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Post by moreno on Dec 6, 2013 2:16:13 GMT
Mr. Parris assigned for us to "Head over to the forum and start (or respond to) a thread about the motif of music in 'WAYGWHYB?'" As I am the first one here, I will try to start us off. Here is what I gathered to be the significance of music in the story:
In the beginning of the story, all mentions of music elude to a happy, carefree scene in which Connie is enjoying her freedom as a teenager in the "Bob Dylan" era. For example, Oates writes, "They sat at the counter and crossed their legs at the ankles, their thin shoulders rigid with excitement, and listening to the music that made everything so good: the music was always in the background like music as a church service, it was something to depend upon," (615). Whenever music is playing, Connie seems to be escaping from the real world and into a life of boys, romance, fantasy and joy. Oates writes, "...it was summer vacation-getting in her mother's way and thinking, dreaming, about the boys she met. But all the boys fell back and dissolved into a single face that was not even a face, but an idea, a feeling, mixed up with the urgent insistent pounding of the music..." (616). This points to the idea that Connie's idea of boys comes from the music she listens to. These images that Connie sees are part of her fantasy world.
When Arnold Friend shows up, the same music that Connie is listening to is playing from his car. This distracts her for a moment and she brings her guard down slightly. In my opinion, the music that brings Connie into her romantic and happy fantasy world is shattered by the fact that Arnold is also listening to it. Eventually, Connie realizes that the boys and romance in the music are much different from those in reality. Arnold kills Connie's perception of sexuality and seduction and draws her fully into the real world where boys aren't quite as appealing. Arnold refers to the house as a "cardboard box" that he can break down at any moment. I believe that box also symbolizes the fantasy world Connie has created from the music. Although the box is not knocked down in the story, it is implied that Arnold eventually gets what he wants. Therefore, the security of the house (box) is gone and the music goes quiet.
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Post by haleyjensen on Dec 6, 2013 7:50:46 GMT
Morgan, that's a really interesting observation. I agree that Connie seems to drift off into a fantasy world of her own when she listens to music. It's fascinating to me how impactful music is on people. There's a reason that our city league basketball team's pump up playlist is not acoustic guitar or harps; and there is also a reason that I don't listen to our city league playlist when I am trying to go to sleep at night. Music tends to put us in a certain frame of mind, whether that frame is fearless, insightful, or in Connie's case, "charmed." Once music puts us in that frame of mind; it appears to keep us there the longer we listen.
I've already heard wonderful things about Fiona's insight about the Biblical symbolism of the story, and I've been searching for some of it myself. If you think about it, music is constantly at our fingertips. We can choose which kind to listen to, when we want to listen to it, and how long we want to listen to it for. It's similar to a person's relationship with God. I'll talk about this in the context of Connie, because church is an idea emphasized in the story. Although Connie didn't attend church, God is there for her in the story. She has the opportunity to talk to Him whenever she wants, say anything she wants, and can talk to Him for however long she wants. On the same token, the devil is constantly there presenting her options as well. Like music, God and the devil each offer Connie a relationship with themselves. There are Bible verses about how satan tries to pull us away from God, and it's interesting to me that the music Connie listens to (that partially provokes her vain actions) is compared to church music (see Morgan's pg 615 quote). In one interpretation, I could see music representing satan's attempt to pull Connie away from God. |
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Post by elizabethmeyer on Dec 7, 2013 2:30:14 GMT
I completely agree that the music that Connie listens to puts her in a certain frame of mind. I think that each time the music motif comes up in the story, it's there for a different reason, or a different mood. The dependable, exciting music at the diner that the girls sneak off to when they're supposed to be at the mall or the movies shows the excitement of sneaking off and doing what they're probably not supposed to be doing while still showing the dependability of their slow-moving lives. Then there's the blurry lines of all the boys she's met and all the music she likes blending into one another until they become an idea (see Morgan's 616 quote). This state of perpetual blurriness seems to become Connie's go-to happy place, until that's all interrupted by Arnold Friend. For me at least, when I first read this, I thought that the fact that the same program playing on Ellie's radio as inside Connie's house, as well as Arnold Friend's name (which sounds like Our-old Friend) meant that Connie's fantasy world of music and boys had become real in the guise of Arnold Friend - that he was like some weird combination of all the boys that Connie had met and that's how he knew so much about her. Of course that was all before he got really creepy, and now I'm 100% sure that he's not supposed to be "Our-old Friend". And because of that, I'm not really sure what the mood of the music/radio station in this scene is supposed to be, unless it's just that that music connection serves as a way for him to get into her head all that much more easily.
