Where Are You Going: Mothers and Daugthers

Mothers and Daughters

"The father of Connie's best girl friend drove the girls the three miles to town and left them off at a shopping plaza, so that they could walk through the stores or go to a movie, and when he came to pick them up again at eleven he never bothered to ask what they had done."

"She sat, one leg cramped under her, and deep inside her brain was something like a pinpoint of light that kept going and would not let her relax. She thought, I'm not going to see my mother again."

Connie, aged 15, is the main character in Joyce Carol Oates short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?". Written in 1970 the reader is lead to believe Connie is living in a time when most parents are terrified their children will become the victims of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll. However, Connie and her friends live in a very different world. Connie having no approval or rules finds herself seeking attention in other ways. All of this attention seeking soon lands Connie in a terrifying situation that is beyond her years. The quote that is most important to the reader is one that describes Connie in a moment of terror realizing that she may not live and the first thing she thinks of is that she is never going to see her mother again. While the main idea of the story is that parents should be involved in their children's lives and ask the important questions where are you going and where have you been, there is a major theme of the relationship that Connie has with her mother. Connie is not asked "Where are you going, Where have you been?", because she does not have a strong relationship with her mother even though it is revealed to the audience she desperately loves her mother. The relationship Connie shares with her mother is not a loving mother-daughter relationship, but a rebellious teen who is too busy to deal with her mother.

The quote that is most important to the reader in order to understand the story describes the father of Connie's best girl friend dropping and picking them up at the shopping plaza with no question of what they planned to do or where they had been. While it is not the responsibility of other children's parents to ask these important questions the quote shows the crowd Connie was hanging out with and how it may have influenced her to criticize her own parents for asking these questions. While Connie's mother does attempt to ask about the friends that she ma

She is constantly being compared to her older sister June. Their mother makes comments to Connie such as: "Why don't you keep your room clean like your sister? How've you got your hair fixed - what the hell stinks? Hair spray? You don't see your sister using that junk." June is 24 years old, almost ten years older than Connie. Their mother does not see with this large age difference