Summary Of The Story 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'

Obvious Success "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates. The story was about a 15-year-old girl named Connie who "knew that she was pretty and that was everything" Oates pg. 308. The story mostly focused on Connie's regular teenage life, but the story took a turn when Arnold Friend, a boy that Connie saw on a parking lot of a restaurant, appeared in front of Connie's house when she was alone. Arnold Friend was inviting Connie out for a ride, but Connie did not get out of the house because she was suspicious of Arnold Friend and his partner Ellie. Eventually, Connie found out that Arnold and Ellie were way older than her, and that she was going to get raped and murder. Connie refused to get out of the house until Arnold Friend threaten to hurt Connie's family if she didn't go with him. Connie could have avoided this situation if she would not have purposely attracted Arnold's attention that night and if she had gone to the bar-b-que with her …show more content…
317. Arnold also threatens Connie when she locked the screen door. "It's just a screen door," Arnold said, "anybody can break through a screen door… specially Arnold Friend. If the place got lit up with a fire honey you'd come running into my arms…" pg. 318. Arnold had gotten Connie so scared that when she did try to call the police "she began to scream into the phone because of a roaring sound" pg. 320. Finally, the threat that made Connie get out of the house was when Arnold said, "if you don't come out we're gonna wait till your people come home and then they're all going to get it" pg. 319. Connie got out of the house as she thought that she will never return, that she will never see her mother again, and she was probably