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Post by jessicalee on Dec 7, 2013 23:05:36 GMT
The music in "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" resonates with Arnold Friend. In the beginning of the story, the music mirrors the mood of the situation. Oates writes, "They sat at the counter and crossed their legs at the ankles... and listened to the music that made everything so good" (615). It is evident that the music reflects the girls' carefree and jubilant nature. The music can be thought of as mesmerizing. In this sense, music is very much connected to Arnold Friend. I found it interesting that Arnold Friend seems to repeat certain words and phrases over and over as if were singing the chorus to a song. One of the most repeated words is "honey": "Be nice, honey", "Honey, I'm not coming in", "You listening, honey?" (621). Arnold Friend also repeats phrases as evident by his constant reiteration of, "I'm your lover" and "That's a good girl" (623). Arnold's continuous repetition of phrases is almost hypnotizing like a song. As Morgan pointed out, Connie seems to create her own fantasy world from the music. Just as the music pulls Connie into a world of her own, Arnold Friend eventually pulls Connie into a world of the unknown with "so much land that [she] had never seen before and did not recognize except to know that she was going to it" (624).
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Post by betsyrahe on Dec 8, 2013 0:19:09 GMT
I agree with the whole idea that music puts Connie in a "fantasy world" mindset. What I find really fascinating in the store is the character of Ellie. He's basically Arnold's accomplice, but what I find interesting is that he's basically the tool used to bring music in this story. Oates speficially chose for the car radio to be broken so that a friend would have to join. Ellie really doesn't say much but there's a creepy factor to me. Alot of that has to do with the fact that he was playing the same station that Connie was listening to. Then there's the symbolism of Bobby King. He's a very catchy soul R&B singer of the '80s. His songs are really fun and make you wanna dance(listening to one right now to get into the groove) and the image of his songs playing while these guys try to convince this girl to ride with them is so disturbing. The juxtaposition of what's going on in the scene and the music playing in the scene is crucial to the piece itself.
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Post by Lacey Doby on Dec 8, 2013 0:42:40 GMT
I also completely agree that the music represents Connie's fantasy world. I was skimming through the story again and I found this creepy little tidbit, "He had the voice of the man on the radio now. It was the same voice, Connie thought," (620).
I feel like Arnold Friend may represent the idea of how things are not as they seem. Connie has been listening to the music on the radio all throughout the story as just a pleasant background, but when she finally meets the physical form of the voice she has been enjoying, it turns out to be far different from what she expected. It is darker and more twisted; nothing like she thought it would be. Friend is also described as having a "singsong" way of talking on page 619 and tapping his fist against the other "in homage to the perpetual music behind him", and everything about him is familiar to Connie, but, "all these things did not come together," (619). She recognizes the music at face value, but when she actually focuses on the deeper meaning, aka, seeing and talking to Friend, she begins to realize that there is something not quite right with her original perception. Referring back to the fantasy world idea, she is beginning to see the harsh reality underneath the dream world she has been living in.
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Post by sammywong on Dec 8, 2013 18:59:13 GMT
After first read of the story, the reason to why Oates dedicates this story to Bob Dylan is already clear to most readers. Bob Dylan's music was iconic in a time of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Maybe it's a stretch to say that Bob Dylan's music created social change, however his music definitely inspired change. This was done so by the feel his music presents, the lyrics of his music that the younger generation clung to like churchgoers would to preached Bible verses, and how Bob Dylan presented his image to the public of guitar in hand, cigarette between lips. These are the same types of characteristics we described in class when Mr. Parris played Feist music. Music has the universal capability to press our feelings buttons, to unlock moods in which were were not feeling before or even to intensify moods we were already self immersed in.
"...her face gleaming with a joy that had nothing to do with Eddie or even this place; it might have been the music" (615.)
