Feminist Criticism on Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

The term ‘feminism’ and ‘feminist’ first started to gain popularity in the 1970s. Starting in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, continued into the 1960s and 1970s, then followed by the 1990s to the twentieth century, feminism and feminist grown across the nation. From clubs and organizations, to readings and speeches, feminist all across the nation, and world, have influenced aspects of our daily lives, including our literature. “Feminist criticism examines the ways in which literature reinforces or undermines the economic, political., social, and psychological oppression of woman” (Tyson 83). In simpler terms, feminist criticism is critiquing literary readings, through the mind of a woman’s opinion of structure and being. Like how day and night change, so do times. In our current era, being a feminist is seen as being hip and cool. Although, back in the nineteenth century, feminist were viewed as strange and were quickly overlooked. Go to a concert today, you see woman, even a teen, dressed in skin tight clothing, hanging out with the guys, drinking beer, and shooting the bull. Take our outlook on feminist criticism today, such as; gender roles, French feminism, multicultural feminism, and gender studies. Now, apply these thoughts to a text like, ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’ written in 1970s. The insights and goals of the women’s movement have been transformed and translated as they have been integrated into popular culture and daily life today compared to the nineteenth century. Connie, the protagonist of the story ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’, is a young and wild teenage girl, who in simple terms, enjoys the attention from men. Connie, the type of teenager whose “…mind was filled with trashy daydreams” (3) , and “everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home” (5). With a description so blunt about Connie, many would accuse her of being a “bad girl”. Now,