Gamero 1Daniel GameroC. BustamanteEnglish 102-00520 October 2008“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”Transitioning from childhood into adulthood can be very different for every human being while growing up. Several events and experiences may occur as how it was in the case of 15 year-old Connie, in the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. Oates was born on the month of June in 1938, in Lockport, New York. She succeeded all throughout high school and was granted a scholarship to attend Syracuse University, where she majored in English. She published her first novel at the age of 29 of which she received the National Book Award for. As of today she has published 37 novels, poetry, several short stories, and four volumes of plays (Bio Para 6). Oates now is a distinguished professor of Humanities at Princeton University and has received the award for “ a lifetime of literary achievement” (Bio Para. 8). In Oates’ short story, the protagonist, Connie, is left at home alone by her parents. Shehas an older sister whose name is June, who is pretty much the opposite of Connie. She also leaves with the parents. Arnold friend, who she had seen the day before at a shoppingplaza, talks Connie into doing something she didn’t want to do in the beginning. She triescalling the police, because Arnold did not want to leave unless she left with him, but she fails. He somehow finds a way and persuades Connie into going for a ride with him. In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates,Gamero 2the experience that Connie goes through shows how teens can be influenced by many things as they go from childhood into adulthood.One of the things that most teens are concerned for or what they get influenced byis popular music. As how it might have been in the case of Connie in the short story by Oates. She along with her friends liked to go out and just have fun, like any typical teenager would. They often went to a shopping plaza just to walk around and sometimes they had to run across a highway in order to get to a drive-in restaurant where kids much older than them hung out. One day they decide to run across the highway and head over to the drive-in restaurant. They go and sit at a counter and cross they legs while listening to music that was being played in the background. “ . . . Listened to music that made everything so good: the music was always in the background, like music at a church service; it was something to depend upon” (Oates Para 6). This just shows how music hasa big impact on how the whole situation with Connie starts. In most cases, the music could be something that sets the mood, and without it, it just would not be right. “. . . All the boys feel back and dissolved into a single face that was not even a face but and idea, afeeling, a mixed up with the urgent insistent pounding of the music . . .”(Para. 9). Popularmusic among teens could influence them on what they want to do according to what is popular with teens just like them. Another thing that influences teens are their friends. This could have been the reason and it could have led to what happened to Connie in the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Oates portrays Connie as the young girl who just likes to go out with her friends. We find out that Connie, as well as her friends lie about where they will be going. The father of one of her friends drives them the three milesGamero 3away from their town in order to get to the shopping plaza to go shopping or to go see a movie where they would go “walking around the plaza in their shorts and flat ballerina slippers that scuffed the sidewalk, with charm bracelets jingling on their thin wrists . . .” (Oates Para. 5). But sometimes they didn’t do any of that. Instead they went across the highway and went to drive-in restaurant where they would hang out with guys older than they all were. In the short story, we come to find out that Connie is influenced into doing things behind her parents’ backs by her friends, which could have been the reason she hasto go through the experience that she goes through towards the end of the story. She lied to her parents about what really did and when they asked she somehow always got away without getting caught. “Her mother was so simple, Connie thought, that it was maybe cruel to fool her so much” (Oates Para. 10). The way Connie was, the way she cared about what others thought about her was a key factor in the experience that she goes through. Oates describes Connie as a pretty 15-year-old girl who just cared about how others saw her and about what they thought. “She was 15 and she had a quick nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right” (Oates Para. 1). Her mother always asked her why she could not be just like her sister June, who was 24 years of age and still lived with them in the same home. Connie could never compare herself with other girls. “She always drew thick clear lines between herself and such girls . . .” Arnold Friend, who always seemed to go after somebody, some pretty girl,sees Connie at the drive-in restaurant. Connie, as pretty as she was, draws his attention while she was walking past him. Arnold Friend was sitting in his “jalopy” which wasGamero 4painted gold with black letters on the sides. When Arnold Friend sees Connie, they make eye contact. He stared at her and then his lips widened into a grin. Connie slit her eyes at him and turned away, but she couldn't help glancing back and there he was, still watching her. He wagged a finger and laughed and said, ‘Gonna get you, baby,’ and Connie turned away again without Eddie noticing anything (Oates Para 7).Many young girls may go through the same experiences that Connie goes throughin the Oates’ short story. Arnold Friend just drives up to her house. Connie hears someoneapproach her house, and without knowing who, wanting to find out, she rushes to her front door. She sees the “golden jalopy.” She quickly realizes that it’s Arnold Friend. He begins to try to persuade her into leaving the house with him. They talk back and forth, but Arnold Friend just can’t get her to do as he says. Connie starts to get scared and tries to call the police since she was alone and there was nobody who could help her. She just couldn’t do
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