Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Relationships

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In an ever changing society where the emphasis on a nuclear family is being left behind, Joyce Carol Oates wrote Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been in 1966. This piece was a change from most works of literature at the time, because Oates draws attention to the disconnect between parents and children of the 1950s and 1960s. In the story the main character, Connie, and her parents do not have a good relationship. The frayed relationship between parents and child gives pop culture the opportunity to interject as a guiding role in the child’s life. Oates reveals the reality of “... evil and violence in contemporary American society.” (Moss, Wilson). Broken family ties, loud media, and high moral standards led Connie to embody the lost adolescent in an evolving society.
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been is set around the early 1960s. A young fifteen year old girl named Connie lives in a typical American suburb with her sister and parents. Connie and her sister, June, have a nine year age gap and are exceptionally different. June acts the way their mother believes a lady should act; reserved, plain, and steady. Connie is the opposite, which causes a disengage in her mother-daughter relationship. Connie’s mother is always scolding Connie and telling her “Stop gawking at yourself. Who do you think you are? You think your so pretty” (Oates). …show more content…
“Music serves as a constant element in Connie’s environment” (Moss, Wilson). The turn of the decade brought forth music that carried a message directed specifically to adolescents. Connie was deeply impacted by the, “ popular lyrics that inspired her fantasies about what life and love relationships should be like.” (Moss, Wilson). These artists also shaped Connie’s style, personality, and attitude towards others. These lyrics challenged conservative family values which added to the tension between Connie and her
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