Analyzing Grown-up Teenagers in the Work of Joyce Carol Oates

Being grown up to a teenager means a lot of things; it means someone has a nice car, has lots of money to spend, can drink, can have sex, and can do whatever and whenever he or she wants to. It is not a surprise that being grown up is a really appealing thing to most teenagers. However, the appealing things for teenagers are only parts of being grown up because being grown up also means being responsible and mature, but most of the teenagers can only see the appealing parts of it. By showing the protagonist's characterization, internal conflicts, external conflicts, and a symbol of adult world in the story "Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?", author Joyce Carol Oates tries to tell us how teenagers want to grow up too fast even though they are far from getting ready yet.

Connie's characterization shows that how she wants to grow up too fast by rebelling against her mother and doing reckless things. As we all can see from the very beginning of the story, Connie rebelled against her mother by not doing what she wanted. Her mother wanted her to be like her sister who always kept her room clean, saved money, helped clean the house, and cooked, but Connie did not do any of the things. She also did not like her mother. Oates explains, "Connie wished her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it was all over" (783). Connie's attitude towards her mother shows that she was sick of trying to be what her mother wanted her to be, which is a teenager. She did not like being a teenager. That is why she rebelled against her mother. Connie's rebellion against her mother can also be showed by her different actions while she is at home and outside. Oates states that "[H]er mouth which was pale and smirking most of the time, but bright and pink on these evenings out, her laugh which was cynical and drawling-'Ha, ha, very funny' - but high-pitched and nervous anywhere else" (784). She acted differently just to fool her mother that she was still a good girl. Connie also rebelled against her mother by lying to her. According to Oates, when Connie's mother asked her "[W]hat[']s that about the Pettinger girl?" (758), she showed an attitude that she had nothing to do with such girl. However, from her action we can tell that there is something going on between Connie and the Pettinger girl. She also lied to her mom that she was going shopping but instead she went to a restaurant. Connie lied to her mother is because the things that she had done have something to do with going up too fast. If Connie's mother knew it, she would not allow her to do so. She was also doing reckless things to show that she had freedom of doing whatever she wanted. According to Oates, Connie ducked fast across the busy road (784). By being reckless she just tried to show that she had grown up because she thinks that grown up people can do whatever they want. From Connie's actions and her attitude to her mother, we can see that even though she is only fifteen, she wanted to be grown up too fast because she hated and rebelled people who tell her to do the things that are not her best interests, and she wanted to do whatever her best interests are and make her own decisions. These are signs of being independent and being adult to her. Doing the things that she believes grown ups always do shows Connie wanted to grow up fast. She also had to lie to her mother to do the things that she wanted and was afraid of her mother to find out what she did, showing that she was still not ready for growing up yet.

Connie's internal conflicts of being not sure what to do also shows that she wants to grow up too fast. The first conflict Connie has with in herself is about how she addresses different occasions. According to Oates, Connie dressed up differently while she is at home or outside (784). This action shows that she wanted to dress like an adult outside which is a sign of growing up; however, she was afraid of her parents at home, so she dressed up differently in order to show her parents that she is still a decent teenager. The second conflict Connie has with in herself is if she should go out with Arnold or not. Also according to Oates, Connie was really excited about the coming of Arnold because "her heart began to pound and her fingers snatched at her hair, checking it, and she whispered 'Christ. Christ,' wondering how bad she looked" (786). However, in the mean time, she was scared to go out with him because "she couldn't decide if she liked him or if he was just a jerk" (786) and also because Arnold threatened her with her family-"you don't want your people in any trouble, do you?" (794), Connie's uncertainty shows that on the one side, she wanted to go out with Arnold, indicating that she wanted to be an adult because spending time with an adult is part of adult's life. On the other side she was scared because she was not ready for that yet; she did not even know what Arnold is like; however, she knows Arnold's dark side of threatening her. Connie's internal conflicts shows that she wanted to go out with an adult, indicating that she wants to grow up fast because adults will only go out with adults. In the mean time she was scared because she was still a teenager and she could not handle a thing that a normal adult can easily handle, which shows that she was not ready for the adult life yet.

