Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? By Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates is an acclaimed writer has written many works that can relate to the everyday person. She writes in a way that causes people to think about their own lives. Her stories tend to connect. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a story of a promiscuous girl who is stuck between a rock and a hard place. “ Pumpkin Head” is a story of a seasoned woman who befriends a man who is mentally unstable when he drinks. Her works shows forth reality and the way some humans suffer in life. These stories connect in various ways; like the way the characters think and interact with one another and the victims and what they subdue to. Joyce Carol Oates is a phenomenal author. Her works tend to have an underlying sense of symbolism and can be related to an everyday woman.
Joyce Carol Oates was born June 16, 1938 in Lockport New York. She grew up in a rural area of New York, during the Great Depression. Joyce enjoyed the …show more content…
She presents herself as a promiscuous young lady. the way she acts could be caused by the way her parents raised her. Connie would get angry with her mother and her father did not do too much in the story. At this time in history the “family unit was changing to more unconventional. Media also played a huge role in her actions. This story was in a time period where music focused almost praised drugs and sex. ("Historical Context: 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? '.") The way Oates portrays things relate back to music like Arnold 's car refers to, "magic swirling ship", which is in a song Bob Dylan wrote in 1960. ("Themes and Construction: 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? '.") Connie has a huge sense of pride, that diminishes by the end. At the beginning she is outspoken and wants to do what all the other girls are doing, by the end she had revolted from that