One of the things that struck me most about the short story was the accurate portrayal of adolescence. It's stereotypical somewhat, but stereotypes begin for a reason. Connie could be any one of my classmates - checking herself whenever she can and very confident in her vitality and beauty. She malls with her friends, flirts and charms. She doesn't hate her mother, but is just in a constant stuggle with her as is typical for teenagers because parents nag and teens don't care. She has a sibling rivalry, but not really because she's not actively participating in it - just constantly is annoyed by the comparing between she and June. Even her staying at home to lie around and dry her hair rather than enjoy time with her family is familiar.
This is important mainly because it makes her ultimate lure to her death so painful to read. Even if she's not remotely likeable, she's realistic. She could very easily be anyone you know, and that brings home what you may already know: that this was a real event, that this did happen to real people.
Just found it effective.
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15 comments:
i can see where you're coming from with this. the character of connie could be any number of my friends, although she would be one of them from several years ago. while she is the epitome of several adolescent stereotypes, they seem to be focused around a slightly younger age group then ours. this is very appropriate considering she is supposed to be 14, if i'm not mistaken.
one thing that i do not agree with is the thought that connie is unlikable. i don't think oates intended for us to like or dislike connie. but that feeling aside, i would not dislike her anyway. i think i see a lot of myself in her, struggling to validate herself in her mother's eyes while dealing with the common struggles of growing up.
i think it's a common misconception in this story that connie's actions are demonized and presented as sinful. her feuds with her mother, her disobedience, and hanging around with several young men are all commonplace among teenage girls. adding the element of "evil" or "satan" puts a new spin on her character. suddenly her average teen angst is wrong.
i'd like to meet the girl who can't relate to connie's feelings, at least on some level. does that mean that we're all unlikable?
I agree that it's so jarring because it is realistic. Unlike Clockwork Orange which we can sort of remove from our realm of experience and enjoy abstractly as something that is fairly unlikely to happen, I found myself panicking along with Connie, feeling trapped, etc. Makes me want to stay off blogs and the 'net! :)
IN response to boo, I don't dislike Connie (although she wasn't much like my friends in HS -- ask Ms. Coleman). I personally feel a little indifferent to her until the end where I empathize. I agree though that her actions are not meant to reflect negatively on her. In fact, I see her final capitulation as heroic -- she's probably saving her family from mass murder. Her behavior before that is normal, perhaps annoying to some. I think Oates is also making a feminist statement however, especially considering the time period. See next post.
I actually think Connie was more like our friends (and ourselves, at least in private) than we'd like to admit. Or maybe, since this story was written in 1966, and we were teenagers 15-20 years later, we were in some sense attempting to fight the stereotypes. In any case, the more that I read this story, the more I view it through a femninst perspective. Connie is an average teenager who is developing a sense of self and sexuality--but who does she have to look to for help in determining where she is going? An absent father? A mother who hasn't much reason to look in the mirror anymore (and that can be seen as literal or symbolic)? A sister who fears sex and who has repressed an entire side of herself in favor of remaining, in many ways, an eternal child who lives to please her parents?
I completely agree with the fact that we can all relate to connie in some way even though this is not a current depiction of a teenage lifestyle.
What i find interesting is that at first she's more self-aware; kind of seperate from her family members, leading her own social life. But when she is trying to get away from arnold friend, she finally starts to realize, 'im never going to see my family again'. It's amazing how we aren't really aware of what we have and the people we have in our lives and how much they mean to us until there's a risk that they'll be taken away...maybe the author is trying to send a message that we should be more grateful for the people in our lives.
i was also very interested with connie's actions in the final moments of the story; she left with him as if she was in a 'trance'... in the final paragraph we read connie's thoughts and she's saying that she was 'watching herself open the door', like SHE wasn't really there, or thinking about her actions. OR she knew what she had to do, subconciously, but conciously she didn't really believe that she was doing it...
