Joyce Oates Portrayal Of Teenage Girls In The 1960's

Joyce Oates’ portrayal of her fifteen year old protagonist, Connie, was an example of a teenager’s outlook during the mid 1960s, which was sculpted by the liberal surrounding pop culture. Endless opportunities seemed only achievable with liberation from the conservative households, and Connie wasn’t indifferent in her desire to grasp those opportunities. The lustrous, teenage scenario was ultimately guided by the perceptional lyrics of artists like “the rock-and-roll king”, Bob Dylan (Tierce 531). He had become iconic and was what was said to be the “messiah who would lead them to salvation” (Tierce 531), which made the thought of Dylan’s use of his influence unsettling. The teenage girls weren’t exposed to the romantic, fairytale stories,…show more content…
They chose to blindly walk into their fate, and become a victim to these men. The society depicted in the story “failed to make available to children like Connie maps of the unconscious such as fairy tales provide, because I t has failed to recognize that in the unconscious past and future coalesce, and that, psychologically, where the child is going is where he has already been.” (Schulz 529).
Works Cited

Tierce, Mike, and John Michael Crafton. From “Connie’s Tambourine Man: A New Reading of Arnold Friend.” Studies in Short Fiction 22 (1985): 219-24. Rpt. In Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing, Compact 6th edition. Eds. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth. 2007. 530-533.
Schulz, Gretchen, and R.J.R. Rockwood. From “In Fairyland, without a Map: Connie’s Exploration Inward in Joyce Carol Oates’s ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’” Literature and Psychology 30 (1980): 155-67. Rpt. In Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing, Compact 6th edition. Eds. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth. 2007.