“Where are you going? Where have you been?” is an incredibly powerful post modernism story entailing narcissism, inhibition, self growth and demise. Connie, a young teen, is vulnerable to the pressures of the typical high school woes, although she is far more susceptible as she is still coming into her own. She desperately searches through the attention of others in hopes to find her true being. The introduction to “It’s all over now, Baby Blue” delineates the challenges faced by Connie throughout the short story. Unbeknownst to Connie, self loathing is her greatest downfall. How horrible a life to rely on the attention of others to define oneself.
“You must leave now, take what you need you think will last but whatever you wish to keep, you better grab fast. Yonder stands your orphan with his gun crying like a fire in the sun. Look at the saints are comin’ through and it’s all over now, Baby Blue”(Bob Dylan). It was the song “It’s all over now, Baby Blue” by Bob Dylan that inspired Oates. Connie is faced with a choice. She can run away with a stranger to attain the attention she so desires or stay in a seemingly mediocre home consumed with loathing by her mother. Connie so desperately desires to be wanted and now is her chance as Arnold waits outside her home. Nearing the end of the story “she cried out, she cried for her mother, she felt her breath start jerking back and forth in her lungs as if it were something Arnold Friend was stabbing her with again and again with no tenderness”(Oates). Whether physically or emotionally, Connie was attacked by Arnold Friend. As Bob Dylan so beautifully sang “whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast”(Bob Dylan). The one thing Connie could not bring with her was her innocence. We are left to wonder what happened to Connie. How does Oates post modernism work relate to young teens today? Is Connie the epitome of the average teenager?
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