Pagination shows only same posts please help

I am using the below code including pagination it works and shows the pagination links but when you click on them each page has same posts as front page why?

<?php
$paged = ( get_query_var( 'paged' ) ) ? get_query_var( 'paged' ) : 1;
$args = array( 'posts_per_page' => 3 ,'paged'=>$paged);
$the_query = new WP_Query( $args );
while ($the_query ->have_posts()) : $the_query -> the_post();
 ?>
<div id="pbox">

    <div id="pthumb"><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" class="ptitle"><?php the_post_thumbnail('thumbnail', array('class' => 'mythumbnail')); ?></a></div>
        <div id="pcontent">
    <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" class="ptitle"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
    <?php the_excerpt(); ?><br />

Post Category: <b><?php the_category( ', ' ); ?></b>

        </div>
    </div>
<?php
endwhile;
$big = 999999999; // need an unlikely integer
echo paginate_links( array(
    'base' => str_replace( $big, '%#%', esc_url( get_pagenum_link( $big ) ) ),
    'format' => '/page/%#%',
    'current' => max( 1, get_query_var('paged') ),
    'total' => $the_query->max_num_pages
) );
echo $paged;
wp_reset_query(); ?>