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Similes
Style
Explanation and Analysis:
Oates’s writing style in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is full of detailed imagery pertaining to both the external elements in the story (such as the setting and other people’s appearances) and Connie’s internal experience. The following passage—which comes as Connie observes Arnold's sidekick Ellie closely for the first time—captures both of these elements of Oates’s style:
Ellie turned for the first time and Connie saw with shock that he wasn't a kid either—he had a fair, hairless face, cheeks reddened slightly as if the veins grew too close to the surface of his skin, the face of a forty-year-old baby. Connie felt a wave of dizziness rise in her at this sight and she stared at him as if waiting for something to change the shock of the moment, make it all right again.
In the first sentence in this passage, Oates describes Ellie’s appearance in great detail, noting his “fair, hairless face” and “cheeks reddened slightly as if the veins grew too close to the surface of his skin,” completing the picture by describing his face as one of “a forty-year-old baby.” She then turns this close attention to detail to Connie’s inner experience, noting how Connie “felt a wave of dizziness rise in her” when looking at Ellie and kept staring at him in an attempt to get over her "shock."
Oates’s rich language here (and throughout the story), helps readers to be able to picture all of the characters and the setting clearly, and also encourages them to feel Connie’s intense emotions as she shifts from a happy and innocent teenager to a terrified and burdened one.
Related Themes:
