Question

Explore the character of Connie in “Where are

you going: Where have you been.” What does

she represent? Why does she go with Arnold at

the end? Does she really want to save her family?

Is it a heroic gesture? Use many quoted passages

from the work to develop her character and then

six outside and approved sources.

Answer 1

Joyce Carol Oates begins by introducing Connie, a typical, if vain, 15-year-old girl with a habit of constantly checking her reflection in mirrors. Connie’s mother jealously scolds her for her primping, but she ignores her complaints, secure in her belief that being pretty is “everything” (1). Her mother compares Connie unfavorably to her older, matronly sister June. Connie’s father barely acknowledges his family, while her mother constantly criticizes her. Connie is in the midst of an adolescent rebellion. She argues with her mother and sister, June, and neglects family life in favor of scoping out boys at the local restaurant.In the evenings, Connie’s best friend’s father drives them to the shopping plaza in town, where they spend time unsupervised. Once at the mall, Connie changes her persona, altering her walk, smile, clothes, and laugh; at home she is bored and sullen, while with her friends she is bright and flirty. Connie and her friends often cross the road to visit the drive-in restaurant, where they find music and older boys.she has no alternative left to pursue. On why she really went with Arnold there is no clear reason. She might not have any alternative reason to pursue.She tried to brush him off with some initial banter, and she tried to forcefully tell him to go away, yet neither of those helped. Connie is not fully sexual until Arnold’s intrusion into her home—until then, her sexuality was something outside of her “true” self, the self that she allowed her family to see.Connie works hard to prove her maturity, but despite her efforts with clothes and boys, she is not as mature as she would like to believe she is. She desperately wants to be attractive to older men, but once an older man—Arnold—actually pays her explicit sexual attention, she is terrified. She knows little about reality or what adulthood actually entails, preferring to lose herself in the rosy ideas of romance that her beloved pop songs promote. When Arnold appears at her house, she tries to seem in control and unfazed, but she eventually breaks down and is overpowered by him. In her moments of terror, she proves herself to be childlike: she calls out for her mother.