Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Summary

Has one ever been drawn in by something that one thought was good but it turned out to be bad? The story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” has the same scenario. The story was published in 1966 by Joyce Carol Oates. She is known for writing about mass murders, rape, suicide, arson, or an autopsy. She likes to write about multiple facets of individual personality, and her characters often undergo dramatic upheavals and transformation. In the story Oates shows a young girl who is deceived and drawn in by a man with bad intentions. Joyce Carol Oates in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” depicts that everything that seems good isn’t always good. Where are you going, where have you been is a short story about a 15 year old girl

Oates uses Connie’s thoughts to describe her mother saying, “Her mother went scuffling around the house in old bedroom slippers and complained over the telephone to one sister about the other. If Connie’s name was mentioned it was disapproving” (Oates). The author is suggesting that Connie’s mother doesn’t like what her daughter is doing. The word disapproving is used to describe how her mother doesn’t approve how Connie is and what she does with her friends. “Her mother constantly nags at her for spending too much time in front of a mirror and for not being as steady and reliable as her twenty-four year old, unmarried sister” (Barstow). This shows that her mother wants her to change and be different and more like her sister. Her relationship with her mother is that she wants her to change and be different. The author explains the relationship between Connie and her mother as destructive and wanting each other to

“Arnold Friend is a rough approximation of an old friend, the devil, antichrist, and for death. He draws a x in the air, a cross turned to its side” (Mann and David). The author is showing how Arnold is like the devil by making subtle gestures that represent the devil. Including his last name being “Friend”. Arnold says in the text, “Arnold Friend and that’s my real name and I’m going to be your friend” (Oates). Again, Oates shows how Arnold has subtle hints around him to show his relation to the devil. He is no Friend to Connie, but he is the