Joyce Carol Oates began her story, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", with a 15-year-old girl named Connie whose mother had always compared her to her sister June. This gave the reader a chance to make a connection with Connie. Since almost every teenager has heard the comparison with another sibling at least once in their life, unless they were an only child, but in that case they were probably compared to the child of a family friend. His mother would say things like, "Why don't you keep your room clean like your sister?" or “How did you do your hair? What the hell stinks? Hairspray? You don't see your sister using that garbage” (Oates, 1). Perhaps this is why Connie created a fantasy against the reality of the life she lives where "everything about her had two sides, one for home and one for anywhere that wasn't home" (Oates, 1). However, this is called into question when Connie meets the strange figure of Arnold Friend, who ultimately ends up changing Connie. In this story it is stated that his father “was away at work most of the time and when he came home we wanted to have dinner and at dinner he read the newspaper and after dinner he went to bed” (Oates, 1). This only contributed to Connie's unhappiness at home and most likely affected her need to attract attention from men. For Connie, running away from home would mean going to a mall with her best friend to watch a movie or walk around the shops. In some cases, they would cross the highway to get to a restaurant and on one particular visit, that's when he met Eddie and the "guy with shaggy black hair, in a convertible painted gold" (Oates, 2). However, the happiness Connie felt had nothing to do with Eddie or the diner, but... middle of paper... before and after meeting Arnold. This conclusion can lead to several ideas. Maybe Connie wakes up and becomes aware of her actions and begins to change as a person. Perhaps Connie wakes up and is traumatized by the realistic experience created by her subconscious dream. The exact ending is unknown, leaving the reader to come to their own conclusions. Works Cited Gillis, Christina Marsden. “‘WHERE ARE YOU GOING, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?’: SEDUCTION, SPACE, AND AN IMAGINARY MODE.” Studies In Short Fiction 18.1 (1981): 65. Academic research completed. Network. March 19, 2012.Oates, Joyce Carol. "Where are you going, where have you been?" brainstorm-services.com. Stacy Tartaro Esch, 2005. Web. May 30, 2011. 1-6. PDF file.Rubin, Larry. "WHERE ARE YOU GOING, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Explicator 42.4 (1984): 57. Academic research completed. Network. March 18. 2012.