Joyce Carol Oates Questions and Answers

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• Joyce Carol Oates
  How is Oates's fictional character Arnold Friend different from the real-life Charles Schmid in Moser's article?  
  In this story, Joyce Carol Oates focuses on the character of Connie, a bored teenager who wishes for a more exciting life. She tries to avoid her hyper-critical mother and finds welcome distraction...

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• Joyce Carol Oates
  What are the feminine themes in the poem "Women Whose Lives Are Food, Men Whose Lives Are Money"?
  Joyce Carol Oates's poem begins by alternating the lives of the women and the men. As the title suggests, the first theme is the importance of food in the life of the women: breaking eggs with...

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• Joyce Carol Oates
  What is the theme of "Shopping" by Joyce Carol Oates?
  In her short story "Shopping," Joyce Carol Oates uses the mundane act of shopping to illustrate the theme of unconditional love that a mother has for her daughter. Mrs Dietrich loves Nola with a...

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• Joyce Carol Oates
  What is Joyce Carol Oates's short story "...& Answers" about?
  Joyce Carol Oates's short story "...& Answers" is told in the form of answers a mental-health patient gives to questions posed by psychologist. The central theme in the story concerns the...

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• Joyce Carol Oates
  What is the emotional feminine experience in "Women Whose Lives are Food, Men Whose Lives are Money"?
  Joyce Carol Oates' 1978 poem Women Whose Lives are Food, Men Whose Lives are Money addresses both the feminine and masculine experiences in her portrayal of modern, conventional American life. That...

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• Joyce Carol Oates
  What is the theme, or a thesis statement, of "Life After High School" by Joyce Carol Oates?
  The theme of this sorrowful story is teenage sexuality, particularly alternate lifestyle sexuality. In a way, it might be said that the central character Barbara "Sunny" Burhman serves to focalize...

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• Joyce Carol Oates
  What is the theme of "Journey" by Joyce Carol Oates?
  "Journey" is a short story about a trip told in the second person, "you." It can be interpreted in a metaphorical way. The narrative of the story talks about a journey that starts on a road that is...

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• Joyce Carol Oates
  In "Journey" by Joyce Carol Oates, what is the destination?
  I think that this question becomes the central issue in the work. For Oates, it seems to her articulation of the journey is one in which the protagonist is moving through it with a specific...

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• Joyce Carol Oates
  What is the central conflict in "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates? When, where, and how does it develop or become more complicated as the story unfolds? How is it resolved at the end of the story? Why and how is that...
  I am not allowed to write an essay for you, but I believe that I can get you on the right track by answering several of the questions in the prompt. There are several conflicts in "Where Are You...

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• Joyce Carol Oates
  Where can I find "First Views of the Enemy" by Joyce Carol Oates?
  I have a collection of Joyce Carol Oates short stories that I bought a while back so I could have a hard copy of "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" to annotate for my classroom. This...

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• Joyce Carol Oates
  Who is the protagonist and antagonist in the story "Life After High School" by Joyce Carol Oates
  This is an interesting question and one not easily answered, I think. Oates structures her story so that Zachary's struggle is witnessed through an observer's experience while the narrator tells...

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• Joyce Carol Oates
  Why do Joyce Carol Oates use violence in her stories?
  I don't see Oates' usage of violence as any different than other writers that attempt to construct settings in which the characterizations of their protagonists can be developed. Oates does not...

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• Joyce Carol Oates
  Discuss the role of “shame” in the story, "The Lady with the Pet Dog" by Joyce Carol Oates
  Joyce Carol Oates’ short story “The Lady with the Pet Dog” recounts Anna’s extramarital affair and how the relationship impacts her at various points. The theme of shame is inherent in stories...

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• Joyce Carol Oates
  How does Oates mix the real with the fantastic in this story? Who is Arnold Friend? What is the significance of his name?
  The encounter between Connie and Arnold Friend at the end of this story does have some fantastical elements. It has been said that Friend is, on some level, a symbolic character and a sort of...

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• Joyce Carol Oates
  In the book Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang by Joyce Carol Oates, what is an example of anti-communism? 
  On page 6 of Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang, a local politician that the narrator, Maddy Wirtz, calls "Congressman X" shows up at her high school and gives a speech that is anti-communist in...

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