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Summary Of 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'

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“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is a story of nightmares and vanity and how a child becomes an adult in a harsh world. Connie is asleep. Arnold isn’t real. The situation is not real. After her parents left and after she washed her hair she is sitting on a lawn chair in the sun. She falls asleep in the chair dreaming about the boy she met last night. Soon after she falls asleep she hears a car pull into her driveway and thus, we see arnold Friend. Arnold is not real. He is a fine mixture for every male in Connie's life. From every age. He resembles a teenage boy the most because she spends most of her life around boys her age. When she would dream of boys earlier they “fell back and dissolved into a single face that was not even a face but an idea, a feeling,”(940). This nap on the lawn chair outside is no different. …show more content…

He was created by Connies experiences and what she believes. Arnold has many of the same values and the same standards for beauty. He knows all things about her family - facts that she has in her head. If Arnold was created by her then of course he would know every little detail of her life since he is apart of her subconscious. The names of her friends, the location of her family, and the time her family will return are all things Connie herself knows, and if Arnold is a part of Connie that he would know those things as well. They even share thoughts and opinions. For example, before Connie's family left for the barbeque Connie thought “poor old June, all dressed up as if she didn't know what a barbeque way;”(940). As someone who is constantly aware of the way she and others look this is a completely believable judgement from Connie. However, Arnold says something stickingly similar; “There's your sister in a blue dress, huh? And high heels, the poor sad bitch-”(944). There is no way Arnold would be able to form such similar thoughts and distaste for June if himself wasn't created by

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