Pop Culture in "Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?"

Whether it is the top movie at the box office this weekend, the song that is soaring up the Top 40 charts, the most widely read book or the highest rated television show, pop culture is always changing and influencing the targeted generation. Throughout the 50s and 60s North America went through many different changes with the introduction of a new style of music and movies, lead by Elvis Presley and his shocking dance moves. Sex appeal was becoming popular and pop culture was beginning to affect how people think on a large scale. In the short story "Where are you going, Where have you been?", written by Joyce Carol Oates, the author attempts to personify Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley as different characters in the story, Ellie and Arnold in particular. She does this to help the reader better understand her view of pop culture. The physical descriptions of Ellie and Arnold from the story are a description of how the author views Presley and Dylan and that she believes the pop culture they helped create is negative.…