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

Falling for the Wrong Person:
A psychological research on women’s attraction towards psychopath

Women are often attracted to psychopaths and is not because they love that “bad boys” if not because they tend to find what they do not get at home. Most females especially teenagers seek for love and adventure outside of their house because they feel lonely and unloved. Also they might feel ugly and unwanted by any guy. Especially if your own parents do not pay much attention to you just Like Connie’s parents do to her in the article “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. Which led her to seek for the attention her parents were not giving to her making it easier to fall in the hands of a psychopath. Psychopaths have …show more content…
“She was fifteen she had a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors, or checking other people’s face s to make sure her own was all right” (Oates 11400). It is evident that Connie felt very insecure about her looks. On can say this especially when she checks other’s people’s faces to make sure hers is right. She doesn’t feel like she is pretty and has low self-esteem. According to Robert Hare an expert psychopathy and Paul Babiak a psychologist in their book Snakes in suits Hare describes “how the socialized psychopath will present themselves as the perfect partner by noticing the victim's needs, insecurities, and strengths as well as weaknesses in order to create a persona that seems ideal to the victim” (Hare). Do to those fake persona scenarios that psychopath put up it is that women are usually attracted to psychopaths. Arnold’s friend present himself as what Connie been looking for. She is bored and tired of feeling lonely at home and seeks for an adventure. Something that he is willing to portray and show her he wants, her not realizing that she will just be his next victim. Arnold’s friend knows she is insecure and her needs. Especially when he tells her I know your parents are away for a family barbeque and I know you sister is wearing a hideous blue dress. This shows how he been watching her and as a …show more content…
This can be an explanation to Connie’s attractions towards Arnold’s friend. Most psychopaths portray themselves as bad boys something Arnold’s friend had illustrated with his appearance, “Connie liked the way he was dressed which was the way all of them dressed: tight faded jeans stuffed into black, scuffed boots, a belt that pulled his waist in and showed how lean he was, and a white pullover shirt that was a little soiled and showed the hard small muscles of his arms and shoulders. He looked as if he probably did hard work, lifting and carrying things” (Oates 1145). It is evident that Connie had an image of a specific look the bad boys need to have. When applying a psychological reference to her attraction one will understand why she is attracted to him. Katherine Ramsland a “non-fiction author and associate professor of forensic psychology”, in her article Women who love Serial Killers, operated a research in which it was proven that, “Women attracted to killers (especially serial killers) are usually in their thirties or forties. Although their motives for getting so passionately involved vary, they share in common a fierce sense of protection over the relationship. Primate research finds that teenage females prefer the larger, louder, more aggressive males who show clear markers of their maleness. Certain women might sense in an aggressive male