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Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Theme Essay

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Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Theme Essay
Going through life, adapting to changes as you grow older and transforming from a young and reckless, naïve child into a working, responsible adult could be very fearful. Change itself is one of the biggest fears people encounter each and every day. Having to do things on their own, or figuring out if the decisions they make are right and if their experiences are going to help them or just hurt them more in the long run. In Connie's experience with Arnold Friend, whether it is real or a dream, the theme of "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been," is ultimately about fear. Likewise, "We didn’t," while its dominant tone is comic, the underlying theme is based on fear. Both stories ultimately deal with the fear of crossing through the passage …show more content…
When reading the two stories one can see the troubles the two young women are dealing with on the path between adolescence and adulthood. However, it’s not just the girls in the story that deal with these fears. Most young women today deal with fears incorporating maturity changes from a girl to a women, loss of virginity, as well as the search for one‘s independence. Girls who are maturing into women may develop a fear of body image. Losing your virginity is also a big fear, and very scary for girls because the chance of getting pregnant dwindles in the back of their mind. Moreover, the search of independence is a significant trepidation, due to the fear of the unknown. Many young women search to find the woman they want to be, but can become confused with how others may perceive them, and define their character. Although the story does not state that Connie was raped, one can infer that she was placed in an awkward and alarming situation in which she had to choose whether to fight for her adolescence or physically cross the boundaries into becoming an adult. Neither Connie nor Julie overcame their fears, but they managed to deal with the inevitable events and situations, thus, proving that they were becoming mature young adults on the right
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