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Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Summary

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Connie’s fate is the result of Karma The story Tittle is “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. The story is about Connie she’s 15 years old who cares about her appearance a lot. Her mother always tell her to stop caring so much about her appearance and hanging out with friends. Connie mother always tells her that she should be responsible like her older sister, do well in school and should cares about her family. June the older sister of Connie, she is 24 years old and works at Connie high school she is very responsible and help her parents with money. While Connie is the opposite she only cares about herself and her appearance. One day Connie goes out with a boy named Eddie for dinner. After dinner they walked to the …show more content…

All the sudden a man smile at her and say “Gonna get you, baby” (1409). She looked away and Eddie didn’t even notice the man. Then she went home and totally forgot about it. One Sunday her family went for barbecue and left her alone at home. Connie stayed home and listen to the radio, and all the sudden she hears a car coming toward her house. A man knocked on the door, she looked from the window and realized that it was the man she saw at the parking lot. She opened the door and asked him what he want, he introduce himself as Arnold Friend and start talking to her. As they start talking he mention her name and she asked him how do you know my name he replies and say I know a lot about you. She asks him to leave because she was scared of him, he’s just a stranger that knows so much about her. He asked her to ride the car with him and when she said “NO” he start threatening her and say that he will hurt her family. She tried calling the police but she couldn’t. Then she gave up and had to ride the car with him because she had no

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BRANDON TIMES Renowned Detective Murdered Brandon Fung/Action Reporter July/04/1989 Markham. Detective Patrick Maloney (32) was found dead in his Markham mansion last Thursday. His body was found lying on the ground, still warm, by his wife at approximately 9 pm Eastern time. Malone was hit in the back of the head by a club, which instantly shattered his skull. Maloney’s wife Mary came home from shopping and found her husband dead on the ground.

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One evening after sneaking to the diner across the high-way from the shopping plaza, Connie and her best friend meet a boy named Eddie. Charmed by his flirtations, Connie agrees to leave her friend for a few hours in favor of spending time with Eddie. When the two are walking to his car, they pass by a gold jalopy in the parking-lot. It is here that Connie first lays eyes upon Arnold Friend. He stares at her, grins, and as Connie is walking away from him she can’t help but look back at him again.

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“She was fifteen and she had a quick nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right” (Oates, 259). Connie didn’t like being compared to her sister June by her mother and felt as if her mother only thought that she sat around all day daydreaming about boys. The only good thing that June did in Connie’s eyes was go out with her friends, which justified Connie being able to go out with hers. Connie would lie about going to the movie with her friend and they would end up going to hang out with older boys at restaurants and in allies until her friends dad would pick them up. One night Connie spent 3 hours with a boy she had met eating at a restaurant and then down an alley to hang out with

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Connie’s parents are made up of a not so caring father and a judgmental mother: “Their father was away at work most of the time and when he came home he wanted supper and he read the newspaper at supper and after supper he went to bed. He didn't bother talking much to them, but around his bent head Connie's mother kept picking at her until Connie wished her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it was all over.” (Oates 1). Here the author explains the father's actions when he arrives home. Connie’s father does not pay attention to her nor her sister, June.

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The story Where Are You Going, Where have you Been, is about a fifteen year old young lady named Connie. She was seen at home as a youthful adolescent who went around "ogling" at herself. When she was out with friends she attempted to keep up a full grown and hot personality. Her mother was extremely judgmental of her. Continually contrasting Connie with her more seasoned sister June, suggesting that she was less mindful than June.

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Carol Joyce Oates’ “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” presents how falling into temptation leads to giving up control and innocence. Though her mother is unapproving of her actions, Connie spends her time seeking attention from male strangers. Home alone, Connie is approached by a compelling creature who convinces her to leave her life and join him on his unknown journey. Through disapproving her family, having multiple appearances, listening to music, and her desperation to receive attention from boys, Connie gives up control of herself losing the purity of adolescents and contributing to her detrimental fate. It is imperative that one should not be controlled because of a desire to impress others.

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Connie's choice of life style and attitude shows her lack of morals. Connie constantly has conflicts with her family. She is beginning to break away from them. Because the mother is jealous, she likes to put Connie's self esteem down: " Stop gawking at yourself. Who are you?

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In Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Connie is a fifteen-year-old girl, who does not necessarily get along with her family. During the week, she often times goes to a shopping plaza with some of her friends. However, they sneak across the highway to go to a popular diner where the older crowd hangs out at. At home, Connie is often times arguing with her family. One day her family is invited to her aunt's barbecue but Connie refuses to go.

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Leading Towards The End Of Her Life Would Connie had continued being stubborn and obsessed with herself if she knew what the consequences were going to be? In this story called “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” it involves a young teenage girl Name Connie who wants to act older and an old guy name Arnold Friend who is trying to seem young, to get Connie’s attention and ends up figuring out her information. The consequences that she gets put her life in danger and does not make it, to continue with her life. This story is about a 15-year-old girl who has a “habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors” (p.176) and can’t stop looking at herself because she thinks that she is pretty. She has long blond hair that drew anyone’s attention and would wear charm jiggling bracelets (Oates, 177).

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A few nights before Connie and some friends had gone out to meet boys and Connie

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That also made her become more vulnerable to the real dangers and the evilness that exists in the world. That danger was represented by an old man who pretends to be an eighteen year old boy that seduced and kidnaped Connie. The end of the story Joyce Carol Oates leaves it open to the readers, because that way it makes the reader think of what might have happened, whether she got raped or whether she is killed, after the main character leaves with the antagonist of the story. Oates shows that ignorance, narcissism and the lack of

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877 Words | 4 Pages

Like most teenagers she is thinking only in the moment and what is going to please her. Basically Connie and her friend go to a restaurant and this creepy guy named Eddie came in to talk with them, obviously Connie isn’t thinking straight and she leaves the restaurant with this stranger Eddie. Leaving her friend behind. In the book she states “I just hate to leave her like that” (Oates, 391).

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“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” is about a teenager named Connie who is trying to come to terms with her transformation from childhood to adulthood. Through this process, Connie attempts to act older than she is an tries to gain the attention of boys. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Oates portrays Connie as obsessed with men to symbolize how one’s obsession and narcissistic attitude can cause danger to seem surreal. In the short story, Carol Oates describes Connie as having two different personalities, one being a narcissistic attitude.

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In the coming of age story “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates uses symbolism, conflict, and the third person to foreshadow fifteen-year-old Connie’s unfortunate, yet untimely fate. While one may think that the conflict stems from Connie’s promiscuity, it is clear to see her promiscuity is only a result to a much bigger conflict, her mother’s constant nagging and disapproval, alongside the lack of attention from her father. the author paints a vivid picture of what happens when a fifteen-year-old girl such as Connie goes elsewhere to find to find the love, attention, and approval that she lacks at home. All which is vital for her growth and wellbeing as a person.

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The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates can be interpreted in a multitude of ways due to its ambiguity. A psychological lens, however, provides the most accurate viewpoint for analyzing the story as it clarifies certain obscure scenes and actions of Connie. One psychological issue of Connie that is easily inferred from the beginning of the story is her insecurity about her looks. Connie constantly worries about the way that she looks and takes any opportunity to do so, “craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right” (1).

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