Character Analysis Of Connie In Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Most adolescent girls these days want something. It could be wanting to be in with the latest trend, become the prettiest girl at school, go out and hang out with their friends until the brink of dawn, or to get all the boys’ attention. In Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, the female protagonist named Connie shares these everyday struggles but takes them to a new level. Connie takes pride in her greatest vanity, her physical appearance, and finds satisfaction knowing that she can make boys and even men take a double glance at her. At fifteen years old, she thinks she already knows what she wants and believes she has a sense of entitlement. However, her family does not believe so and because of that, her relationship

She is described as being self-centered because of her “quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirror or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right" (312). Connie wants her life to be different from everyone else's in her family. She believes she is entitled to so much more because she is prettier. Her mother always complains about how often she gawks at herself. It does not help that Connie also spends a great deal of time grooming herself to the point where her mother would think that’s the only thing she’s good for. Connie compares herself to her older sister June and describes her as “plain and chunky and steady” (312). This is a reflection of Connie’s ego and how she feels superior to June, who cares about other things rather than her looks. Connie’s description of June as “plain and steady” exhibits how Connie thinks being normal and stable is a negative. Connie does not want to be an average person and thinks her life is monotonous due to her

She tries to stay out of her mother's way, but somehow her mother manages to keep "dragging her back to the daylight by finding things for her to do" (314), in other words, keep her grounded in reality. Connie and her mother do not get along very often because “the two of them kept up a pretense of exasperation, a sense that they were tugging and struggling over something of little value to either of them” (315). Connie believes her mother is always criticizing her because her mother is envious of her good looks and youth that she no longer has. Her mother would irritate her with her words to the point where she “wished her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it was all over” (312). However, considering Connie’s narcissism, it is possible that she does not realize that she is neglecting her duties of being a daughter and not doing her fair share of household chores. Her mother could be tired of always having to clean up after her and because she cannot literally force Connie to do her chores, she has to resort to constantly reminding Connie of her responsibilities. That is why her mother always compares Connie to June because June actually does productive things with her life. For example, June "saved money and helped clean the house and cooked" whereas "Connie couldn't do a thing, her mind was all filled