Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Summary

Words: 1071
Pages: 5

Analysis of where are You Going, Where Have You Been? Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? By Joyce Carol Oates is a short story about a 15-year old girl named Connie. Connie is narcissistic, full of the sense of superiority that comes from being young and thinking you know everything. She has a strained relationship with her family. Connie believes her mother is jealous of her because the mother's looks have faded with age and children, while Connie is still young and beautiful. Connie’s sister June is (in Connie's eyes) "chunky" and "plain". Connie enjoys looking down on other people, especially unattractive boys. Childhood and adolescence are depicted as times of tribulation, innocence and terror in “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been?” …show more content…
Readers can see that the mother is only looking out for her child. another reason that the mother might be so strict with Connie is because the mother sees a little bit of her child hood and now as an adult she regrets the decisions that she made as a child so now Connie is behaving in a way that the mother used and the mother does not want Connie to go through the same experiences but Connie does not know this so there will always conflict and the mother thinks she is doing Connie a favor while Connie sees it as