Where Are You Going Where Have You Been? | Novel Summaries Analysis

About the Author

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?

Joyce Carol Oates was born in 1938. As a child growing up in Lockport, New York, her preparation for her future career began early. Before […]

Overview

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?

Joyce Carol Oates was inspired to write “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” after reading an account in Life magazine of a charismatic […]

Setting

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?

This story was first published by the literary journal Epoch in 1966 and was included in Oates’s 1970 short story collection, The Wheel of Love. […]

Literary Qualities

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?

The first line of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”- “Her name was Connie”-signals that the story will be told by a third-person […]

Social Sensitivity

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?

Interest in equal rights for women was a subject of great controversy during the early years of Oates’s career leading up to “Where Are You […]

Ideas and Topics for Discussion

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?

Topics for Discussion 1. Read the 1966 Life magazine article, “The Pied Piper of Tucson,” which inspired Oates’s story, and compare the fictional and journalistic […]

Related Titles and Adaptations

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?

Daphne du Maurier’s classic gothic novel Rebecca (1938) is a tale about the psychological manipulation of a young bride by her wealthy, troubled husband, Max […]