Where Are You Going And Where Have You Been Summary

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The short Story, Where Are You Going, and Where have You Been is a coming of age story about the passage from adolescence into adulthood. In the story, a young girl named Connie is shown as her her adolescence comes to end at the hands of a man named Arnold Friends. The second part of the title refers to her past innocent explorations of her sexuality and the first part of the title refers to her violent entrance into adulthood and possibly the end of her life. The title is asking not only Connie about her experience, but all adolescents. Throughout the story, Connie is shown exploring her sexualtiy,mainly through her encounters with boys who she meets at a local restaurant. She constantly trying to prove she is mature, more specifically she continuously tries to portray herself as sexually mature, when she is in fact not. She controls much of how the events in the story are perceived. Most notably, she consistently views herself in a sexual manner. The physical descriptions of Connie…show more content…
For instance Connie’s rebellious nature is seen in almost all adolescents to some degree since many are trying to achieve a sense of independence and identity, and, like Connie, many adolescents engage in behavior that is kept secret from their families. Much of this behavior having to do with exploring their sexuality as Connie does in the story for similar reasons, that is, to feel alive or to boost ego. Unfortunately, they also hold the same dangerous belief as Connie: that they are indestructible and tragic events will not occur to them or anyone they know. More importantly, many adolescents act in a way to prove they are more mature than they really are, behaving and dressing in a more mature fashion, similar to how Connie dresses more maturely when she is going to the restaurant. But, like Connie, they may not be fully ready to truly enter the world of
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