Joyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
and No Face by
Junot Diaz are both cautionary stories about the dangers of evil in society,
that tries to keep one from finding their identiy.
In Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? the evil is represented
by Arnold Friend. The reader’s first
impression of Arnold from the start in this story is a negative one.
He stared at her and then his lips
widened into a grin. Connie slit her
eyes at him and turned away, but she couldn’t help glancing back and there he
was, still watching her. He wagged a
finger and laughed and said, “Gonna get you, baby,“ and Connie turns away again
without Eddie noticing anything. (9)
On one hand there is foreshadowing there for further on in
the story, but on the other hand, that is also creepy. Out of all the pick up lines or things he
could have said to Connie, he wanted his first statement to her to be “Gonna
get you baby.” This shows his true
intent, that he wants to get her, not that he wants to know her. Evil always tries to get you.
Arnold’s
description later on in the story also identifies him as evil. He wears reflective sunglasses, which
represents a mask.
“His whole face was a mask, she
thought wildly, tanned down to his throat but then running out as if he had
plastered makeup on his face but had forgotten about his throat.” (106)
Arnold was wearing a mask because he did not want Connie to
know who he really was, which was a man, not a teenage boy as he was trying to
represent himself as. Evil always tries
to represent itself as something that it is not. It always tries to trick you. In this story the evil of Arnold Friend
represents the predators of society who prey on the unsuspecting members of
society. Connie was just a fifteen year
old girl trying to discover her identity in this world, and evil comes out to
destroy that.
In No Face the protagonist Ysrael fights
back against the evil in his society that tries to make him feel less
than. In the story when four boys tackle
him, and the one fat boy sits on him, Arnold says “Strength and the fat boy
flies off him”(156). “He has the power
of Invisibility and no one can touch him.” (155)
“He runs past the water hose and
the pasture, and then he says Flight and jumps up and his shadow knifes over
the tops of the trees…” (153)
Ysrael uses his Invisibility, Strength, and Flight as an
identity to help him fight the evil that continues to try and keep him
down. Even though Ysrael is actively
using his identity, evil keeps actively coming at him. At the end of the story when his brother
asked him where he has been all day, Ysrael’s response is “I’ve been fighting
evil.” (160)
These
stories indicate that there is evil out there and we have to be prepared. The question is will we be like Connie and
let evil draw us out of our identity, or will we be like Ysrael and use our identity to fight against evil.
Wow! Interesting juxtaposition of these two stories that on the surface, seem to have little to do with each other. I think you make it work though by playing up the use of masks! Arnold Friend does seem to almost be presented as an over the top evil force (something Ysrael could certainly wind up reading about within one of his comic books) but one that has been sexualized.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if there was any sort of "training" Connie might have undertaken to prepare herself for this encounter with Arnold. I think Oates means for her to be overwhelmed, and it does coincide with an interpretation of the story as commentary upon males' sexual views towards women as they near adulthood. I do think that Connie and Ysrael come to share one element of heroism, however. Connie offers herself up as a "noble sacrifice" so that it keeps her family safe. I suspect Ysrael, while probably never being in exactly the same situation as Connie, would also demonstrate sacrifice as one of his "powers" if it meant keeping those he loved out of harm's way.
I really like how you make the connection of Ysrael to a superhero. The fact that he covers his true identity by wearing a mask that actually is covering his wound, but it still serves a dual purpose. Even though he is bullied he uses his mask as a kind of power against everyone else who bullies him or makes negatives comments based off his injury. I also like the connection of Arnold wearing a mask not just with his sunglasses, but without showing any vulnerableness. The fact that he keeps a facade that he is cool, calm, and collective is also his mask because he knows there is a possibility he won't get what he wants he doesn't keep it up.
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