ADD Hook Sentence

ADD hook sentence. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” was published in 1966. Joyce Carol Oates is famous for the novel A Garden of Earthly Delights. Oates often writes about the concerns of American identity in the twentieth century. Oates depicts the American loss of innocence. Some common topics throughout her stories include the search for parent figures, the lack of fixed identity, and the acceptance of the American Dream. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Connie is a teenage girl struggling to find a place where she is comfortable in her own skin and stumbles into danger as she gets involved with Arnold, a manipulative killer. Due to the absence of good parenting, Connie has been characterized as being shallow hopeless …show more content…
“Connie’s parents do not understand the significance of her adolescent daydreams and activities. Her mother constantly nags at her for spending too much time in front of a mirror and for not being as steady and reliable as her twenty-four-year-old, unmarried sister.” (Barstow). The author is showing frustration between Connie’s mother and Connie. Connie knows she is pretty and walks around always staring at herself in the mirrors around the house and it makes her mother angry. “Her mother who noticed everything and who hadn’t had much reason any longer to look at her own face, always scolded Connie about it.” (Oates). The words imply that Connie’s mother’s beauty faded and now is taking it out on Connie. This connects to one of the major themes of appearance and reality. The feel of need to be pretty and popular is still a major issue in society today. Many teenagers feel that the ultimate goal is to be the prettiest and to be with the most attractive guy at school and find themselves comparing to one to another. This causes people to have low-self-esteem and drives people to make poor decisions to try and make them feel better about …show more content…
“He invites her to come riding with them, and Connie is mesmerized, dizzied by his incantatory words. He knows intimate details of her life that no stranger could know and threatens her family, and she feels helpless to resist him.” (Mann and Peck). The author is uncovering the truth about Arnold and the audience begins to realize that he is not who he says he is. “Shut up! You’re crazy! Connie said. She backed away from the door. She put her hands up against her ears as if she’d heard something terrible, something not meant for her.” (Oates). This character makes one think of him as being the devil as he took advantage of a young, innocent female who was vulnerable to anyone who would make her feel loved. Connie was victimized as many females are today. Females today are put down by other females in order to make one feel better about themselves. There is always a guy to sweep in and be the “hero” to “care” for a girl just to break her heart in the end using her for his personal