Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Connie's Character

From the opening lines of, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” By Joyce Carol Oates, readers are immediately introduced to the character, as well as indicating the story is being told by a third person narrator. The use of a third person narrator lets readers know what connie is thinking allowing them to identify with her on a more personal level. The beginning of the story is also introduced in past tense. This could foreshadow the fact that something bad might have happened to connie, also suggesting the theme of violence.

In Joyce Carol Oates’s, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, a teen girl named Connie is more worried about her appearance than her mother’s reprimands. Connie’s mother, who is given no name in the story, is trying to convince her to be more like her older sister, June. June goes out with her girlfriends, so their mother allows Connie to go out as well, with her best friend. Once night Connie goes out with a guy named Eddie; they eat at a restaurant together. In the parking lot Connie comes across a man in a gold convertible that say he is going to get her (146).

In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, the protagonist Connie’s misperceptions about the adult world results in her rapid jolt from adolescence into the horrific realities of adulthood. Connie romanticizes the idea of romance, leading her to a great shock when her fantasizes of love come true in a perverted way through the character Arnold Friend. Additionally, her misperceptions about physical beauty as her determining factor of a person’s persona leads her to obsess over physical image highlighting her flaw of vanity. Connie’s idealistic views of adult romance and physical beauty blinds her to the wickedness of the character Arnold Friend who bring about her involuntary downfall into the horrific

In the beginning of the story, Connie is said to have two sides to her character. One side of Connie is expressed when she is home, where her actions can be described as “childlike bobbing” (Oates 338). Or the side that is exposed when she is out with her friends and described to be “languid enough to make anyone to think she was hearing music in her head” (Oates 338). When Oates says, “hearing music in her head,” it’s as if she is daydreaming.

"I just hate to leave her like that," Connie said earnestly, but the boy said that she wouldn't be alone for long.” (Carol Oates

She and that girl and occasionally another girl went out several times a week, and the rest of the time Connie spent around the house-- it was summer vacation-- getting in her mother’s way and thinking, dreaming about the boys she met (Chopra).” Being a young teenager, Connie is just starting to experience feelings of romance and

Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been? By Joyce Carol Oates is a short story about a 15-year old girl named Connie. Connie is narcissistic, enjoys going out with friends and thinks she knows everything.

In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” the main character, Connie also led a double life. At home she was a typical teenage daughter, only concerned with typical adolescent things. She was obsessed with her looks, friends, and boys, especially older men. When she was away from home she would explore her sexulaity. She would change the way she looked, walked, and even laughed to make her appear more sexually

In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, to some, the story of Connie seems that of a naïve girl turned into a heroine, where she gives herself to Arnold for her family to be unharmed. To others, like Tom Quirk, Connie leaves with Arnold in a form of rebellion against society. It could be both, depending on how the reader takes in the words. Nonetheless, this rebellion that is mentioned by Quirk is apparent in most youth and it’s mostly displayed as defiance against the norms. This way of acting is all led by influence.

In Joyce Carol Oates’s Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been , there certainly is no clear cut way to interpret the story. Oates includes symbolism throughout the story that adds depth and requires the reader to look farther into the reasons behind the details that are included the work. She writes about a fifteen year old girl, Connie, who becomes a victim of Arnold Friend while left home alone . Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been was written in 1966, a time during which a social revolution for American women was in full swing. This empowerment that woman had, as they pushed for complete gender equality, inspired the character of Connie.

Connie’s first encounter with Friend was at a diner when he stated to Connie, “Gonna get you, baby”(pg.1142). Because Connie was use to this type of attention, she did not view it as strange that an older man was calling her in such away. However, if Connie had seen Friend as dangerous instead of just another man, her kidnapping might have been prevented. Later in the story when Friend showed up as Connie’s house, she walked outside and talked to him instead of questioning how he knew where she lived or calling the police. Oates described Connie's interaction with Friend by stating,“Connie liked the way he was dressed, which was the way all of them dressed: tight faded jeans stuffed into black, scuffed boots, a belt that pulled his waist in and showed how lean he was, and a white pullover shirt that was a little soiled and showed the hard muscles of his arms and shoulders”(pg.1145).

Since the age of 13 it has been common in our society for a young teenager to act older than they’re supposed to be. However, while some consider making there own money for doing minor labor work for their parents as “being responsible” Connie, a fifteen year old freshman, took it to whole different level. She was a reckless teenager who was all talk and no play. Instead of helping her parents out at home or thinking about her upcoming year in highschool all she wanted to do was flirt with older guys with her friends. She wanted to be involved with the wrong crowd and wanted to grow up way too quickly.

Like most teenagers she is thinking only in the moment and what is going to please her. Basically Connie and her friend go to a restaurant and this creepy guy named Eddie came in to talk with them, obviously Connie isn’t thinking straight and she leaves the restaurant with this stranger Eddie. Leaving her friend behind. In the book she states “I just hate to leave her like that” (Oates, 391).

Although some may argue that the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, reveals that Connie’s materialistic ideals drove her actions which caused her ultimate demise, this position limits the importance of Connie’s repressed thoughts. Her repressed thoughts, identified through daydreams and inner dialogue, reveal her psychological efforts to protect herself from the imminent danger ahead. These thoughts form as she strives to achieve a differentiation of self from her older sister, yet her newfound identity becomes superficially based off how she believes she should behave around her peers. When Arnold Friend appears at her doorstep, even though Connie deploys her defense mechanisms of repression and denial, she remains vulnerable to Arnold because she does not acknowledge her repressed thoughts and only considers his superficial appearance. Once Connie’s repressed thoughts surface, her reality anxiety allows her to uncover Arnold Friend’s true intentions with her and shed light on Connie’s fatal flaw: her differentiation of self.

In the story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Connie is a lost girl looking for attention somewhere or anywhere she can find it. She did not get the love she wanted at home, so that's when puberty took part of what happened between her and Arnold.