Question

AN OUNCE OF CURE QUESTIONS:

QUESTION 1

Connie, the 15-year old protagonist, in Oates's story is both fascinated and a bit frightened of Arnold when he first drives up to her house and talks to her.

True

False

2.5 points   

QUESTION 2

In Oates's story, Connie first notices Arnold Friend in his convertible jalopy painted gold:

	a.	on her driveway
	b.	at the movie theatre
	c.	in the restaurant parking lot
	d.	at a friend's party

2.5 points   

QUESTION 3

Why does Arnold tell Connie this: “The place where you came from ain’t there anymore, and where you had in mind to go is cancelled out”?

	a.	Connie wants to go to the family barbecue and Arnold won’t take her.
	b.	Arnold is telling her to go to hell because she won’t go on a ride with him.
	c.	Arnold is wielding his mental and physical power over Connie and her innocent and naïve protests.
	d.	Connie wants to go with Arnold on a ride, but he’s angry with her stalling tactics and refuses to take her.

3 points   

QUESTION 4

What does Oates think about director Joyce Chopra’s decision to have the movie version of Connie survive in the end?

	a.	She is uncomfortable with a director re-interpreting one of the major actions of her story, and thus changing the themes.
	b.	She was quietly displeased with the ending, but knew that the director had the authority to rewrite it as she wished.
	c.	She doesn’t really care what happens to Connie on the screen version.
	d.	She deferred to the ending because Dern’s Connie is a more assertive and strong-willed girl of the 1980s, not the 1960s.

3 points   

QUESTION 5

In "Where Are You Going…" Connie’s older sister is named ___________ and she works at the ________.

	a.	Madge/A & P
	b.	June/high school
	c.	Betty/drive-in restaurant
	d.	June/movie theatre

3 points   

QUESTION 6

What was another fairy tale allusion for Smitty, alias Arnold Friend, which involved a musician who used his hypnotic musical powers to lure children?

	a.	Peter Pan
	b.	Pied Piper of Hamelin
	c.	Hansel and Gretel
	d.	Rumpelstiltskin

3 points   

QUESTION 7

Who says this and why? “Don’t hem in on me. Don’t hog. Don’t crush. Don’t bird dog. Don’t trail me . . . Don’t crawl under my fence, don’t squeeze in my chipmunk hole, don’t sniff my glue, suck my popsicle, keep your own greasy fingers on yourself.”

	a.	Connie says it to her friends to act cool
	b.	Connie’s sister says it mockingly to Connie
	c.	Arnold Friend says it when he is becoming more impatient with Ellie and Connie
	d.	Ellie says it to Arnold when he suggests they pull out the phone

3 points   

QUESTION 8

Joyce Carol Oates’ story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is considered psychological realism partly because Oates blends dream (fiction) and reality in her story.

True

False

2.5 points   

QUESTION 9

According to journalist Don Moser, Tucson’s primary problem wasn’t that Schmid was a mass murderer, but that for years he had successfully functioned as a welcomed member/leader of Tucson’s _______society.

	a.	upper class, moneyed
	b.	teen
	c.	working class
	d.	leisure class

3 points   

QUESTION 10

Identify the part of the story where this description is found: “bathed in a glow of slow-pulsed joy that seemed to rise mysteriously out of the music itself and lay languidly about the airless little room, breathed in and breathed out with each gentle rise and fall of her chest.”

	a.	After Connie has been with Eddie who she met at the restaurant.
	b.	When Connie is with her best friend at the restaurant.
	c.	When Connie is inside the house awhile before she hears Arnold driving up her driveway.
	d.	At the end of the story when Connie goes with Arnold.

3 points   

QUESTION 11

If Arnold Friend is symbolically the Devil, as deceiver and seducer, why doesn’t he just walk into the house to grab Connie?

	a.	The Devil, as a fallen creature from Heaven, can still be civil.
	b.	He wants Connie to ask him in so he can’t be accused of illegal entry.
	c.	He is secretly afraid of Connie and her threats to call the police.
	d.	The Devil as evil spirit cannot cross a threshold uninvited.

