Analysis Of Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Essay

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A Journey Within Everyone as human beings at some point or another in their life go through the phase of trying to figure out who they are and finding their independence. Some don’t have to work too hard, it just comes naturally to them. For most people it takes a lot of mistakes made, learning from those mistakes, getting stronger from those lessons learned, and finding the strength within ones self to rise up every time they fall down to be able to get back up and keep fighting doing it better than last time. Life is about working through the ups and downs. From getting a driver’s license, deciding which college to attend after high school, getting your first apartment/dorm, or to making that first mistake in life and figuring out how to fix it. Throughout someone’s life, they are taking steps to find their own independence. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, fifteen-year-old Connie goes through her own journey to find her…show more content…
Connie’s mother and aunts constantly compare her to her older sister June: “Why don’t you keep your room clean like your sister? How’ve you got your hair fixed- what the hell stinks? Hairspray? You don’t see your sister using that junk”. When June goes out, Connie goes out with her friend as well. Connie has begun to distance herself from her parents’ protection and control. Under the pretense of going to the shopping plaza to watch a movie, Connie sneaks over and runs across a highway to a diner filled with older teenage boys and popular music. She then hangs out with a boy named Eddie for three hours while her friend is at the theater. She experiments with her herself, adopting a different set of mannerisms when with her peers. Even when asked about a girl her age by her mother, she denied nervously that she associated with her when in reality she was one of the wild girls she knew from her nights
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