Symbol Frenzy

After reading “Where Are You Going, Where have you been?” I wasn’t exactly thrilled. The piece was a bit creepy and seemed lackluster.  I did read it at like 11 o’clock at night though. Maybe that had contributed to the degree of disturbance it caused me. Anyway, after a first read I honestly didn’t like it. I never thought I’d think about it ever again. However, after a long period of boredom at my home I read it again. I was intrigued.  It might possibly be one of my favorite short stories. Stories that contain heaps of symbolism are incredibly interesting to me. It’s kind of mind boggling that someone could sit around and think about all this stuff. It took me a bit of pondering but I came to several conclusions. One, Oates is a complete genius. All the hidden symbolism gives very accurate insight into her view on American Society at the time. I also like that the story wasn’t really a representation of the typical, “women get what they deserve” idea. There was more to it. Two, reading a story just once does nothing for me. And three, actually attempting to analyze a story makes it a million and a half times more interesting. So, kudos to you Mr. Mullins for pushing the whole literary analysis idea.