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Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been": Defense Mechanisms - Online Term Papers

Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been": Defense Mechanisms

Aaron G
The story, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" by Joyce
Carol Oates is truly littered with conventions of Psychoanalysis. Freud
developed a list of defense mechanisms used by the human subconscious in
order to deal with issues too intense for the conscious mind. These
strategies of the psyche are translated into symbols scattered throughout
this work. These symbols are expressed through the characters of Connie,
and Arnold Friend.
The first convention is denial. Denial is when the subconscious
cannot handle an issue or event and forces the individual to falsify
reality and flatly refuse to accept it. Denial rears its head in several
places in this story. The first ...

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surrounding it.
The most obvious example of denial falls in the lap of Connie
herself. Connie is prone to deny the possibility of danger in the
confrontation with Arnold Friend. This could be out of need for acceptance
as she does not receive the attention a young girl entering adulthood
requires.
Another convention explored in this work is repression. Repression
is defined as the mind essential strategy for hiding desires and fears. It
is the fact that Connie is denied the attention at home that causes her to
seek it through the only other outlet she understands at the that age...her
sexuality. Obviously, the group that is most receptive to this is boys.
Her desire to be accepted causes her to repress her initial feelings of
fear and uneasiness she experiences in the early minutes of her meeting
with Arnold, which ultimately proves to be her downfall.
There is also a prime example of displacement in the very first
paragraphs of this tale of goulish nature. ...

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Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been": Defense Mechanisms. (2008, September 3). Retrieved March 30, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Oates-Where-You-Going-Where-Have/89325

"Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been": Defense Mechanisms." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 3 Sep. 2008. Web. 30 Mar. 2025. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Oates-Where-You-Going-Where-Have/89325>

"Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been": Defense Mechanisms." Essayworld.com. September 3, 2008. Accessed March 30, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Oates-Where-You-Going-Where-Have/89325.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 9/3/2008 01:04:45 AM
Category: English
Type: Free Paper
Words: 799
Pages: 3

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