Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Written by: Evan  

We recently read Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been in class. This story is a great example for the conflict that can arise between a young adult and their parents during those in between years of teenagism. While this story does not exclusively focus on this topic, it is what I will be referring to in this article.

The story provides an excellent description of how many teenagers can act around their parents. The parent generally doesn't approve of one or many of the activities that the child in question engages in on a regular basis. In this story, it is the repeated action of looking in the mirror. It seems harmless enough, but to the mother it is an act of arrogance and vanity. The daughter just assumes the mother is jealous because she lost the beauty she once had. The two assume the worst of each other and because of that, do not agree with one another.

Another point of conflict between parent and child is authority. In the story, Connie clearly dislikes her mother’s strict attitude. She is allowed to do things only because her older sister does so.  This is also a sort of jealousy, when being compared to the “perfect sibling.” While Connie’s mother is actually being more than fair by allowing her do the same things as her much older sister, Connie doesn't see it that way and feels resentment. You can see a little of this in the title. Where are you Going?, and Where have you Been? are probably common questions Connie hears from her mother, while her sister  can come and go as she pleases. This is probably the reason she relishes her trips into town. They spend the whole day doing whatever they please, and no one asks anything about it. She enjoys this freedom and also views it as a bit of rebellion, which teenagers are traditionally portrayed as relishing in.

Connie also hates being compared to her sister. In her mother’s eyes, the older sister is the perfect child. Connie doesn’t think so. She seems to view her sister in disdain which is mostly based off of her mother’s intense approval of her and Connie’s opinion that her sister and all her friends are much less pretty than she is herself. In this case neither party has it correct. The sister clearly isn’t perfect due to the fact that she is 24 years old and still lives at home, but she clearly isn’t as bad as Connie makes her out to be either. What we get from the two perspectives is a mixture of the viewpoints from both the mother and the daughter.

So, in conclusion, the story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been is a great example of how teenagers can come to odd with their parents due to the many differences between the two generations. While both the parents and the child clearly have some flaws, which they attack each other about, they also have great qualities about them which the other refuses to acknowledge, even to themselves.