"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Oates was probably one of my favorites. I have a 12 year old daughter that I could imagine leaving the house looking one way and changing when she gets with her friends. “She wore a pull-over jersey blouse that looked one way when she was at home and another way when she was away from home.” (510) My daughter thinks I have been alive for over a million years and could not have any idea what it is like to be 12. Connie does not seem to understand the importance of friends staying together when she runs off with Eddie. Her friends seem to foreshadow that something may go wrong in the story. “I just hate to leave her like that.” (510) I had friends that would tell their parents they were with “the group” but go somewhere else. Luckily nothing bad ever happened to any of them. This story’s ending was pretty creepy to me. I thought I could just imagine what Connie was going through and how scared she must have been listening to him tell her where her family was and knowing they would not be home soon. “No, your daddy is not coming and yes, you had to wash your hair and you washed it for me, I thank you, sweetheart.” (518) I was afraid for her and could not imagine the thoughts that might be going through my daughters mind if anything like this were to happen. “She thought, I’m not going to see my mother again.” (520) I would want her to run or scream or kill him. Instead, she leaves with him. What???? “She watched herself push the door slowly open as if she were safe back somewhere in the other doorway, watching the body and this head of long hair moving out into the sunlight where Aronld Friend waited.” (521) I hated this ending. This comes back to the foreshadowing at the beginning. If she had not left her friends in the first place, this may not have happened.