Hung Nguyen

AP English
2/22/2011

“Where are you going, where have you been?” by Joyce Carol sends a message to parent

and teenagers the danger round them. The special family situation where dad doesn’t care about

the children and mother insults her kid had let to a bad foreshadow of the story. The Author was

success in describing the reality and illusion of the situation, appearance and personality of

protagonists has made the story interesting. Inside of 18 year old boy is a 30 year-old devil trying

to have sex with the girl and kill her.

Connie family creates a big different from a typical family in reality. Connie’s dad is a

careless guy who just goes home for supper. He is sitting there reading the newspaper instead of

educating his teenage kid who are learning new thing to get ready for a dangerous life. Also, a

mom in the house who are known to have a main role educating her child, instead of showing her

child how to prepare for life, Connie’s mom just goes opposite to her kid and pushes Connie

down the road by comparing Connie with her sister: “June did this, June did that…”Not only

that, the story made a conflict between mother and daughter that the mother is pretty too but her

beauty has gone and now it is Connie’s turn: “ Her mother has been pretty too,… always after

Connie”. We could see the envy of Connie’s mom to her kid. First, the Author point out how

beautiful Connie is and then saying that it was gone. Second, the way the mother talk to Connie

more than a complaint, it is an insult: “Who are you? You think you’re so pretty?”, “what the

hell stinks? Hair spray?” In reality, people don’t go against each other as a family. The father

holds the main key in educating his kids no matter how hard they have been working outside of

the house. Both mom and dad should prepare for their teenage girl how to live in the new
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environment. Especially for mother, she is the one who close with the girls than father because

she knows how the mind of teenage girl. They don’t go against each other or showing her envy

to her kid. Connie’s mom “noticed everything, knew everything” but didn’t know how to teach

Connie. This foreshadow has predicted family disaster and the result of Connie fell in danger

with Arnold Friend.

Arnold Friend appearance is completely conflicted with his reality as realizing by

Connie, a 30 year old boy. His clothes matches with 18 year old boy with strong muscular body.

His car was panted to match with teenage fashion “Don’tcha like my car? New paint job.”,

“MAN THE FLYING SAUCERS”. But in reality, he is an old man dressing like a teenager.

Connie realized he wear a wig as pale skin around eyes and make-up is all over his face. He

walks like a handicap guy with his feet stumbling. Moreover his personality shows us he is

different from de outside.

Arnold Friend can be easily to see as a demon inside of a sweet guy. He came to Connie

which a dumb reason is to give her a ride. It is so obvious that Arnold has other purpose that he

wants to have sex with the girl and kill her. At first he is a sweetheart talk to Connie, as a boy go

to the girl he talk about the music that Connie like and ask for giving her a ride. After failing

from convincing the girl, he turn to use a sweet intimidation: “Hey, you know that old woman

down the road…She isn’t here anymore”, “ I will break your window…” Arnold has planned

this situation before because in the passage he knows everything is happening to Connie’s family

as well as her friends. In reality, Arnold’s devil side has come a long with his sweet voice asking
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politely to have sex with the girl and we know what will happen to the girl as he talk about the

other woman is dead.

Connie has been seen as a young teenager girl who had a lot experience with the boy as if

she know what they want and how she is going to present herself as a smart and pretty girl. She

knows how to treat people in different situations, also she dresses in different way in different

place so that she could fit into the environment: “Everything about her had two sides to it… her

bracelet.” (Pg. 1) In reality she is a fearful and idiot girl who doesn’t know how to take handle

the situation when Arnold came up to her as a devil trying to us the sweet sound to get the little

naïve girl. Connie shows her confidence being with her friends in Movie Theater and so on. But

inside of her mind, she has to look back to see if it is good or whether there is anybody looking at

her or not. By the story we know that Connie represents a modern, young and teenage girl who

know how to be cool with people, her appearance could be having sex with the young boy. Eddie

is an evident in story who has been dating Connie, and they go separated from her friend until

11:00pm o’clock.

“Where are you going, where have you been?” have done a fantastic job in creating

Illusion vs. Reality through the characters and family’s situation. Joyce Carol Oates story is a

lesson for both teenager and parents to look back of what they did to prevent young generation

from the danger around the kids without preparing to solve the situation. Through the

conversation between two Protagonists, the story illustrates the danger of stranger and the

warning to young teenager girl. Also the foreshadowing reminds parents not to forget the

important of their job in educating their children through the danger of the life.