Joyce Carol Oates created a very provocative and interesting character when she created CONNIE in her well-known short story, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Sexual imagery, sexual dreams, innocence and a hormone-driven desire for sexual intercourse – all these elements help Connie survive her lonely experiences, and why not? Indeed, what is a young woman to do when seemingly trapped in an environment that practically enslaves her emotionally and physically? Connie, the protagonist, is a lot like Cinderella. She has a mother who is unloving and jealous of her sexuality. Connie is only 15, a typical American girl, pretty but very innocent and very beaten down by family and circumstances.
             One of Connie's biggest battles is with her mother and sisters. Her mother constantly reminds Connie that her older sister June does everything right and Connie does nothing right. June "...saved money and helped clean the house and cooked and Connie couldn't do a thing" because her mind was filled with "trashy daydreams" (Oates 1967, p. 450). Her mother was jealous because her mother "...had been pretty once too...but now her looks were gone and that was why she was always after Connie" (450). How bad was her mother's harassment? "Connie wished her mother was dead and she herself were dead and it were all over" (p. 451). This is serious stuff, wanting your mother dead and considering suicide as a sidebar story to her hoped-for mother's demise. Still, Connie also felt a sense of guilt – "Her mother was so simple, Connie thought, that it was maybe cruel to fool her so much" (453). The raw emotions of a young pretty teenage girl are well portrayed by Oates in this story. Readers sympathize and empathize with her.
             Connie's other war was within herself; she was at war with her hormones, and with her dreamy desire inside to reach out and touch romance, to int...