Marc PopoviciC Bustamante October 31, 2008English 102A Name can go a Long Way!Names. They are important to us and they have meaning behind them. My name, Marc, means “the grapes contained in the wine press and the residue, as skins and pips, remaining after the juice is expressed (Marc).” Names are a good thing to know the meaning of and also its good to know what your name means. Joyce Carol Oates writes an amazing short story, which is at the same time really creepy, called “Where are you going, Where have you been?” (WAYGWHYB) The protagonist in the story is a 15 year-old girl named Connie, who is flirtatious, and likes to have a good time while being a normal teenager and despises the very existence of her parents. She is also a very conceded girl, but then who isn’t at that age. She has her typical hang out with her friends and one night as she is walking to a car with some guy that picked her up, she notices someone looking at her; she quickly turns away. The climax of the story is on a Sunday; this is when the man, Arnold Friend, she saw looking at her, the previous night, pulls up to her house asking her to go for a ride with him. After some back and forth for-play between the two Arnold becomes impatient, and tries really hard to get Connie out of her house. When she threatens to call the police Arnold becomes mad and tells Connie that if she does not come out he will have to hurt her family. Connie has to give in eventually and she ends up leaving the house and going with Arnold Friend. The story is left open in interpretation whether or not Connie lives and gets raped or dies and gets raped. Either way it does not end well for her. Joyce Carol Oates is an acclaimed author who is honored by the Academy of Achievements. Some background information about her; she was born on June, 16 1938 in Lockport, New York. She received her first typewriter from her grandfather at the age of 14. With Shuddering Fall was her first novel written when she was only 28 when she lived inDetroit, Michigan. In 1968 she moved with her husband to Windsor, Ontario and taught at the university there. She has written 37 novels and novellas; she also has a collection of short stories (27 volumes to be exact). (Joyce) She leads a wonderful career as a writer and is honored by many. In Oates short story “WAYGWHYB” I believe the names play an important role towards the characters; whether they are a contradiction or they are exactly what their names mean. Starting with Connie, her name can be pulled from Constance, but taken how it is now the name Connie means steadfast(Connie). The problem here is that we now have to define steadfast; firm in purpose, resolution, faith, attachment, etc(steadfast). Now Connie in the short story is in comlete contradiction of what her name means. A steadfast person would be that samethroughout their life, unwavering from anything that would change that. In some instances the person might be stubborn and with that maybe Connie would have been fine; but the rest of her life the way she lived it did not give her name any credit at all. One instance from the story is when Oates is describes Connie as: “She wore a pull-over jersey blouse that looked one way when she was at home and another way when she was away from home. Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home: her walk, which could be childlike and bobbing, or languid enough to make anyone think she was hearing music in her head; her mouth, which was pale and smirking most of the time, but bright and pink on these evenings out; her laugh, which was cynical and drawling at home—"Ha, ha, very funny,"—but highpitched and nervous anywhere else, like the jingling of the charms on her bracelet.” (Para5)Here Oates plays with what Connie’s name means. She makes it so that her name is in direct contradiction of steadfastness. Oates makes it clear that Connie has two sides to her; she has herhome side and also her side when she is with her friends. A steadfast person would not have this going on in their lives. They would be the same all the time year round. With this example you can call her two-faced because she plays the sweet innocent girl at home but outside the house she is a trouble child that knows no bounds to what she is doing; soon enough she does get in trouble because of the things she does. Another example I have of her but this time it is something that proves she can live up to her name is when Oates writes about how Connie for sure will go out with her friends several times a week and rest of the time will be spent at home(Para10). Now this is the only thing that will help her live up to her name. Here she shows some sign of steadfastness in her life. This is something that is consistent and always going to happen to her. So I will give her the credit of this and she is not all bad. Either way it is just a small example when compared to what is above. That was just two examples of the protagonist in the story; now what about the antagonist, Arnold. Well his name comes from the Germanic words meaning eagle and power(Arnold). Those are a very interesting when you think about how Arnold is in the story. Arnold is a very powerful mindset, he knows what he wants, Connie, and he will stop at nothing to get it. Now looking at a few examples of Arnold concerning the “eagle” part of his definition, we can see him in the story as a powerful and free person. One thing that I know to believe that when people think of an eagle not only do they think of the United States of America (God Bless it!) but they think of freedom and power. Two things Arnold has. Some attributes that Arnold has that are similar to an eagle is his sense of sight. Oates even made it so that Arnold would seeher the night before and put “his sign” on her so that he knows that Connie will be his girl(Para37). He also in the story seems to have a birds-eye-view of the situation because he knows where her family is and what is going on there. Another attribute that Arnold has that isof an eagle is that in a description that Oates gives him about his nose saying “the nose long and hawklike” (Para25) though small it helps prove my point that Oates put thought into the names of these characters. Now another thing that Oates provides us is Arnold’s sense of power that he has over the situation. People with power do not
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