Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Summary

Wrong Impressions
The short story, “Where Are You going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates explains how a young girl was struggling to find herself. Oates writes about a girl named Connie who was 16 years old and was lost in a world of fantasy. Connie had a split personality/image while at home and when she was out with her friends. Living in a world of fantasy, Connie would ignore her family by tuning them out and being distant. Connie would constantly be in front of the mirror admiring herself and seemed self-centered. Her mother always nagged at her and wanted her to be more like her sister June. June was the child that did everything right in her mother’s eyes; Connie was like the black sheep of the family. With these
She was her own person and was nothing like her sister June; she’d only wished her mother would see that. Connie mostly kept to herself while at home and often listened to music; listening to rock music was Connie’s way of escaping from the real world into her fantasy world. It set her at ease rather than listening to all the bickering and nagging. While out with friends her persona was totally different; Connie was very gregarious, “she had a high, breathless, amused voice” (Oates 200). Connie’s father on the other hand, was a workaholic, mostly absent; he never really did tell Connie what to do. Being that Connie’s mother always compared her to her sister she felt worthless; but when she went out, she felt a sense of belonging and worthiness. Connie became rebellious; while going to the “movies” with her friends, she was really going to the drive-in where the older kids hung out. Her appearance changed when her parents weren’t around. Clothes would be changed or modified. For example, when Connie would leave her house with her friends, she would be dressed appropriately in a pull over jersey; but when she would be out, where there were no parents around, the jersey became shorter than normal being brought up