Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Oates and The Things They Carried by OBrien - Essay Example

 Connie was a fifteen year old adolescent eager to leave her childhood behind and enter life as an adult and Jimmy was a young fighting soldier in the Vietnam War. Their lives were worlds apart but they both, as characters within a story, confronted the pressures placed on them by life and society in much the same way. Blurring the periphery between fantasy and reality, as depicted by O’Brien and Oates within their respective stories ‘the things they carried’ and ‘where are you going, where have you been’, is an inherent psychological mechanism that can be unconsciously triggered to help deal with life’s pressures and torments. Life, by definition brings many trials and tribulations as we move through its path, and in order to cope with the demands and suffering it imposes, our subconscious is able to take us out of reality to a world of fantasy; a world in which we have and do what we want not what we need, or what is imposed by society. Connie, the main character in ‘where are you going, where have you been?’ (Oates) was in reality an adolescent with little actual knowledge of adult life; in fantasy however, she was a mature woman appealing to boys and men alike. She lived her life on the periphery between childhood and adulthood, whereupon she wavered from one side to the other. Her same clothes connoted different personas dependent on whether she was in or out of the home; her hairstyle, makeup and outward behavior changed to the occasion as to whether or not there were males in her vicinity, and she lived a life of pretence with her mother. In fact ‘everything about her had two sides to it’ (Oates 451). Even when feeling intimidated when confronted by Arnold Friend her thoughts still flickered back to the first time he had seen her and ‘how she had sucked in her breath’ (Oates 456) in effort to appear more beguiling. Reality of adult sexuality and childhood fantasy were confused and lines made indistinct by Connie; she traversed from childhood daydreams and flights of imagination of love and ‘how sweet it all was … the way it was in movies’ (Oates 451) to stark reality of Friend who exposed all the attributes that ‘all boys used to get across ideas they didn’t want to put into words’. (Oates 458). When menaced by Friend, Connie seemed to take one step forward towards what she knew would be her reality as a woman but in the next instant she took two steps backwards into her world of fantasy. At one moment she was frightened and felt threatened by Friend and the next she was making observations as to his reality in terms of his voice sounding like the man on the radio, his wearing of make-up, his age, and his wig; such a psychological switch may have been a means of defense to place what she then perceived as reality and a threat, as something that was in fact fantasy and not real. ‘First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’ (O’Brien) the main character in ‘the things they carried’ , was a twenty two year old American soldier in the Vietnam War; he was a man who, like Connie lived life on the periphery between fantasy and reality, between the man he personified and the man he really was. He portrayed himself as a strong man in command of his life and position when in reality he was inefficient and hated being in the war; his life was a façade; he was a lieutenant and thus had men in his command but rather than face the realities of war and its atrocities his subconscious would take over and take him into his world of fantasy, a world that revolved around Martha. Martha was a school mate with whom he had had one date, and of whom he possessed two photographs and a lucky pebble. She wrote him letters that were purely platonic and Jimmy new that in reality there was no love from her towards him other than as friend, but he loved her and used this fantasy as a mechanism to escape from the torments of war. He would open her letters every evening imagine being with her and romance about the one date and the things he should have done, such as he should have ‘carried her up the stairs to her room and tied her to the bed’ (O’Brien), all make believe. Jimmy moved continually between reality and fantasy; he would tell his men to ‘spread out’ and ‘keep their eyes open’ (O’Brien) and then he would retreat to his fantasy world with Martha. Even in times of danger when it was his duty to look after his men ‘he tried to concentrate’ (O’Brien) on them and the war but he was not able to ‘bring himself to worry about matters of security’ (O’Brien) and so would allow his subconscious to take over and transport him into the safety of fantasy. ‘He couldn’t help it’. (O’Brien) Connie’s escape to her fantasy world away from reality and womanhood was a subconscious attempt on her part to deal with the traumas of life. She played with the ideas of sex and enjoyed being noticed and liked by boys; she idealized life with boys and sex but never in reality experienced anything more than kissing and cuddling. Consciously she knew that once stepping over the mark, once having experienced sex, then the fantasy was over and reality was there to stay. Connie finally took that step once confronted with Arnold Friend who represented everything that an adult life in American society was. A society that together with nature left no choices but to take that step into womanhood and submit to reality leaving fantasy behind. Lieutenant cross on the other hand, made his own choice to commit to reality. The atrocities that he and his men committed made him feel ashamed but more than that he felt guilty and hated himself because he had ‘loved Martha more than his men’ (O’Brien) and because of this one of him men had died. Jimmy like Connie had been coerced by society but he was coerced into a war he hated and where he was able to survive by blurring the periphery between reality and fantasy. It was the stark confrontation of the death of his friend and soldier under his command that induced him to reality but by his own conscious commitment. Oates and O’Brien very clearly illustrate the way in which we live in a world divided between reality and fantasy through the lives of Connie and Lieutenant Cross, who both in the same way were able to deal with the anxieties and blows that life serves by sliding into their worlds of make believe and daydreams. It took harsh confrontation for both of them to abandon their world of fantasy for one of reality but for Connie the choice was made for her, whereas for Jimmy Cross the choice was his. Read More