From this story, we will move to
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. There are two sisters depicted in this storyJune is the archetype of the dutiful daughter and Connie is a rebellious teenager. The story is set in what might be “Anytown, USA,” a seemingly quiet town three miles from the local mall, the place where teenagers hang out. As in “Everyday Use,” the sisters are polar opposites, and students will examine how each character is depicted.
The conflict between and among family members is introduced immediately, and as the story progresses, the conflict between childhood and a loss of innocence develops from Connie’s chance encounter with a stranger. Students will respond in writing to several pre-reading questions: “What are the ways in which teenagers rebel and break away from their families, in search of their own identities and independence? What does it mean when one tries to grow up too fast? The responses will be shared with the group, serving as a basis for introducing the story.
This story will serve as a springboard for several discussions: first, students will discuss mother/daughter conflict in the story and relate this to conflicts with their own parent or guardian; next, students will discuss the rivalry between Connie and her sister, relating it to sibling rivalry in their own families; finally they will discuss Connie’s “two identities”her public persona and her persona at home, relating her behavior and experience to their own experience.
The film
Smooth Talk
(Joyce Chopra, 1986) will be used to compare and contrast the character development in the film version of the story with the text. Students will list similarities and differences between the two versions and discuss them in class. In a writing assignment, students will write a short critical review of the film.
For the two culminating activities, students will design a quilt square depicting Connie’s character development in the story and then they will write a five-paragraph essay discussing Connie’s alienation from her family, explaining the conflicts within the family, the conflict inherent in coming of age, and the conflict between good and evil, ending with her loss of innocence at the hands of an evil stranger.
Exploring Mother/Daughter Conflict
This story is narrated by a third-person observer, and it opens by introducing Connie and the conflict within her family. At fifteen, Connie’s appearance is important, as is her concern about how she appears to others: “She had a quick nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right.”6 Connie’s mother is immediately critical and remains that way throughout the story. She challenges and demeans Connie with questions that prohibit any response: “Stop gawking at yourself, who are you? You think you’re so pretty?”7 Although Connie does not answer her mother, these words provoke her to “look right through her mother, into a shadowy vision of herself as she was right at that moment.”8
The mother/daughter conflict is, thus, introduced immediately. While Connie knows she does not want to grow up like her mother, the mother seemingly seeks to repress that part of Connie that reminds her of herself. Students will discuss the interaction between the two and relate this to a common experiencemothers trying to prevent their children from making the same mistakes they once made.
Examining Conflict Between Sisters
The mother’s words, “Why don’t you keep your room clean like your sister? How’ve you got your hair fixedwhat the hell stinks? Hair spray? You don’t see your sister using that junk,”9 introduce the sharp contrast between Connie and her sister, June. At twenty-four, June still lives at home, and she is described as “so plain and chunky and steady that Connie had to hear her praised all the time by her mother and her mother’s sisters.”10 June is the standard by which Connie is measured and the person to which she is endlessly compared. Students will discuss the tension inherent in the sisters’ relationship, and use this as a basis for examining their relationships with their own siblings.
Discussing Alienation
The endless comparisons and the constant criticism illustrate the tension among the women in the family, while underscoring the lack of positive communication. Even the father participates by not participating. He was “away at work most of the time and when he came home he wanted supper and he read the newspaper at supper and after supper he went to bed.”11 There is literally no one in the family that Connie can rely on for support or for advice about teenage issues and decisions; she is virtually alone. This tension and the lack of communication and support ultimately make Connie vulnerable to the influences, good and evil, outside of her home.
Alienated by the criticism and lack of communication, Connie is virtually a stranger within her family. As many teenagers do, Connie behaves differently when she is with friends than the way she behaves at home. The narrator states that Connie has two separate identitiesthe one at home, where she is picked on and alienated, and another with her friends: “Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home...”12 At home Connie is the defiant child, for whom sex is not an option; away from home she is a young woman, exuding sensuality and desire.
In a class discussion, students will relate the two sides of Connie to their own experiences, exploring how they are perceived by and behave when they are with their families and how they are perceived by and behave with their friends. Does their behavior in these situations change? How so? If so, does their behavior define who they are? Why or why not?
Identifying Loss of Innocence
Against this backdrop, Connie has a chance encounter with a stranger at the local drive-in restaurant, where teenage girls and boys gather to flirt and spend time making out in cars. On the way out of the restaurant, she happens to glance at a boy in the parking lot. The description of the event foreshadows danger lurking beneath the surface, ultimately culminating in Connie’s loss of innocence at the hands of this stranger. As this boy stares at Connie, his lips widen into a “grin,” and he wags a finger, laughs, and says, “Gonna get you, baby.”13 The stranger finally does get Connie during a second encounter, when she is alone at home. At first, Connie is still innocent enough to participate in what seems to her, at least on the surface, a relatively harmless game; they begin a conversation. But as the conversation progresses, so does Connie’s realization that this is no game; she is in great danger. The tension and realization of danger mounts; this intruder is evil and Connie’s innocence is ultimately shattered, as the story builds to a terrifying climax.
As a prelude to the culminating essay assignment, students will watch
Smooth Talk
, a film based on the story. They will discuss how the characters and the tension are developed in each and analyze similarities and differences; after this discussion they will write a review of the film. Next, each student will design a quilt square depicting aspects of Connie’s character that are presented in the text. Finally, they will write a five-paragraph essay discussing Connie’s alienation and conflict within the family; the conflict inherent in her growing sense of becoming a womanplayed out in the two sides of her personality; and finally, the terror of her loss of innocence at the hands of an evil intruder in her life.
