Student Name
Dr. Myron
ENG 250
10/8/09
Essay 1
Joyce Carol Oates' short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"
illustrated the journey from childhood into adulthood by a fifteen year old girl.
Throughout the story, Connie, the girl, lost sight of the difference between reality and
fantasy. She is troubled by several challenges along the way to becoming an adult. By
the end of the story, Connie learned not to be so gullible and naive and that acting like
an adult does not make a person an adult.
The first secret in becoming an adult that Connie learns is that she is too naive
and gullible. In one scene, Connie was daydreaming about Eddie, the boy she was with
the night before. She thought about how the time she spent with him was "the way it
was in movies and promised in songs" (Oates 1370). Her naivety and lack of judgment
lead her to believe that things that happen in movies occur the same way in real life.
She learns that this is a completely false assumption when Arnold Friend comes to pick
her up for a Sunday drive. During a conversation between the two, Connie recognizes
that Friend recites a line from a song about "a girl rushing into her boy friend's arms and
coming home again" (Oates 1377). Friend tries to take advantage of her lack of maturity
by using the lyrics to try to make her feel more comfortable and susceptible.
The next step Connie takes in becoming an adult is realizing that just because
she acts like an adult does not mean she is an adult. Connie is described as acting
