Analysis Of Joyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

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Everyone experiences transitions in ones lives. Some changes are small, like going from one class to the next. Other times these changes are major, like the transition between youth and adulthood. The author Joyce Carol Oates is trying to make one understand the powerful effect that the opposite sex can have on an adolescent girl, and displays the potential dangerous consequences that may result if one succumbs to their desires without even thinking about it. Oates dramatizes a real life wrong doing story to test and examine the decisive moment people face when at the crossroads between the illusions and innocence of youth and the uncertain future ahead of them. Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” tells a story of a teenage girl named Connie who is having a hard time transitioning from being a teenager to becoming an adult. She is a superficial and selfish teenager who ends up in a horrifying situation she must accept unless she wants her family to be in the same horrifying situation. Like most teenagers, Connie explores her surroundings and numerous temptations confront her along the way. Connie's mother and her own intuition attempt to protect her from the wickedness in society, but sometimes the allure of these enticements "cry 'to one' like a fire in the sun"(Dylan 613). The main characters name Connie is a fifth teen year old girl that is rebelling against her mother’s wishes. First off, Connie was not happy at home her father was away at work most of the time and didn't bother talking much to them according to the story so Connie didn't have a relationship with him. Connie found her happiness in fleeing with her friends by going to the plaza and daydreaming about boys. Connie usually goes wit...

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...en he was at her house, and who Arnold Friend truly was. Some people believe that Arnold Friend is a predator seeking out a new victim, but I think that in some strange way Arnold becomes Connie way to escape into her fantasy world. When she learns his true intentions she is scared to death at first but eventually that fear gives way when entering his car. Connie may think that she’s not going to see her mother again or sleep in her bed again, but at the same time she’s going to escape from her old life. Maybe she has made her decision at that moment; Connie no longer resists Arnold after that moment and does everything he says to do. As she steps out the door, she sees the "vast sunlit reaches of the land behind him," in contrast with the house she is leaving, which "looked small." This shows that she is stepping out into her fantasy world, or so she thinks she is.

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