Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Summary

The ambiguous resolutions of Where Are You Going Where Have You Been and The Night Rhonda Ferguson Was Killed is a coincidence that I found quite strange. In Where Are You Going Where Have You Been, the author doesn’t tell us what happens to Connie after Arnold Friend forces her to go with him. Does she die? Does she Live? Similarly, the Night Rhonda Ferguson Was Killed, the answer as to how Casandra will manage to overcome her friend’s sudden death and her life’s struggles remains to be open to interpretation. Nevertheless, I think there is a greater analysis that can be made regarding the lack of resolution.
The authors of the two stories opted to leave out the resolutions to emphasize the realities that surrounded the lives of young coming of age girls in the 1960s. The idea of violence, which was apparently a result of their sexuality, is a theme that is embedded in the end of both stories. Connie loses her life, as the author suggests, just because some man happens
Similarly, Casandra’s brother in law gives her a hard time just because he likes her and doesn’t know how to express his desire for her. Although this is not explicitly stated in the story, the reader might wonder why might a brother in law get into fight with his sister in law over eating more than she should. Furthermore, the consequences of the lack of support or understanding from parents, teachers, or any other resources that are available for today’s youth as opposed to those who were coming of age in the 1960s is another aspect that the ambiguity of the endings attempts to demonstrate. Connie’s mother, for example, yells at her daughter without ever bothering to consider or at least understand what her daughter is going through. Her father is barely mentioned in the story, which suggests that he isn’t involved