in Oates’s portrayal of Arnold Friend (Johnson 148). Joyce Carol Oates dedicated “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” to Bob Dylan. His song “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” was her inspiration. The many lines from Dylan’s song obviously influenced the story (see appendix A).The vagabond who’s rapping at your doorIs standing in clothes that you once wore.However, the mood and tone of the story also reveal more subtle connections (Davidson).“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” has also been made into a film called “Smooth Talk”. The film is based on the short story but is also expanded. Joyce Chopra and Tom Cole adapted the film. A great deal of emotion was focused on the relationship between Connie and her mother (Johnson 150). The original story had little to do with that relationship. Chopra found it necessary to alter want she called the story’s “unfilmable” conclusion (Wesley 255-62).“My Sweet little blue-eyed girl, “ he said in a half- sung sigh that had nothing to do with [Connie’s] brown eyes but was taken up just the by the vast sunlit reaches of the land behind him and on all sides of him- so much land that Connie had never seen before and did not recognize except to know that she was going to it.Instead, a fluffier fairytale ending is added. Connie is saved from her fated murder and returned to her family. Despite the alterations Joyce Carol Oates commented that she thought, “the film was extremely well done”.Flannery O’Connor also begins her story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” with the introduction of Grandma, the main character. The grandmother appears to represent godliness and Christianity. She is said in the story to have “lacked comprehension, but… had a good heart”. The old lady settled herself comfortably, removing her white cotton gloves and putting them ...
