Vanity And Mind Control: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Teenagers in general are often stereotyped into one general category: unruly, uncaring, and self-absorbed. In the short story “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates plays on this stereotype. She uses imagery and point of view to direct the reader’s attention to the teenage girl psyche, selfish, whimsical, and longing for attention and affection, and how this stereotypical psyche can be distorted and controlled.
The protagonist of the story, Connie, is a vain, “typical” teenage girl, looking for attention, especially from the opposite sex. Constantly “…craning her neck to glance in mirrors” (614), she often considered her appearance and how she looked to others to be a matter of extreme, if not most, importance. During the days her time was often preoccupied with thinking and “dreaming about the boys she met” (615). Oates crafts an image of a vain teenage girl whose main priority in life is meeting boys. Foreshadowing is woven......
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