Research Paper on:
'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?' by Joyce Carol Oates

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
powerful, story of one young womans ignorance and her loss of innocence. It is a short story that speaks of the innocence of a young woman who is exploring her  sexuality with a sense of arrogance and ignorance that ultimately gets her into trouble, and possibly harms some of her spirit. In the following paper we examine the theme of  innocence in Oates story. Innocence "In Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Oates makes an ordinary tale extraordinary by juxtaposing two powerful legends: the modern rock  hero (the story is dedicated to activist-song writer Bob Dylan), and the ancient demon lover. Drawing together these threads, Oates is able to tell a chilling tale of a young  adolescent, tantalized by glamorous surfaces, unable to resist more satanic designs" (Bender). While this particular criticism does not discuss innocence in a very obvious manner, it is similar to the  symbolism in the story of Little Red Ridinghood, wherein a young girl learns of the evils of the world, learns of her own power or lack of power, and essentially  loses her innocence in a world of wolves, or men. In Oates story we see the young woman playing with the glamour she thinks she possesses, focusing on her  appearance, her style, and her young sexuality. She plays with it in a very dangerous manner that she is completely unaware of for she has not lost her innocence. She  does not really understand that there are many wolves out there, and when she finds one she is completely controlled by him and thus loses her innocence and ignorance in  believing that her youth and beauty were all she needed. We see all this, and more, take place as we watch the development of Connie. In the beginning she