way she describes him. When Arnold Friend speaks to Connie it is like a “singsong” to her ears, she wants to listen to what he has to say. Though, her family members provide her with a feeling of isolation, Arnold Friend offers her some new experiences by making his love, affection, and guidance available through a number of guarantees:
“Yes, I’m your lover. You don’t know what that is but you will,” he said. “I know that too. I know all about you. But look: it’s real nice and you couldn’t ask for anybody better than me, or more polite. I always keep my word. I’ll tell you how it is, I’m always nice at first, the first time. I’ll hold you so tight you won’t think you have to try to get away or pretend anything because you’ll know you can’t. I’ll come inside you where it’s all secret and you’ll give in to me and you’ll love me ….” (104)
Despite the dreams that the music from the radio and the persuasive words from Arnold Friend offer her, the desires that Connie has are what determine whether or not she chooses to stay at home. With a dysfunctional family, she is no longer comfortable at home and somewhat bitter about having faced such a life; in other words, this presents the possibility that Connie is employing a vindictive streak to regain respect of which her parents have been depriving her for a number of years.
Even though Arnold Friend may provide her with an attractive lifestyle despite her fear of leaving home, the possible difficulties accompanying him are in no way clear to Connie. In fact, she starts to reconsider the possibilities, and her conscience questions some of his reasoning after locking herself behind the screen door.
“Shut up! You’re crazy!” Connie said. She backed away from the door. She put her hands up against her ears as if she’d heard something terrible, something not meant for her. “People don’t talk like that, you’re crazy,” she muttered. Her heart was almost too big now for her chest and its pumping made sweat break out all over.” (105)
Instead of protecting herself, she may have been seducing him. After all, she does know how to play the game well as a result of flaunting herself at the drive-in, teasing the older boys on her own terms, and telling each of them goodbye whenever she considered it appropriate. Despite her understanding of the situation, she eventually leaves with him even though one can consider her reluctance a sign of insecurity and a fear of the unknown.
In addition to the possibility of a new adventure, Connie is joining someone who apparently cares about her more than either her parents or her sister has. That is, she now has to face the difficulties that may have been looking for her through Arnold Friend and that becomes clearer when she leaves with him. It’s shown in the paragraph below:
“She put her hand against the screen. She watched herself push the slowly open as if she were 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. “My sweet little blue-eyed girl,” he said in a half-sung sigh that had nothing to do with her brown eyes but was taken up just the same by the vast sunlit reaches of the land behind him and on all sides of him—so much land that Connie had never seen before and did not recognize except to know that she was going to it.” (159-160)
By referring to the song “Baby Blue” by Bob Dylan, Arnold Friend is taking advantage of the influence that music has over her, and he is hoping those particular words provide her with the sense of security he considers necessary. At the start of the song, Dylan states that “You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last / But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast.” In response, Connie follows his advice and ventures into the unknown because she believes he has a better place available for her.
Young men and women, whether they are adolescents or adults, often leave home for an adventure, a new life, or merely to disappear from society as they understand it. The character, Connie, is making choices any different than the ones she makes under the same situations. She leaves home to pursue a new life for the simple reason her family does not fulfill her need for a loving and affectionate relationship with each one of them. Not only did she want to gain their trust, but she also needed their guidance whenever possible for as long as she could remember. When Arnold Friend entered her life, things changed because he was persuasive, knowledgeable about the world around them, and was aware of the fact she badly wanted someone to love her. She had experienced the images of love and sounds of romance through watching movies and listening to music for quite a while, and despite her age, she was certain she knew how to handle the choices Arnold Friend was making available to her.
3.4 CONCLUSION
As we thought before, this short story forces them to examine the deep psychologycal problems that people, such as themselves, often face during their own lifetime. Readers, therefore, gain a better understanding of the character through the emotions that are a result of their own experiences. In other words, the approach known as psychological criticism has readers focus their attention on a literary work by analyzing the presentation after they have interpreted the action and the conflict that actually determine the outcome of the character within the story under consideration. To accomplish that goal, not only must one examine the text closely in order to obtain an effective psychological profile of the character, but they must also delve into the actual psyche of a characters such as Connie in order to have a better comprehension of her actions. When that information finally becomes clear to them, readers do grasp a better understanding of her actions and can jutisfy why it is that Connie actually leaves with Arnold Friend.
