Oates 'Where Are You Going' Term Paper

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For example within the poem this group of speakers "left school" (line 2) it is implied, because they had more "adult' things to do, like "Lurk late" (line 3), play pool, and hang out drinking through the night. Moreover, in this same tone these speakers just as nonchalantly predict (that as a result of their past and present actions combined) they will also "die soon" (line 8). It is as if death itself is no less casual than playing a game of pool together.

But in fact the lifestyle decisions they have made are the opposite of the adult self-discipline and willingness to delay gratification it takes to stay in school instead of drop out, study instead of stay out with friends all night, and be responsible instead of reckless. Just as Joyce carol Oates's protagonist Connie does not take seriously that the wolfish Arnold might indeed come over to her house, Brooks' subjects in "We Real Cool" seem not to take seriously the idea that the decisions they have made and make now could also truly lead them to "die soon." This final line of the poem is stated with the same lack of gravity as the rest.

In both Joyce Carol Oates's short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" And Gwendolyn Brooks' poem "We Real Cool," then teens who feel and act like adults when they are not are described and given voice.

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In both of these pieces of literature, a main character or group of poetic subjects take themselves and their self-perceived maturity seriously; yet the immaturity of their actions, reactions and decisions reveals that they are not adults at all.

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