The Small Town Suburbia in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

A short story by Joyce Carol Oates, setting in a small town, the main character is a 15-year-old girl named Connie. Connie is a beautiful young girl, who is always arguing with her sister and mother. She knows she’s beautiful, but she still craves the validation from others. She tries to appear as if she’s older and wiser than others when shes not. She is always listening to music about love and boys, her head is filled with daydreams of boys and love. When evidently she really knows nothing about it, except that she needs to be pretty to get their attention. During the beginning of the story, Connie’s mother argues with her because she wants Connie to be more organized and responsible like her older sister June. Her sister June was Connie’s older sister and her opposite. She was a little overweight for her age, she was 24 years old, still living with her parents. She’s plain and boring and shes also their parent’s favorite daughter because she obeys them and does her chores, unlike Connie. Whereas Connie does nothing but go out or stay in her room daydreaming about boys and listening to music.

Since her sister June would go out with her girlfriends at night their mother also let Connie go out as well. Connie and her friends go to a restaurant like usual they meet boys. One night Connie goes out with her friends and a boy named Eddie comes across her, Connie left her friends to be with him. While they were heading to Eddie’s car, Connie was looking around her surroundings, she sees a Gold painted convertible, with a black-haired man watching her. He pointed at her and laughed and said: “Gonna Get you, baby”(Oates 1) She hurried, while Eddie noticed nothing, that night they were together for a couple of hours at that restaurant eating burgers than in an alley, till she went back to her friend. On Sunday Connie ends up going to wash her hair than to go into the backyard and bathe in the sun until she dried off her hair. Her family tried to convince her to come to the family barbeque but she wasn’t interested so her family left her home. “Her parents and sister were going to a barbecue at an aunt's house and Connie said no, she wasn't interested, rolling her eyes to let her mother know just what she thought of it. 'Stay home alone then,' her mother said sharply.”(Oates 2)

While Connie was laying down as the sun hit her she was dozing off daydreaming about boys. After a while, she went back inside and put on one of her favorite radio stations called “XYZ Sunday Jamboree”, the station would play hit after hit. She was distracted by the music that she didn’t hear a car pull up into the driveway. She was anxious when she heard the car, she looked through the window and saw a gold convertible, she knew it couldn’t be her father coming back early. Immediately she was wondering how bad she must have looked, while the car pulled up it honked about 4 times signaling that they were there and for Connie to come out. Connie ran to the kitchen, looking out the screen door she recognized it was the man she saw the other night with Eddie. He asked if he was late while Connie was asking who he was. He gets out of the car and pointed to the side of it reading “Arnold Friend”, showing her what his name was. Connie realized there was also another man in the car in the back. Arnold asks Connie if she wanted to go for a “ride” with him. She tried to play it off by saying she had “things to do”. Connie realizes the music blasting from his car was the same radio station she was listening to. She was distracted by him and the music.

She saw Arnold move closer, but something was off about him, he looked older, he didn’t look like a teenager, it looked like his shoes were bigger for him and his hair almost looked like a wig, he was paler than normal. She asked how old he was, he stopped smiling and said they were the same age. She knew he looked way older, that’s when she started to worry. She told him to leave, she didn’t want to go with him. He insisted they go on a ride, Arnold started to talk about how they were lovers. Connie was scared of him, he knew her name before she could even say it, his friend in the back Ellie was old and weird. She then starts yelling for him to leave, while Arnold brings up her family and if she didn’t go with him that something bad would happen at the barbeque. She was screaming stating that he was crazy and that he needed to leave. She threatens him and says if he wouldn’t leave that she would call the police. Arnold calmly moving close to the door telling Connie, he wasn’t going to enter the house, she was going to go out with him. She tried to close and lock the door, but Arnold told her he would break it. She was shaking with fear screaming at Arnold asking him what he wanted he stated the only thing he wanted was her. He starts to threaten her by saying if she didn’t go outside to go with him something bad would happen at the barbeque. Connie was shaking, not knowing what to do she runs to the phone, screaming for her mother. Her hands were trembling she couldn’t even dial. Arnold told her to put the phone down and come outside with her where he’d take her to a place like a “Nice field, out in the country here where it smells so nice and it's sunny,' Arnold Friend said. 'I'll have my arms tight around you so you won't need to try to get away and I'll show you what love is like, what it does.”(Oates 9) Connie’s heart beating fast, the one time she felt vulnerable. Arnold threatened her more with her family stating 'You don't want them to get hurt,' Arnold Friend went on. 'Now, get up, honey. Get up all by yourself.'(Oates 9 ) She stood up and walked to the door to open it and go with him. He was sweet-talking her telling her she was a good girl and that she was his “ Blue-eyed angel”, the frightening part was her eyes were brown. The end of the story was mysterious not knowing what really happened to Connie, though she was probably raped and killed by Arnold.

Throughout this story, it really symbolized many things one being music. Throughout this short story, music was a major thing that especially the teenagers clung onto. Music symbolized Connies rebellion. It distracted her from her real life and gave her pleasure, it was like a religion she practiced. She learned sex and romance through it. She thought she knew everything about love and boys from the music she listened to. Arnold tried to seduce her through the music, suggesting that their culture was very deceiving for love. Although Connie was disgusted by his alarming behavior. The music throughout the story was an unfortunate significance. Suggesting that all good qualities have bad effects. At the end of the story, Connie’s beauty came with a price, essentially it was her life. Music helped Connie cope with her real life, she expressed her self through the music. Unfortunately, it came more towards her downfall and possibly her death. The story was really a Reality vs Fantasy. Her biggest feature brought her to something dangerous.