Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?

This is my reading response to part 2 of the story “Where are you going where have you been”. I really liked the conclusion to this story. It was very well written and some of my predictions for it came true.

My view of Connie completely shifted after reading the second half of this story. I felt bad for her during this entire half of the story, and I felt sheer hatred for the character of Arnold Friend. Connie’s mood shifted greatly from the beginning of the story. In the beginning of the story she was really cocky and thought she was really cool and almost an unbearable character to read about. During this part of the story something that was real happened to her and she became helpless as if she was an infant again. I think the Author did a really good job showing this with the way he made her stutter and sort of trail off with what she would say sometimes. It really felt like she was genuinely scared. While I was reading this I really felt pity for her and I think that makes a good writer, when someone can actually feel emotions about characters they are reading about. My view on Connie completely shifted.

There was a new character introduced named Arnold friend. He comes to Connie’s house with his friend during the lazy Sunday afternoon and wants to take Connie for a ride and become her lover. The author did a very good job with this character I think, because once again I really felt a burning hatred for this person. He was so cocky and self confident and acted so nonchalant about the event. It made me mad just reading about him. This character proved how young Connie actually was though. When he persisted in asking her to come out she slowly got in a more panicked mood until she finally snapped. It was really depressing to see this happen in my opinion. I wasn’t surprised at all by the events at the end of the story I was just really hoping something would happen that would have made it end more happily, but I know that these type of endings are few and far between. I think Arnold also draws out that ever present timid emotion you find in someone no matter how brave or strong they are. With the way he knew everything about Connie it even made someone as cocky as her fold and that’s what I got out of his character. You hate to see characters like that but they are present everywhere in literature.

The theme of music stayed the same but it was a lot more subdued during this part of the story. There was an ever present form of music but there was also a lot more dialogue in this part which also made the flow stay mostly the same during the story. I thought the predominant them of music would stay the same but it was very subdued in this part.

This was a very important short story for us to read in my opinion. It was very entertaining and it also had a very deep underlying meaning. It was about transitions between stages of life and how some people handle those transitions. It was also about how overconfidence can often just be a guise for a very timid person and how there can be some people that can just push the curtain aside and reveal the truth inside someone. It was a very good story and I really enjoyed it.