Summary Of 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'

In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Connie’s vain mentality, naive desires, and Arnold’s ability to invoke brainwashing thoughts are what caused her to become vulnerable and unable to resist temptation which ultimately led to her demise. In the short story, when Arnold first pulled up into Connie’s driveway, Connie seemed very untrusting of Arnold and his intentions for being there, especially because he was a stranger to her. As he spoke to her, she seemed very reluctant, to the point she thought he was insane, about the things Arnold was asking her to do. However, toward the end, Connie oddly gave in very easily to his desires and ultimately left her home with him. This occurred for multiple reasons, the first being that in the story, Connie showed a lot of vain and selfish behavior.

The source, “Joyce Carol Oates’s ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’ as Pure Realism”, that Connie had made it clear in the story that Arnold had been watching her for a while and implied that because of that, he used what he knew about her narcissistic attitude to guess how she felt about her sister (Coulthard). Connie’s naive desires also contributed to her compliance with Arnold’s orders. The story constantly showed Connie daydreaming of love, diversion, and boys which ultimately caused her judgement to fog when Arnold arrived at her house to tempt her into leaving. The source, “‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’: Seduction, Space, and a Fictional Mode”, acknowledged that, Connie constantly lives with a mood of expectation that is like a light that provides romance and experience to her (Gillis). The last reason Connie gave in was the fact that Arnold had an interesting choice of words that in the end, made her