“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Oates Essay Example

is another man within the car, whom Arnold introduces as his friend Ellie. Arnold asks Connie to get in the car, but she says she has stuff to do. She asks how he knows her name, and he says he knows a lot of things about her. He rattles off the names of her friends and tells her where her folks are. He demands to understand what she is thinking and tells her that today she will go on a ride with him.

When she asks him how old he is, he stops smiling and says they are the same age, or maybe he’s just a little older, which she immediately knows is a lie. She tells him to go away and threatens to call the police. Arnold, moving uncertainly toward the porch, tells her he will not follow her into the house, unless she touches the phone and tries to call the police. He becomes more threatening, telling her that if she doesn’t come out of the house, he’ll do something terrible to her family when they come home. Connie runs from the door and grabs the telephone. In a rushed, blurry scene, something happens: Connie is sweating and screaming for her mother; she can’t dial the phone.

The author does not say exactly what happens, but at the end of the scene, Connie is sitting on the floor, stunned and terrified. From the porch, Arnold tells her to put the phone back on the hook, and she obeys. He tells her quietly wherever they’re planning to go and tells her to come outside. At his command, she stands up. She feels as if she is

observing herself walk toward the door, open it, and walk outside toward Arnold. He comments on her blue eyes, even though she has brown eyes. She looks out at the immense expanses of land and is aware of that’s where she is going.