When i look at the story in a religious way, I think Connie represents the person teetering on the bring of salvation and damnation. She does things she isn't supposed to do, but it is not impossible to empathize with her. She is the representation of the fact that anyone can be either saved or damned based on their choices during life. Connie chose to tiptoe closer and closer to sin and ended up in the hands of Satan and out of reach of her family.
going back up to plato, i agree, especially with your first statement. connie was a bit vain but only because she wasn't receiving that kind of recognition from anyone else. who wants to believe, or admit, that they can be vain?
she made a few seemingly poor decisions. who hasn't? more importantly, how often do we want to admit this to ourselves?
i think it's a shame that connie is seen as experiencing damnation. by all accounts i don't see that as a fitting punishment. yes, she sinned by lying to her parents and displaying vanity but does that deserve a one way ticket to hell? i think viewing her fate in that sense fuels a "women are evil temptresses" mindset. ok, maybe that's a bit extreme but you get the point.
if we were all sentenced to damnation in hell for committing sins equal to what connie did, there would be no one in heaven.
i see her decision at the end as a decision to sin, to allow the IDEA of satan into her life. i don't think she is going to hell.
I agree that Connie doesn't deserve a one way ticket to hell. But I would like to say that Satan is like a vampire. After you invite him in once, what's to stop him from entering again?
Wow! I really don't see Connie's actions as damning at all...if anything, her following Friend is saving. She's making the right choice to protect her family. I see your point -- that her prior actions led her to that point to some degree -- but that's kind of like saying the girl who dresses in a revealing manner deserves to be raped. The punishment certainly doesn't fit the crime (if you can even call it a crime). We read "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and discussed how the grandma has a similar "moment of salvation" where she genuinely sees things as they are and recognizes the humanity of the Misfit. She's going to die anyway but that is a moment of redemption for a woman who, like Connie, is not EVIL or even unusually sinful -- she's just self-centered and manipulative.
I know this post is probably old news, but I'm commenting anyway.
I thought it was interesting that Martitr didn't see Connie as sinning but as sacraficing herself for her family. I saw the exact opposite. I felt Satan/Friend (if you use the religous allegory) was using the family ploy against her.
Anyway, going with that..at first I just wanted to shake some sense into Connie. How hard can it be to shut and lock the door? Or run to the neighbors house? But as she progresses through the seduction dance with Friend, I realized she was giving in to temptation (inviting Satan in). SO, going with that, I applied this to everyday sin and it was kind of frightening.
I thought about everytime I went against God's will and choose to do something simple, like being stubborn and refusing to say sorry. Or disrespecting an elder, or gossiping. Each of these things makes me a "Connie" and by doing them, I'm letting friend in. How weird is that?
When I read this Where are you going I saw Connie as a typical teenager wanting to get attention. She had two lifestyles one at home and one when she was out. Like when she was home she was shy, she had a different laugh and just her lifestyle was different. When she went out with friends she was so much more outgoing, her laugh was a more giggle laugh. She was just a normal kid having a great time. I think she is like a teenager today wanting the attention. She was living in a bad house hold. Her own mother would not even look at her. Her dad was never there or when he was there never talk. June her sister was the perfect daughter but Connie was glad she was not like her.
in response to brittni, connie not moving to close the door or seek help just supports the idea of a dream even further. if she was dreaming, every action would be symbolic. by not closing the door, she is showing how hesitant she is to shut sin out of her life.
if she were awake and this was all real, any normal person would have closed the door. it's not hard.
I disagree. Closing the door would be hard, very hard. Having never been in that situation myself, I can only assume that she was scared stiff. Especially after he threatened her family.
my point being that instinct would have told her to shut the door before he had to chance to threaten her family or truly "spook" her in any way.
a strange man approaches your home. you're alone. it just doesn't feel right. i know i wouldn't need to wait and see before locking the door.
and what i meant by it not being hard was the physical. if she had not shut it prior to friend's threats, mentally it would be a struggle (for some) but physically, anyone can close a door.
I see your point. And I agree that, in that situation, I would have closed and locked the door before he had a chance to say a word to me. But, Connie's curiosity got the better of her and then she was in over her head. Physically, yes, closing the door would be easy. However, psychologically, it would be next to impossible.
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