Is Where are you going Where have you been a tragedy
When "Where Are You Going, Where have you been?" was written in 1966, it was interpreted many different ways. Many feminist and women's rights groups saw the story as an symbol of violence against women. Others believed it was a demonstration of "pure realism" and the "grotesque." Joyce Carol Oates has never substantiated or refuted any of these claims, her only comment on the story being that Bob Dylan's song, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" was on her mind while writing it. No matter what view one takes on the purpose of the story, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" has never been argued as a tragedy. Although it does seem almost tragic at the end, when Connie sacrifices herself for her family, the story is no tragedy. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" lacks all of the elements Aristotle considered necessary to be qualified as a tragedy, hamartia, catharsis, and the fall of a high person. The fall of a high person qualifies such stories as "Hamlet" for it is the Prince of Denmark that declines throughout the play and dies at the end, Paradise Lost is not only about the fall of man, but about the destruction of Lucifer, who was the Archangel of light, just about as high as you get. But Connie's fall i
n "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is hardly the fall of a high person. Connie is a 15-year-old girl who lives on the outskirts of a not so big town. Her mother does nothing but criticize her Connie and compare her to her sister June, who is plain, chunky, and a secretary. Connie's father doesn't even take the time to ask Connie what she does every night in town. Perhaps if Connie represented some quality or virtue, such as innocence or honesty, it could be argued that she was a "high person." Connie is vain, always "glanc[ing] in mirrors or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right." She wishes her own would die to end the constant nagging. The only exhibit of any virtue in Connie comes at the end of the story. When Connie finally goes outside to Arnold Friend he tells that her family "don't know one thing about you and never did honey, you're better than them because not a one of them would have done this for you," implying that her leaving with the devil is saving the rest of her family, a sacrifice no one else in her family would make for her. But this last sacrifice does not lift Connie up and giver her an elevated status in life. She is still a 15-year-old girl from a small town that nobody looks up to, keeping her corruption at the end of the story from being the fall of a high person. Hamartia is represented when the tragic hero falls through his or her own error or flaw. This is seen in Shakespeare's "Othello." The title characters pride and mistrust lead to Othello's downfall and suicide. Connie does not fall through any fault of her own. In the beginning of "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Bee
Some common words found in the essay are:
Arnold Friend, Poetics Aristotle, Lucifer Archangel, Yes Connie, Baby Blue, Connie Where, , Shakespeare's Othello, Arnold Friend's, Carol Oates, arnold friend, fall person, 15-year-old girl, story tragedy, fall seen, connie finally, person connie, fall connie, pity connie, family sacrifice,
Approximate Word count = 1125
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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