Does Connie learn her lesson in the end? In the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, fifteen-year-old Connie is torn between two different lifestyles. The first is her home life that consists of a materialistic mother, an unemotional father and a plain sister, June. The second life is with her friends and the rebellious summer life that they live. Connie loves herself and her looks, but her narcissistic ways come to a quick end when she encounters a day with Arnold Friend, leaving Connie with a loss of innocence in an unknown world.Connie is the typical fifteen-year-old teenybopper. She spends endless moments staring at her reflection in the mirror and comparing her looks to others to make sure she is prettier than the rest because beauty is everything Connie knows. Connie lives in a fantasy world; she bases her identity on the surrounding pop culture; she is solipsistic and shapes her identity around materialistic beliefs. Connie believes these ideas because her family forced her into this type of lifestyle. The mindset Connie carries affects her family life. Her mother is jealous of Connie’s beauty and constantly puts Connie down, “Stop gawking at yourself, who are you? You think you’re so pretty “ (579: 1). Connie’s mother insults Connie because she is the image of what her mother used to be. Her jealousy takes over her sensitive side and leaves Connie without the support a mother should give a teenage girl. She comes down on Connie because she has the beauty her mother ultimately wants to hold again. Connie’s father is unemotional and obviously unaware of Connie’s teenage needs. He is not there to support or encourage Connie and help her gain confidence in her transition through adolescence. Connie also looks down on her older sister June who is quiet and a bore. June is the perfect daughter; she lives at home, works in the ...
