MK CantrellD. HicksEnglish 11026 November 2013Connie's Coming of AgeIn her famous short story, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been," Joyce Carol Oates shows the transition from childhood to adulthood through her character Connie. Each person experiences this transition in their own way and at their own pace. For some it means leaving home for the first time to go to college, for others it might mean having to take on a leadership position. Whatever happens, this transition affects everyone; it just happens to everyone differently. Oates depicts Connie's unfortunate coming of age in a much more violent and unexpected way than the typical coming-of-age story of a fifteen-year-old. Connie has a need to be seen as older and more mature than she actually is, all the time. still exhibits childish behavior. He displays this childish behavior by “craning his neck to look at himself in the mirror [and] checking other people's faces to make sure his own is okay” (Oates 323). This shows that Connie is very insecure and needs approval from others. Although on the one hand she is very childish, on the other she has a strong desire to be treated like an adult. This desire to become an adult is part of her coming of age, and is demonstrated by her going to "bright, fly-infested restaurants" and meeting boys, staying out with those boys for three hours at a time, and lying to her parents about where she has been and who she has been with (Oates 325, 326). “Everything about her has two sides, one for home and one for anywhere but home” (Oates 324). Even his physical movements represent his dual nature: “his walk that could be childish and bouncy, or languid enough to make anyone believe he was listening… in the middle of a sheet… to an Oates Satyr. .' 'Where are you going? Where have you been?'” Studies in short fiction. vol. 27 Issue 4 (Fall 1990): 537. Academic research completed. Network. November 2, 2013. Gillis, Christina “Where are you going, where have you been?”: Seduction, space and an imaginary mode. Studies in short fiction. vol. 18 Issue 1, (Winter 1981): 65 Academic research completed. Network. November 2, 2013. Cuizon, Gwendolyn. "Oate is where you're going, where you've been." Suite101.com. Np, 4 November 2013. Web. 06 November 2013. The eternal present in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, Michele D. Theriot, Journal of Short Story in English, 48, (Spring 2007): 59-70. Academic research completed. Network. November 2, 2013.Oates, Joyce Carol. Where are you going, where have you been? Backpack literature. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2010. Print.