Analysis Of 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'

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Connie’s Context Overview The author Joyce Carol Oates was born on the 16th of June 1938 and struggled economically during the period of great depreciation. In her story ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’ revolves around the 15th-year-old Connie who is more preoccupied with aspects related to her appearances. In most cases, she spends time admiring herself and comparing her face with others. Influenced by her mother, she is required to be neat just like the elder sister. She ends up avoiding her mother’s questions regarding the boys she meets. As the boys continue talking with Connie, she tries to avoid him claiming that she doesn’t know him. His name is Arnold Friend (Oates 1). Character Analysis The character Connie depicts a young girl who cultivates her personal appearance and sexual aspects which only flourishes when she is away from her home and family (Gale Connie struggles to work hard and prove her maturity. However, her love for boys and pretty clothes makes her not mature enough as she believes. She is in fact attracted to old men, but when Arnold pays an explicit sexual attention to her, she gets terrified with the act. She actually understands less in relation to maturity. She understands little concerning maturity and adulthood, that is why Connie prefers to lose herself in the rosy ideas related to romance and pop songs which she promotes. When Arnold comes to the house and overpowers her, she proves childlike by crying out for her mother. “She cried out, she cried for her mother, she felt her breath start jerking back and forth in her lungs as if it were something Arnold Friend was stabbing her with again and again with no tenderness. A noisy sorrowful wailing rose all about her and she was locked inside it the way she was locked inside this house” (Oates

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