Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Joyce Carol Oates
- First Published: 1966
- Type of Plot: Allegory
- Time of Work: A summer Sunday during the 1950's
- Setting: A suburban community in the United States
- Principal Characters: Connie, Arnold Friend
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction, Allegory
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, Murder or homicide, Rape, Reality, Devils or demons, Naivete
- Locales: United States
The Story
The world in which Connie lives is dominated by Hollywood, popular music, shopping plazas, and fast-food stands. For Connie and her friends, evenings spent with a boy, eating hamburgers, drinking Cokes, and making out in a dark alley seem like heaven, filled with promises of love sweet and gentle, “the way it was in the movies.” Clearly, Connie's parents do not understand the significance of her adolescent daydreams and activities. Her mother constantly nags at her for spending too much time in front of a mirror and for not being as steady and reliable as her...
[The entire page is 1615 words long]
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