Music is not usually the sole producer of the feelings we experience. Music at a party is part of the foundation to a good party, but most people would argue that the people present, the venue, and maybe even the food are also competing factors. But Oates's Connie relies only on music in her life because she feels like she doesn't have access to the other factors. Her mom is old, her sister is simple, her dad isn't present, and she lives in the middle of nowhere, at least in her own eyes. Because Connie lets the feeling of absence when it comes to her own personal life engulf herself, she also unconsciously allows this heavy reliance on music to also be dangerously blind sighted. This is where Arnold Friend comes into the picture.
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Post by hannahlewman on Dec 8, 2013 19:45:54 GMT
Maybe my brain is stuck on mythological archetypes mode, but when I saw the motif of music in this story, all I could think of were Siren songs. For those who need a little background on Siren songs, Sirens are these terrifying, vulture-like mermaid things that draw sailors to their deaths through irresistibly sweet music that resonates from the bottom of the ocean. Connie hears Siren songs coming from every direction. She hears Siren songs coming from her radio and imploring her to join the movement of social change, Siren songs coming from the drive-in restaurant and urging her to become part of the mature, teenage culture, and Siren songs coming from Arnold Friend, urging her to submit to his evil. Oates describes how susceptible Connie is to the music when she writes, "The music was always on in the background like music at a church service, it was something to depend on"(615). For someone vulnerable, someone with neither church nor a supporting family to depend on, the Siren song presents itself as an achievable and appealing substitute for stability. Connie is easily seduced by the various Siren songs in her life because they seem to be the only thing that actually call for her, that seem to truly want her.
Of the various Siren songs I listed above, the one that needs more exploration is the song of Arnold Friend. The music I refer to is not the sound coming from Ellie's radio, but the sound of Arnold's voice itself. Oates writes "He spoke in a simple lilting voice, exactly as if he were reciting the words to a song"(619). Arnold's voice easily draws in the vulnerable and unstable Connie as if he were singing a Siren song. And he very much plays the role of a Siren, as he has no good intentions once he lures her out of her ship (house) and onto the ocean floor (out into the sunlight).
I know many people blame Connie for "being stupid" and going with Arnold Friend, but the idea that he is some sort of Siren presents an alternative view of this. It shows that she really had no choice, for the song of a Siren can easily overpower the will of an individual.
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Post by madisonarmst on Dec 8, 2013 20:49:23 GMT
The idea that Connie had no choice but to go with Arnold is an interesting one and is reflected in the rest of the story as well. Through out the whole story, Connie seems to have no real control over her thoughts and actions. She only has certain reactions because of the music that is playing. For example, Oates writes, "They sat at the counter and crossed their legs at the ankles... and listened to the music that made everything so good" (615). The music that is playing in the background is what makes everything "so good", and as a result, makes Connie happy. Because the music playing in the background is the kind of music that is supposed to make people happy, Connie feels as if she should be happy too. Because of Connie's weak support system, she succumbs to social pressure easily. In her case, all it takes is the general feeling of the music to put her in a certain mood. Connie does have a weak personality, but her poor family life and lack of a community support system are to blame.
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Post by natalieskowlund on Dec 8, 2013 21:03:54 GMT
More than anything, I think we use music as an escape from reality, much in the same way we watch a movie or read a book. We can experience emotions and sympathize with the singer while not really being present in our own joys, anxieties and fears. In a way, all forms of art are excuses for us to live vicariously and distance our mind from our own body.
Hence, in "Where Have You Been, Where are You Going?", music seems to symbolize an escape from the grittiness of reality. But music's symbolism in the story also has a dual nature. While in the beginning Connie listens to music as a way to feel a part of the "cool" crowd and separate herself from her boring family, by the end of the story music is no longer an escape but an awakening. For, the same music that Connie had considered "cool" and different in her naivety at the beginning becomes eerily monotonous and the same by the end.
The music's transformation appears when Arnold Friend appears at Connie's house. The music Connie is listening to is the same music streaming from Ellie's radio, and both radio's are playing in synchronization. Furthermore, as Arnold's mal-intentions become more and more apparent to Connie, Ellie continues to sit in the passenger seat listening almost unconsciously to the radio. Oates writes, "[Ellie] held the radio away from his ear and grimaced, as if without the radio the air was too much for him" (Oates 623). Ellie lives in a world, much like Connie, of complete dependency on artificial ideas through music. The music draws him in so intensely that he pays little to no attention to the conversation between Arnold and Connie. At this point, music's symbolism flips. Rather than taking Connie into a dream world, it wakes her out of one. I think Connie not only sees herself reflected in Arnold's sunglasses, but in Ellie's radio. Relayed symbolically through both the sunglasses and radio, Connie realizes that she had been living in a "tinted," idealized world. When she hears the music practically hypnotizing Ellie and sort of merging with Arnold's character, she sees the truth of the situation: music may have alleviated her woes and kept her from the painful truth for a while, but it cannot save her.