3 points   

QUESTION 12

According to author Oates, Connie’s final act can be considered:

	a.	a hopeless giving in to a ruthless rapist
	b.	an unexpected gesture of heroism
	c.	an acceptance of becoming evil like Arnold Friend
	d.	a girl’s punishment for being sexually promiscuous

3 points   

QUESTION 13

Oates explains that a film adaptation of her story, "Where Are You Going . . . ?" starring Laura Dern was entitled Smooth Talk.

True

False

2.5 points   

QUESTION 14

At the story’s climax, Arnold warns Connie, “It’s all over for you here, so come on out,” or else he will:

	a.	set her house on fire
	b.	do something bad to the old lady who lives down the road
	c.	call the police
	d.	shoot her

3 points   

QUESTION 15

In Oates's story, Connie’s sister June continually nags Connie about her vanity: “Stop gawking at yourself!”

True

False

2.5 points   

QUESTION 16

In Oates's story, at what point does Arnold’s smile make Connie uncomfortable, as when “these things did not come together”?

	a.	when he grins like the Big Bad Wolf
	b.	when he smiles reassuringly like everything was fine
	c.	his "slippery friendly" and "sleepy dreamy" smile that boys use to let a girl know what they're thinking about, but won't say aloud.
	d.	his smile came as if he were smiling "from inside a mask."

3 points   

QUESTION 17

Oates dedicated this story to Bob Dylan who wrote the song, “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue,” and Arnold Friend mentions Connie’s “blue eyes.” What is most ironic about the song, the statement, and the character Connie?

	a.	Her movie version played James Taylor's music.
	b.	Connie has brown eyes, not blue.
	c.	Bob Dylan was not the monster that Arnold Friend was.
	d.	Oates and Dylan had a romantic relationship in the early 60s.

3 points   

QUESTION 18

Arnold’s self-proclaimed symbolic and mysterious sign was ___________drawn in the air.

	a.	a peace sign
	b.	a circle
	c.	a figure eight
	d.	an X

3 points   

QUESTION 19

Music plays a major background part in this 60’s teenage story. What disc jockey does Connie and Arnold mention?

	a.	Bobby Darin
	b.	Bob Dylan
	c.	Bobby Evans
	d.	Bobby King

3 points   

QUESTION 20

According to Oates’ written narrative at the final moments of the ending, how did Connie really feel?

	a.	angry and repentant
	b.	empty and resigned
	c.	confused and mad
	d.	curious and sexual

3 points   

QUESTION 21

Author Oates explains that in the story’s ending Connie finally “crosses over” and heroically sacrifices herself; but the nature of the sacrifice is unclear.

True

False

3 points   

QUESTION 22

Why doesn’t Connie just pick up the phone and call the police when Arnold is threatening her?

	a.	She isn’t near the phone since it’s in the living room.
	b.	She is still intrigued with this strange guy, Arnold.
	c.	Arnold tells her that as soon as she touches the phone, he will come inside.
	d.	Connie doesn’t think the police will get to her in time, and she’d rather make a run for it out the back.

3 points   

QUESTION 23

What character speaks this in the story? “She makes me want to throw up sometimes.”

	a.	Connie’s mother
	b.	Ellie
	c.	June
	d.	Connie

3 points   

QUESTION 24

In Oates's story, Arnold Friend reveals “devil-like” characteristics when he strangely questions Connie about the old lady who lived down the road, while Connie keeps telling him, “She’s dead--.”

True

False

2.5 points   

QUESTION 25

Identify the character in this description: “wore a bright orange shirt unbuttoned halfway to show his chest, which was a pale, bluish chest and not muscular . . . shirt collar was turned up.”

	a.	Arnold Friend
	b.	a boy named Eddie
	c.	Ellie
	d.	Connie's father

3 points   

QUESTION 26

Smitty, the real life “Pied Piper” of Tucson, was sort of a folk hero to adolescents, particularly the bored and lonely delinquents (read Moser's article).

