Loss Of Innocence In 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'

In one moment it’s ripped away from them: the only thing keeping them young; the only thing keeping them shielded from the world. It’s the mother watching her fatherless daughter cry over his coffin. It is the boy being slapped by his loving father for the first time. I That thing is known as “loss of innocence”, but is it really a loss? All one loses is their naivety and artlessness. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, a boastful teenager lacks the knowledge of who a lady is. The knowledge Connie receives, brought upon by Arnold Friend, on that peculiar July afternoon must seem bittersweet.
Connie is a young teenage girl hoping to find out who she is as a woman. She spends an obsessive amount of time observing herself in the mirror. Little does she know, the mirror won’t give Connie the key to becoming a lady. Later, a Friend will hand her the key. Connie admired herself and, “she knew she was pretty and that was everything,”(Oates). Connie spends a

The movie is about five members of different cliques in high school, and one Saturday morning detention. They all have different views of one another, and nearly resent each other. At the end of the each teenager came away with something new. To lose innocence can hit you like a ton of bricks, or it can be a gradual realization. The five people that showed up went away with an entirely new look on the world and each other. The perfect, pristine prom queen fell for the criminal and smoked marijuana. Without the other four, she would still be a princess. She would still be bored with her life. The criminal would have no respect for anyone if he hadn’t been in detention that day. All of them learned that diversity is the greatest, yet the most horrible situation. Innocence is the greatest, yet the most horrible state of being. Connie’s cuts from innocence will begin to fade into