Everything you do has a consequence hiding in the choice. Whether that consequence is beneficial or harmful, usually depends upon the choice, or action of the person. Yet the fact of the matter remains, everything one does, or anything one will do, will always cause some other thing to happen. One cannot be born and live through life without having affected the world around them. One will always influence the future, no matter if the influence is lasting or not. Joyce Carol Oates’s character Connie in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” discovers at a young age that even if one is not trying to draw attention to themselves, it can be given, and is not always a good thing to receive.
Interpretations of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” vary depending on
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She dresses in a lucrative manner, when she could dress more morally, and not steal off with different guys. Connie was an extremely superficial person, Oates describes, “she knew she was pretty and that was everything.” Another source, Marie Mitchell Olesen Urbanski, describes her as, “the vain, spoiled daughter of middle class parents.” It was this need to look, and feel, pretty that causes Connie to draw the attention of Arnold Friend, “He stared at her and then his lips widened into a grin . . . He wagged a finger and laughed.” The consequence of her need for attention was the unwanted attention of Arnold Friend and his friend Ellie. Another action that Connie made, without considering any of the consequences, was staying home when the rest of her family went to a barbeque. The consequence of her staying at home was that she was alone when Arnold and Ellie came knocking at her door. Connie did not ask to be essentially raped by Arnold, but her actions never seriously drove him only to want her more. Arnold was able to learn all about her, and that knowledge was enough to cause Connie not to drive him