Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Literary Analysis

In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, by Joyce Carol Oates, the setting creates division between innocence and adulthood. In the story, the protagonist is a complicated and confrontational young woman named Connie. The narrator explains that “Everything about her had to sides to it” (Oates 1). Connie has two personas, the person she is at home and the rebellious and carefree young woman she is away from her home. Throughout the plot, the doorway symbolizes a threshold that Connie has to consider crossing into maturity. The inside of the house contains what she is familiar with, such as her family, belongings, and memories. However, on the outside are freedom and experience, but also scary people like Arnold Friend. As the story progresses,