Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Essay

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Crime has existed throughout history. As times change and society advances technologically the way criminals commit those crimes is affected by the tools available to the public. One crime that has advanced with the higher availability of computer and internet access is stalking. Instead of lingering outside of a victims residence stalkers can now pose as anyone they dream up from the safety of any location with internet access. The story “Where Are You Going, Where Have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is about a young girl named Connie. One night while Connie was out with her friends they went to a drive-in restaurant where all the older kids hung out. When a guy named Eddie came up and asked if she wanted something to eat and she said …show more content…

The story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is based off of a true story. Arnold Friend, Connie’s abductor, was known as the Pied Piper of Tucson. According to Joyce Carol Oates “Smooth Talk: Short Story into Film” the Pied Piper’s skills consisted of seduction and occasional murder of teen-aged girls. Even though the time of the Pied Piper was early or mid- 1960s, it was still easy for him to stalk all his victims. Finding out about their family and friends well enough to make the girls he was stalking feel comfortable enough to give in and go with him. In the 1960s where everything was phone calls and files there was no easy way to figure out about. For the Pied Piper it still seemed easy without any technology, “Technology is more widely available, and so stalkers have more tools to use against their victims” (Docksai 14). According to the article “Stalking Goes High Tech” in 2005-2006 there were 3.4 million Americans who reported being stalked, a decade later there was 1.4 million more annual cases. Twenty-seven percent of all the cases reported it being cyberstalked, or stalked through computer programs, and one in thirteen said their stalkers used tracking devices to monitor their location. Anyone who is tech-savvy can easily find weak spots that allows them to access their victim’s personal