The Immaturity of a Young Woman

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In Joyce Carol Oates’ short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Connie, a fifteen-year-old woman, is introduced as pretty, daydreaming and curious about men. In the course of the story, Connie loses her pretended self-confidence in public and simultaneously regrets that she has provoked men's sexual desires when she realizes her still apparent unstableness and sexual immaturity in the presence of Arnold Friend. Unfortunately, her insecurity finally enables Arnold to change Connie’s pretended self-confidence into a defenseless attitude. Consequently, Connie is a girl in a woman’s body: First, Connie is narcissistic and only concerned with her outer appearance in public and her effect on men. Second, Connie is an immature young woman, based on her understanding of a relationship with a young man. Third, Connie behaves as an anxious child because she is not able to handle Arnold Friend's appearance and to call for help.
Connie’s narcissistic behavior and her knowledge that she is very popular causes her to pretend a self-confident, mature woman who follows the aim to be in a relationship and who enjoys every single moment of attention (Oates 120). Connie almost plays with different personalities to perfect her attractiveness because "[E] everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home: her walk, which could be childlike and bobbing, [...] her laugh which was cynical [...] at home [...] but highpitched and nervous anywhere else [...]" (Oates 119-20). Through this charisma, she consciously attracts boys’ interest, but unconsciously, she also provokes men’s sexual desires (Oates 120-21). In other words, this false pretence naturally causes men to develop concre...

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...stealthily longing for (Winslow 268). Unfortunately, Connie is not able to control or at least influence men's desires and falls back into a little, scared and innocent child when Arnold demands Connie's corporation. This ambivalent behavior finally reveals Connie's inability to be her master of such situations (Oates 130).
In a nutshell, Connie regrets her risky business with two personalities and the resultant attentions, which were also provoked due to her contact with the false environment (Oates 120). Arnold's penetrating threat finally causes Connie to feel exhausted and not able to be resistant to his aims. Therefore one could regard Connie as a girl in a woman's body because she is not able to act and react reasonably in crucial moments. In addition, one could regard Joyce Carol Oates' short story as an insistent warning of the unpredictability's of life.

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