True

False

2.5 points   

QUESTION 27

In Oates's story, what are Arnold’s first words to Connie at her house?

	a.	"Dontcha want to go for a ride?"
	b.	"I ain't late, am I?"
	c.	"You're cute"
	d.	"Just for a ride, Connie sweetheart"

3 points   

QUESTION 28

The fairy tale titled ______________ is a literary allusion to when Arnold Friend looks at Connie: “He grinned to reassure her and lines appeared at the corners of his mouth. His teeth were big and white.”

	a.	Little Red Riding Hood
	b.	The Big Bad Wolf
	c.	Hansel and Gretel
	d.	The Pied Piper of Hamlin

3 points   

QUESTION 29

Similar to the real-life murderer Smitty, what did Arnold Friend change of his appearance to make himself seem taller?

	a.	wore high heeled boots
	b.	stuffed his boots
	c.	wore metallic sunglasses
	d.	had big shaggy hair

3 points   

QUESTION 30

At the story’s end, Connie spares her family a possibly violent encounter by calling the police.

True

False

2.5 points   

QUESTION 31

In Oates's story, a most likely description of Connie’s and her mother’s relationship in the written narrative is that:

	a.	share an on-going hate for each other
	b.	they argue frequently, but still like each other sometimes
	c.	they ignore each other all of the time
	d.	her mother worries about her constantly, but Connie doesn't care

3 points   

QUESTION 32

In Oates's story, when Arnold visits Connie at her house, AT FIRST she notices:

	a.	the way he dressed was appealing although he stood strangely
	b.	his verbal and the written phrases on his car are outdated
	c.	that neither he nor Ellie are teenagers
	d.	his voice becomes controlling and menacing

3 points   

QUESTION 33

In "Where Are You Going," At the story’s end, Arnold and his friend Ellie kill Connie in her house.

True

False

2.5 points   

QUESTION 34

In Oates' story, Arnold Friend represents the evil side of the famous songwriter, Bob Dylan

True

False

2.5 points   

QUESTION 35

According to Don Moser's article, Charles Schmid, Oates’ prototype for Arnold Friend, bragged to Tucson girls that he knew a hundred ways to make love, ran dope, and that he was a Hell’s Angel.

True

False

Answer 1

1. Connie the 15 year old protagonist of the short story is fascinated by the way Arnold Friend has dressed himself, but at the same time is a bit frightened by the manners of his behaviors, as he is meeting her for the first time, but he knows more about her.

Answer. True.

2. In Oates' story Connie first notice Arnold friend in the parking lot of restaurant where she had gone the previous evening with her friend.

Answer. Option c. in the restaurant parking lot.

3. In this short story Arnold friend clearly states that Connie cannot go back to her innocent teenage state, and that the plans he has for her is clearly going to be attained even Connie protests to it.

Answer. Option c. Arnold is wielding his mental and physical power over Connie and her innocent and naïve protests.

4. Director Joyce Chopra has altered one of the major themes of Joyce Carol Oates' short story, the theme of a mother's jealousy for her teenage daughter is altered in the movie version, and Joyce Carol Oates' is not pleased with this alteration.

Answer. Option a. She is uncomfortable with a director re-interpreting one of the major actions of her story, and thus changing the themes.

5. Answer. Option b. June/high school

6. Answer. Option b. Pied Piper of Hamelin.

7. Answer. Option d. Ellie says it to Arnold when he suggests they pull out the phone.

8. Answer. True.

9. Answer. Option b. Teen.

10. Answer. Option c. When Connie is inside the house awhile before she hears Arnold driving up her driveway.

11. Answer. Option d. The Devil as evil spirit cannot cross a threshold uninvited..

12. Answer. Option a. a hopeless giving in to a ruthless rapist

13. Answer. True

14. Answer a. set her house on fire

15. Answer. False.