Ultimately, the music motif in the story relays the message that living in delusions gives a false sense of security and comfort, but when and individual eventually faces a tough situation, it will not--and cannot--protect her. Delusions are a false barrier from reality; they suggest peace of mind and contentedness, yet all they actually do is keep an individual from facing not only the exterior reality, but who she truly is inside.
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Post by amysohlberg on Dec 9, 2013 0:43:21 GMT
I saw music in WAYGWHYB? as a symbol of maturity and the unattainable ideal of adult life. Connie uses music to escape from her bland home life. It helps her believe that her life can be thrilling and exciting, nothing like her sister’s or her mom’s. When she hears music, she gains confidence loses her inhibitions: "the music was always in the background, like music at a church service; it was something to depend upon." The music reassures her that this is the way life is meant to be lived, with boys, late nights and good looks. In the first half of the story, she embraces music and the maturity she feels from listening to it. Oates writes, "her walk... could be childlike and bobbing, or languid enough to make anyone think she was hearing music in her head." She loves the attention she gets for her looks and her maturity until she meets Arnold Friend.
When Arnold Friend arrives at Connie’s house, his friend Ellie’s radio is tuned to the same station. Here, Oates uses music to expose the dark side of Connie's desires. In reaction to Arnold’s creepy enticements to come outside, "Connie let the screen door close and stood perfectly still inside it, listening to the music from her radio and the boy's blend together." Here, the consequences of Connie’s innocent wish for maturity are revealed. She realizes that the music brings fun nights with many pleasures, but it’s also short-lived and slowly decaying her from the inside. When the music, the music she loved and trusted in, suddenly turns on her, she starts to notice that something isn’t right about the whole situation: “She said suddenly, ‘Hey, how old are you?’” As the magic of her false hope in the music fades, so does the reality all around her. Arnold Friend becomes a sinister imposter, older than he says, with a wig and fake feet. She loses her hope in her maturity and her whole world falls apart.
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Post by fionabyrne on Dec 9, 2013 0:59:13 GMT
When I think of Bob Dylan I think about the fact that his voice was not classically "good" nor were his looks classically handsome. He was unlike any other popular icon that came before him. Sinatra and Elvis were smooth of voice and suave of demeanor, but Dylan was neither. Regardless of all that he became famous and girls like Connie would be personally offended if his talent were questioned. I find this idolatry interesting, as well as the concept of a public that generally agrees without question when told that someone's music is good. For the record, I love Bob Dylan. My point is that he is not, or was not at the time, a classically trained musician, and because of that was unlike any other pop icon of the time. I think that this is very significant when you look at how Connie sees things, especially in the quote Morgan referenced: "all the boys fell back and dissolved into a single face that was not even a face, but an idea, a feeling, mixed up with the urgent insistent pounding of the music..." (616). She seems to believe things based on who is telling her. Her mother tells her she overuses cosmetics, she's just jealous. The media tells her Dylan is the man, of course he is. She is supposed to be interested in boys and she is fascinated by the idea of "boys", a conglomerate mass of a concept. Like we said in class, Arnold uses her own insecurities and fears and treats them as facts, reflecting them back to her like a mirror. I believe he also knows that he has to establish credibility, and he does that by plastering over his own face with the images of the sources Connie trusts. He plays the popular music and makes her believe that to go with him is the right thing, the cool thing.
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Post by gracepark on Dec 9, 2013 1:41:14 GMT
I definitely agree with a lot of what has been said previously – especially Natalie’s point about music being a false escape from reality to a fantastical dimension. Above all, Joyce Carol Oates seems to be emphasizing this idea that humans create this dysfunctional barrier between themselves and the grittiness of reality, persuaded that that will protect them from what’s real. Yet as we see through Connie and her series of unfortunate events with her so-called ‘friend’, things that we trust, like music, start to become futile in the face of actuality.
