Oates’ “Where Are You Going…” Story in Education Annotated Bibliography

Byington, D. (2018). The “X in the air” in Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where are you going, where have you been?” In The formal center in literature, 116–121. Boydell and Brewer Limited. Web.

The author of this book chapter is David Byington, and the text is about Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”. The chapter has been published as part of a book authored in general by Richard Kopley, a Distinguished Professor of English at Penn State DuBois. The face that Kopley allowed Byington to write a chapter in his book proves Byington’s reliability. This text’s intended audience is people interested in literature and symbols in stories.

There is no mention of research methods, but the author does make some conclusions about the story. Byington’s work is relevant to the story, as the author performs a thorough analysis of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”. The analysis includes sorting out key words and phrases in the first and the latter half of the story. Organized in a table, these keywords prove to be mirroring each other, with similar phrases being used in different context and with different meanings. Byington’s work proves that the halves of the story balance each other, with the word ‘balance’ being used in the story quite often.

The main weakness of the text is that it does not discuss the relevance or usefulness of the story for research. Its connection to the story is through analyzing many minor details, which allows Byington to arrive at conclusion on the story’s general idea of ‘balance’, which is divided by the ‘X’. The text’s final argument is that the ‘X in the air’ in the story symbolizes the main character’s journey from innocence to experience. Its focus on the story’s elements might seem too narrow, thus making the text unsuitable for the readers wanting for a general review. In conclusion, this text may be considered helpful in understanding Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” as it provides an in-depth analysis of both the story elements and the information from the author on how the story has been written.

Hastings, P. (2019). “Where are you going? where have you been?”: Foundations and methods for revitalising story reading for children. In Storytelling: Global Reflections on Narrative, 33–43. Brill, Leiden. Web.

Hastings’ writing explores the foundations and methods for revitalizing story reading for children. He looks at the history and evolution of storytelling and how it can be used to teach children about the world around them. The source’s main argument is that story reading is essential to a child’s education and should be given more attention in schools. The author discusses how the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” can be used to teach children about different aspects of life, such as family, friendship, and love. The work includes several activities that can be used to engage children in the story, such as discussion questions and writing prompts.

The source’s intended audience is educators and parents who want to encourage a love of reading in their children. The author uses various research methods, including interviews, surveys, and studies. Hastings speaks with various educators and parents about their thoughts on story reading during the interview. The survey provides data about the importance of story reading in schools, while the study uses a questionnaire to gather information from children about their experience reading stories.

The source’s strengths include examining the history and importance of story reading and using data to support its argument. Additionally, the author provides helpful tips for encouraging story reading in schools. Hastings may have provided more justifications for mentioning the title of Oates’s story, as he does not provide any straight examples from “Where are you going? where have you been?” as arguments for his work.

The work therefore has little connection to Oates’s story other than using it as an inspiration. Thus, the difference between this source and the story is foundational, as it does not provide any insight into Oates’s’ work other than proving that is serves as an inspiration for Literature teachers. It has weaknesses as a guide for story reading as well, as it does not provide specific recommendations for promoting story reading in schools. Besides, some readers may find its analysis dense and difficult to follow. Finally, the author does not address issues such as race or gender representation in stories.

Petrascu, M. (2019). Instances of violence in Joyce Carol Oates’s short fiction. Revista Transilvania, (10). Web.

The author of this text is a researcher at the University of Transylvania in Romania. The text discusses instances of violence in the short fiction of Joyce Carol Oates. The author argues that violence is a recurrent theme in Oates’s work and is often used to explore the dark side of human nature. The intended audience for this text is scholars and students of literature. The text is based on a close reading of Oates’s work, and the author provides numerous examples of violence in her stories. The research methods used by the author were primarily textual analysis.

The publication cannot serve as a substitute for reading “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” itself, as it is notably different from it. Namely, it only explores it as part of an analysis of the author’s work as a whole. However, Petrascu’s work is directly connected to Oates’s story, including a short retelling of the story’s plot and an analysis of the story’s Freudian elements. In the story’s case, Oates’s violence theme is represented by the protagonist, Connie, surrendering to the violence of Arnold Friend. This fact makes her anonymous and ‘absent’, as Friend does not notice Connie herself, viewing her as another girl, as Petrascu claims. Petrascu points out that this theme of ‘anonymity’ is present in Oates’s work along with the theme of violence mentioned above. The conclusion drawn by the author is that violence is a recurrent theme in Oates’s work. However, due to its methodological limitations, primarily reliance on textual analysis, this text may not be completely reliable.