"A Good Man is Hard to Find" & "Where are you Going, Where have you Been?"

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O' Connor and "Where are you Going, Where have you Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates were both modern and disturbing reads compared to other works we have read this semester.  I wasn't quite ready for the shocking endings.  Both novels are part of the "devil" Gothic series, where the Misfit and Arnold are both described with demonic characteristics.  "A Good Man is Hard to Find" has a family on its way to Florida, but on the way, they take a side trip to an old plantation.  However, the grandmother remembers it is in another state, so she accidentally lets the cat out of her basket, which causes Bailey to crash the car.  The Misfit, with his two boys, Hiram and Bobby Lee, end up killing all of the family and then the Misfit shoots the grandmother three times.  "Where are you Going, Where have you Been?" deals with a teenager, who wants to be an adult.  She dresses up and puts on lots of make-up and ends up having sex in an alley with this boy Eddie that she meets at a diner.  However, her world is turned upside down, when Arnold, a "DJ" from a local radio station, comes to her house.  He is very aggressive and assertive and ends up taking Connie out of house where it is foreshadowed that she will be raped and buried in the open land.

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" has some of the traditional Gothic elements.  For instance, the grandmother can be characterized as the "old spinster."  She is stuck in the past, wearing her dress and hat, because if she dies, she wants people to know "she is a lady."  She believes that refinement and manners can save her soul, but unfortunately that doesn't save her in the end.  It is love and faith that save the soul according to O' Connor, which the grandmother satisfies when she counts the Misfit as one of her children.  The issue of race is also prevalent in the story, as the blacks are demoralized, demonstrating that racism is still an issue that must be overcome. The Misfit represents the incarnation of the devil, as he has "no pleasure but meanness" and believes that Jesus resurrecting the dead has led to an imbalance in the world, which can only be solved by killing.  Last, O' Connor uses foreshadowing as one of her main elements in her stories.  In this story, when the grandmother says she wants to "die a lady" if they are killed, it is foreshadowing the family's encounter with the Misfit. 

"Where are you Going, Where have you Been?" doesn't have many of the traditional Gothic elements.  It can be considered modern Gothic, and it focuses on the issue of independence, innocence vs. adulthood and fantasy vs. reality.  Connie is focused on gaining her independence from her family.  She creates an image of a young adult, even though she is just a teenager.  She craves the idea of being an adult and experiencing sex, but still attempts to keep an air of innocence about her.  This mainly revolves around the idea of fantasy vs. reality.  She seems like she is a mature women who is experienced with men, but her encounter with Arnold shows that it is just a performance.  The love and romance in the songs she listens to and her appearance makes her believe that her fantasy of adult sexuality is actually the same as reality.  However, her encounter with Arnold definitely shatters this notion and the way she views the world.  Arnold himself also seems sub-human, which means that he could be a representation of the devil.  His pale skin, over sized shoes, and persona makes it seem like he is something from a fantasy.  Overall, it seems like Connie's quest for independence with lead to an ominous outcome, rape and buried in the "open land."