Going off on a bit of tangent, I wanted to address a significant revelation I had regarding the whole connection to Bob Dylan that we touched upon last Thursday. When asked about the significance of dedicating “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” to Bob Dylan, Oates simply responded by saying that Dylan’s songs resonated with the idea she had with this short piece, which was obviously this dark, creepy mood that runs throughout the story. During the time Oates was writing this piece, Dylan was in this phase where he was writing music that took simplistic ideas and activities of everyday life into something more gothic. The connection is pretty straightforward: both Oates and Dylan’s pieces are like children’s nursery rhymes that have seriously gone wrong. For more of a visual presentation, take the first twenty to twenty-five seconds of Beyonce’s ‘Sweet Dreams’ music video. It starts out with your typical music-box song that progressively deforms into something completely distorted. That’s the image I get from Oates’s piece: a familiar image that morphs into something foreign. Or, as Natalie mentioned, the very reflection of something that we’ve tried to avoid for so long: our inner selves.
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Post by clairem on Dec 9, 2013 1:44:37 GMT
I find all of the comments so far about the relationship between Connie and music very intriguing and I agree with a conglomeration of the ideas that have been previously stated. Firstly, I completely agree with Morgan and Haley's original comments about how music puts Connie into a 'fantasy world', as it does most people. The music was a fixation for Connie and her friends, something they couldn't imagine living without, "music was always in the background like music at a church service, it was something to depend upon" (Oates 615). Connie could always count on music to transport her to different worlds but this all changes when Arnold Friend shows up at her door. This is where Natalie's statement about how in the end of the story music is a means of 'awaking' Connie rings true. Connie sees herself in the character and mannerisms of Ellie, Arnold Friend's sidekick, and she snaps back into reality as she realizes that the situation she has found herself in is not just some charming event like in the songs she listens to but a serious and rather dire situation. This motif of music reflects back into our daily lives as we often find ourselves in our cars, on runs, sitting in class and zoning out to music. It has power over our moods and our emotions and can transport us to the furthest of fantasy lands. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" reveals the danger of exiting reality in music because where we end up in the middle of a song is not necessarily where we are at the time; we may find ourselves going towards a world of charm and hope but need to recognize where we have been and, sometimes, where we still are.
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rishi
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Post by rishi on Dec 9, 2013 3:20:36 GMT
I interpreted music in Joyce Carol Oates's "WAYGWHYB?" as a tool to characterize and compare Connie and Arnold Friend. At the beginning of the story, Oates describes, "[Connie's] walk that could be childlike and bobbing, or languid enough to make anyone think she was hearing music in her head" (614-615). Music allows Connie to relax and feel secure when she is constantly pestered by her mother and sister about everything from her looks to the condition of her room. This security from music is further emphasized when Oates writes, "[they] listened to the music that made everything so good: the music was always in the background, like music at a church service; it was something to depend upon" (615). Connie's assurance from music also demonstrates her insecure personality. Music is what made "everything so good," not Connie's interactions with her friends.
Arnold Friend, on the other hand, responds and is characterized differently by music. While talking to Connie, Arnold Friend "tapped one fist against the other in homage to the perpetual music behind him." Usually, people tap their fists against other objects when they are impatient, and this is certainly the case for Arnold Friend. He is impatient when Connie hesitates to drive with him. Arnold Friend's impatient response to music in the story is the exact opposite as Connie's relaxed response to music in the story. The differences between Connie and Arnold Friend are initially hidden by the small talk such as their conversation about Bobby King. However, the turning point of the story is when Connie uses music to recognize the differences between her and Arnold Friend. Oates explains, "Connie let the screen door close and stood perfectly inside it, listening to the music from her radio and the boy's blend together" (Oates 619). By letting the lives of Arnold Friend and herself "blend together" through music, it seems that Connie starts to recognize how different she is from Arnold Friend and how uncomfortable he makes her feel. Immediately after this quote, Connie refuses to walk closer to Arnold Friend and see the other side of his car. And after that, she realizes just how old Arnold Friend is compared to her. In this way, music acts as a tool that subliminally describes and emphasizes the differences between Connie and Arnold Friend.
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