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

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Serial killings are not a strange thing in most countries of the world. Various books of history, Internet sites, and old newspaper articles tell of the gruesome details of the murders of people who were unfortunate enough to be the victims of psychopathic murderers. This could have been the inspiration behind ‘Where are you going, where have you been?’ written by Joyce Carol Oates in 1966. The short story is about a beautiful teenage girl named Connie. Just like many teenage girls she is always fighting with her mother who is portrayed as being jealous of her daughter’s beauty. Her mother has taken to comparing Connie with her other sister who is called June who Connie considers boring. Connie goes out often with her other teenage friends where they meet boys and go to movies. It is on one of those occasions that she spots Arnold Friend who is handsome. Arnold notices Connie while on her way to the movies with another boy and for a moment he mesmerizes her. However, this changes when Arnold together with a friend show up at Connie’s home while her parents are away. She realizes there is more to Arnold than meets the eye and that her life and that of her family could be in danger. An article written in an issue of life magazine in 1966 …show more content…

It’s only after Connie realized that Arnold knew everything about her, yet she did not know him, that she started paying more attention and realized that Arnold and his friend were older than they looked and she began getting scared. When Connie refuses to go with him and asks them to leave, the other side of Arnold; the cruel and cold one is brought out, thou he tries to hide it behind his laughter, it is still visible and this is disturbing. By now Arnold’s persuasion has failed, and that’s when he resorts to threatening Connie, threatening to break down the glass door, or burn down the house to force her to come

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