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Growing up is often a drawn out process. Although in some cases blossoming into a knowledgeable and self sufficient person may only take on experience, maybe even a sentence or a glace of something different and your whole life and perspective will adjust.


The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates demonstrates the struggle of life and the decisions people are faced with everyday. We learn early in the story that Connie does not appreciate, nor does Connie like, or have any kind of relationship with her mother, father, or sister. ”Her parents and sister were going to a barbecue at an aunt’s house and Connie said no, she wasn’t interested, rolling her eyes to let her mother know just what she thought of it.” Connie obviously puts a wall between her and her family. She does this so she doesn’t have a conscious. So when she comes home after her nightly rendezvous she doesn’t have to feel guilty because she simply tells herself she doesn’t care what they think. They are all losers and will never be as good as her. Connie rightfully believes her mother is jealous of her. “Her mother, who noticed everything and knew everything and who hadn‘t much reason any longer to look at her own face, always scolded Connie about it ‘Stop gawking at yourself. Who are you? You think you’re so pretty?’ she would say.” Connie’s mother certainly does not help the relationship by acting jealous of her daughter, she is simply adding fuel to the fire. Connie had somewhat of a split personality. Connie at home was very different from Connie everywhere else. “Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home: her walk, which could be childlike and bobbing, or languid enough to make anyone think she was hearing music in her head; her mouth, which was pale and smirking most of the time, but bright and pink on these evenings out” She was living a life that was not hers. Somewhere along the...