Where are you going, where have you been?

Where are you Going, Where have you Been

               This story represents a young naïve girl, Connie, who is harmlessly trying to gain her independence and is experimenting with her freedom.  She is interested in boys and has fantasies about them.  She appears to be a typical teenage girl. One evening when she is out with another boy she happens to see a young man in a gold jalopy.  The man says "Gonna get you baby."(Oates 3124) Connie turns away.  I don't think she gives the man another thought just a guy trying to flirt with her which Connie appreciates.  She realizes that she is pretty and enjoys the male attention.

               One summer day when Connie's family goes to a picnic, the man with the gold jalopy shows up at the house.  At first Connie is flattered but then she starts to question why the stranger knows so much.  It soon becomes evident that the young man is not young and he might be wearing a disguise (wig and sunglasses)  Connie retreats and wants the man to leave.  The man has a friend with him in the car, Ellie.  Ellie is also not a young man.

               I think that this story and the characters tell a sinister tale of a deranged stalker who believes that Connie is his true love and he will stop at nothing to get Connie.  He threatens Connie's family and then asks her if she knows of a woman down the street with chickens.  Connie said she did but the woman is dead.  Is Arnold implying that he killed the woman?  Arnold Friend insists that is his real name but he is no friend to Connie.  She asks numerous times for him to leave but he refuses to leave without her.  I guess Connie feels powerless against this man because she eventually walks out the door with him fully cognizant of her danger.  The man is living a fantasy because he doesn’t know even know Connie.  He thinks her eyes are blue when they are brown. This predator is only thinking of his desires and wants Connie just as an object to be possessed and then thrown away (murdered).