Where are You Going Where Have you been by Joyce Carol - Essay Example

The story is written from the point of view of a potential victim (Connie) to the serial killer. The story’s effectiveness is increased by the kind of complex characters that have been developed by the author. The main character in the story is Connie, the girl who gets seduced by the serial killer into trusting him. She is a round character that has been well developed to represent women her age who are sometimes too trusting of strangers. She is also representative of the submission that is expected of women in a society that is highly patriarchal.

The fact that the story has been told from Connie’s perspective makes it possible for one to identify with the ordinary life that Connie lives. Connie seems to have a split personality and her actions are dependent on her surroundings. When she is out with her friends, she flirts with different boys and explores her sexuality. When she goes back home, she hides her sexuality. This is common among teenage girls who feel compelled to fit in with their peers while at the same time meet the expectations of the society (Chavarry, 2004).

At the beginning of the story, the characters appear to be ordinary characters living ordinary lives. The fact that the story is setting in an American suburbs where families are enjoying the ordinary family activities make the characters appear ordinary. . One however begins to sense that Connie is not quite an ordinary girl when one gets to know of her views about her family and herself. She is said to be so irritated by her family especially by her mother that she wishes that both herself and her mother were dead.

She also seems to be preoccupied with her sexual being and enjoys the attention that she receives from men who are attracted to her. Observing the treatment that Connie gets from her family, one comes to view her as immature and irresponsible. A deeper examination of her relationship with her mother as well as her relationship with her elder sister reveals that she is a child craving for maturity, and for the recognition of this maturity by her family as well as by the society. She is however seen as being incapable of handling the responsibilities of being an adult.

This desire to be seen as mature causes her to seek the attention of older men. It is while she is out with a boy that she first meets the stranger (Arnold) who becomes obsessed with her (Oates, 1994). It is when Arnold shows up at Connie’s driveway that the plot begins to change. She is afraid of him, and she tries to get him to leave. When she tries to get him to leave, she is surprised that she even knows where her family is and what they are doing. Arnold is convinced that Connie is the one for him.

She is defenseless and it is at this point that her initial fascination with the stranger turns to a deep fear. It is this transformation of Connie’s perception of the stranger that forces her to transform from a child to an adult within minutes. The stranger is different from the townspeople as seen through his action. He for example drives a gold