Connie's external conflicts against her mother also shows that she wanted to grow up too fast. Connie's conflicts against her mother is her mother wanted her to be like her sister who always kept her room clean, saved money, and helped clean the house, and cooked, but she did not do any of the things. She did not want to listen to her parent because she thought that being an adult does not need to listen to anybody. Connie's second conflict against her mother is she hated her mother. Oates explains, "Connie wished her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it was all over" (783). Connie hated her mother is because her mother always compared her with her sister June, which made her feel really bad. This comparison makes her feel like she was never good enough for her mother or to gain positive attention. Because she can never be the person that her mother wants and gain positive attention, she tried to become another type of person that her mother disliked in order to rebel against her and gain negative attention. Trying to be an adult is a type of people that Connie's mother does not like. Connie's external conflicts against her mother show that she did not want to be the type person who her mother wanted because she felt like she would never be good enough for it compared with her sister. Instead, she wanted be acting like an adult type, which her mother disliked, so she can catch her mother's negative attention. Acting like an adult type of person shows that she wanted to grow up fast in a way of being against her mother. However, even though Connie had conflicts with her mother and hated her mother so much, she still had to rely on her mother because she still had to live with her mother, which shows that she was not ready for the adult life yet.

Arnold Friend, a symbol of adult world, also shows that Connie wanted to grow up too fast. Arnold Friend is a symbol of adult world because Arnold looked older than a teenager. Oates pointed out that "she could see then he wasn't a kid, he was much older-thirty, maybe more" (789). The people in the adult world are normally a certain age, which is older than eighteen, and that shows Arnold has one of the characteristic of adult world. Arnold used adult language, such as, " 'I'll have my arms around you so you won't need to try to get away and I'll show you what love is like, what it does' " (794). The numbers on Arnold's car show strong sexual meaning. Arnold's car has number 33, 19, 17. If we add all of the numbers together it is 69, which mean a slang term for oral sex. Arnold has the characteristic of forcing and threatening. According to Oates, Arnold threatened Connie with her parents' safety (794). This threat in a certain degree forced Connie to go out with Arnold. Arnold has both sides - good side and the dark side. Arnold looked fantastic outside: having a nice car, dressing the way the girls like, pretending to be nice to the girl who he wanted. However, deep inside, which is his dark side, he is really rude to the people who are not important to him. He was really rude to his friend Ellie, such as when he says "'I toldja shut up, Ellie,'" and, '[Y]ou're deaf, get a hearing aid? Fix yourself up'" (793) Also he has a real bad attitude towards the fat ladies, "'I don't know every goddam fat woman in the world'" (791). Oates also explains how Arnold has both sides by stating, "[s]he watched this smile come, awkward as if he were smiling from inside a mask" (792).

The above show that Arnold has all of the characteristics that adult world has: threatening, forcing, appealing, rude, and cruel. Arnold as an adult world symbol directly shows that Connie wanted to grow up too fast. When Arnold drove by Connie, Oates explains, "Connie slit her eyes at him and turned away, but she couldn't help glancing back and there he was still watching her" (785). Connie was flirting with Arnold show that she had a strong interest on the adult world. When Arnold showed up in front of her house, she was really excited of his coming. The excitement towards Arnold is also the excitement towards the adult world. Connie clearly showed that she wanted to grow up too fast when she eventually moved her final step out of her house and decided to go out with Arnold. Even though Connie had a lot of uncertainties about Arnold, even though she was scared of him at one time, and even though she did not even know what would happen to herself, she still decided to risk herself to get into the adult world, which was strongly appealing to her and also would probably be painful to her. Arnold as the symbol of the adult world not only tells us that Connie wanted to grow up too fast because her wish of going out with Arnold is so strong, but also tells us that it is filled with pains, threats, and cruelness, suggesting Connie's future of being an adult will be painful and tough.

From Connie's characterization, internal conflicts, external conflicts, and Arnold as a symbol of adult world, we can see that they clearly shows that Connie wanted to grow up too fast. However, we can also see that Connie was far from ready to do so yet, so the pay off of growing up too fast will be tough and painful to her. Most of the teenagers always tend to do the things that are appealing to them; however, because they are still teenagers, most of the time they can only see the appealing part but overlook the parts that will be risky, dangerous and harmful. Hence when a teenager recklessly does the things that seem appealing, the payoff for the teenager is always painful and unforgettable because he or she is not ready for it and does not realize the consequences.

Works Cited
Oates, Joyce Carol. Literature. Shorter Eight Edition. Boston and New York: Richard Abcarian and Marvin Klotz, 2004.