Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? | Psychoanalytical Criticism

Where are you going, where have you been?

By Joyce Carol Oates

Hello everybody! This is a psychoanalytic criticism for Where are you going, where have you been? By Joyce C. Oates.

According to Oates, the story was inspired in a real life situation that happened in Tucson, Arizona in 1996. There was a serial killer, Charles Schmid who committed a triple crime. He was an obsessed adult that killed three teenagers. This sad new inspired Joyce to write the story. Oates dedicated her story to Bob Dylan, because his song “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” helped her to write the story.

In “Where are you going, where have you been?” we can find a common and special situation. The protagonist, Connie, she is a young lady pretending to be an adult. She acts like a “mature” person with a teenagers’ thoughts. The relation between Connie and her parents is not good at all. I mean, you might agree in this, in the adolescent we look for acceptance. At those ages, we do not have a defined personality and clear ideas about what we really want. She is trying to be a “popular girl”. Connie is a beautiful lady, everybody knows that. But she forgets something important, being “popular” and beautiful for everybody (including adults, with a big difference between the ages of them and her) can give Connie many problems.

In the story, there is a character, Arnold Friend. He pretends to be a teenager saying he is 18 years old. But the reality is that he is over 30. This guy starts to get obsessed with Connie. He knows many things of her life and family. He has serious intentions against Connie. From my personal point of view, the story gives an open imagination for the ending. At the end, we do not if he wanted to rape Connie or just killed her. If you take into account, Oates’ inspiration, we can see that Charles Schmid (the serial killer) is represented by Arnold Friend in the story. So, was Arnold out of control to kill Connie? During the story, there is an innocent girl acting with vanity and obsessed with her appearance. There is also a man, taking advantage of that innocent to commit a crime. We do not what he is pretending with Connie. Is it to rape her or to kill her? Both are crimes.

The story is reflected in real life. We have young ladies acting like adults. They do not enjoy their adolescent as they should. The way they dress or the make-up they use to impress others is really worrying. The use of social media is getting out of control. People upload everything on internet; personal photos, videos, locations. We do not who is in the other side of the screen studying and analyzing our lives. We should protect our image and privacy. Our personal life should be protected.

Now guys, I want to know what was your reaction after reading the story.

 What do you think happens at the end of the story?

 Do you have any recommendation for teenagers?

Attached a link to website with more information about Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

See you later ;)

-Bell Solís