Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Joyce Carol Oates starts by presenting Connie, a characteristic of an otiose, 15-year-old girl with a custom of continually examining her image in glasses. Connie’s mother enviously reprimands her for her preening, but she disregards her grievances and protects her trust that being attractive is the whole thing. Her mom relates Connie disapprovingly to her elder, plump sister, June. Connie’s father hardly admits his family, although her mom continually criticizes her (Oates and Wolff).

In the sunsets, Connie’s mate’s father takes them to the shopping plaza in the town, where they spend their time unsupervised. In the shopping mall, Connie alters her identity, changing her laugh, clothes, walk, and smile; at the house, she is tired and surly, while with her mates, she is cheerful and flirty. Connie and her mates mostly cross the roads to visit the implant cafeteria, where they see the melody and elder boys (Cherkasov et al.).

One night at the cafeteria, Connie sees a boy who is named Eddie, and she leaves her mates to track him to his vehicle. As they depart the burger point, Connie detectives a boy in a very bright gold vehicle amused at her. He bouncily smiles, “Gonne gets you, baby,” as she paces away. After some time, she sees her mate, and they return home.

Connie devotes most of her time to fantasizing about the boys and love in an overall and unclear technique. Although she contests with her mom continually, she defendants her mom favors her over June because of her loveliness. Connie’s mom devotes most of her time wandering about the home in the slippers and nattering with her sisters.

On the afterward morning, Connie’s family departs for a grill at her auntie’s home, but she chooses to remain at the house and wash out her hair in its place, annoying her mom. Connie lays down in the courtyard, letting her hair get dried and drift off, imagining the love. She awakens and is provisionally confused earlier to the heading back inside. She lays down in bed, hearing the radio and calming when she hears a vehicle pulling into her driveway.

Examining her hair, Connie went down to examine and discovered the boy and that golden vehicle that she had seen in the cafeteria car parks the night before. Connie walks out to the front entrance, where the boy asks her to come for a trip and expresses to her that she is pretty. She notices that he and his mate, who is sitting in the passenger chair, are listening to a similar radio station that she was listening to in her room at home.

The boy presents himself as Arnold’s mate and demonstrates to her all the mottos that are dyed on his vehicle, with the witticisms and an undisclosed code. He requests her to come and look at the opposite side of the vehicle, but Connie rejects, waiting at the entrance. When he inquires her to come for a trip over, Connie rights she has the stuff to prepare, irritating his laughter. He funs and expresses to her that this day has been reserved for their trip together.

Connie adores the approach Arnold Friend wears clothes, like an adolescent from the 1950s era or the era of the 1960s. He appears indistinctly acquainted. Arnold Friend is using her term, removing her doubt, as she has not ever shared it. Connie inquires where he could take her, and Arnold Friend appears pleased by the impression of a trip having a terminus. He asks her if he not only knows her name but that her parents went and how long they will be going for, in addition to the names of her mates. As he says, Arnold Friend echoes as if he is narrating the arguments to a tune.

Connie inspects his vehicle and understands the expression, “MAN THE FLYING SAUCERS,” an outmoded portion of jargon written on the lateral. This interrupts her, but she could not identify why. Arnold’s mate displays her symbol, making an X in midair, explaining he rushed it at her when he 1st saw her. Connie looks sensibly at her guest and understands that all think that he appears like all of the other boys that she knows; it is somewhat odd around him.

She requests his age, understanding he is older than her, about 30 years old. With shock, Connie notices that Arnold Friend’s friend, Ellie Oscar, appears like a 40-year-old man. This understanding makes her faint, as she recognizes the condition is far more thoughtful than she first supposed (Borry et al.).

Connie inquires the person to leave, but Arnold Friend rejects to leave and demands that she will have to go with her. She notices that he has worn a toupee and is beaten by another wave of faintness. He starts telling Connie’s family at the BBQ, saying that her sister’s blue clothes and noticing that her mom is shucking the corn with one of the family’s friends. Arnold Friend is apparently seeing the actions of the town.

Even the label of the story itself, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” has enthused numerous clarifications. For several readers, it is evocative of the queries a parent could inquire from their young daughter, caustic as Connie’s parents are so uncomplicated in her lifestyle. The others possess questions that Connie is inquiring herself as she tries to come out to be an adult with a fully shaped intelligence itself. To the others still, they denote Arnold Friend’s secretive roots and tactics. Near the story’s conclusion, Arnold Friend scoffs at Connie, stating, “The place where you came from isn’t there anymore, and where you had in mind to go is canceled out” (13), reflecting the heading. Maybe the heading mentions all these stuff in dissimilar techniques, showing so reminiscent precisely as it hides some layers of sense. If so, it could appropriate Joyce Carol Oates’s short story precisely.

Works Cited

Borry, Pascal, et al. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been: A Recent History of the Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Market.” Journal of Community Genetics, vol. 1, no. 3, 2010, pp. 101–06.

Cherkasov, Artem, et al. “QSAR Modeling: Where Have You Been? Where Are You Going To?” Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 57, no. 12, 2014, p. 4977.

Oates, Joyce Carol, and Tobias Wolff. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Difusión, Centro de Investigación y Pubicaciones de Idiomas, 2013.