Psychopaths In 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'

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Psychopaths are usually defined as people who has a personality disorder characterized by enduring antisocial behavior, diminished empathy and remorse, and disinhibited behavior. Some psychopaths live in silence, until they have an over dramatic psychotic breakdown. In the short story “Where Have You Been, Where Are You Going,” which was written by Joyce Carol Oates, highlights about this girl Connie, who is naïve, the story’s treatment of her is largely sympathetic. Duality is present throughout “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”
The protagonist Connie, is obsessed with her beauty, flirts with young men, and spends her time mulling over “trashy daydreams” in her head. According to Joyce Oates, she gives different examples on how Connie’s excitement for her freedom is increasing and how she’s entering into adulthood. Depending on where Connie is, if she is home she plays an innocent child who wishes her mother was dead. Furthermore, when she’s out with her friends, she is sexualized, but not as a mature adult. One day, Connie’s family is leaving to go for a barbecue at her aunt’s house, but she decides to stay home and wash her hair. Connie decides to go check her, she discovers the guys in the gold car she saw at the restaurant parking lot the night before. The …show more content…
But her mother, told her she disapproves of her habit. Connie’s psychological problems where: insecurities, low self-esteem, fear of intimacy… she discovers these traits after one statement with Arnold’s friend. (Holmen) Connie is attracted to him, starts to trust him, and gives her attention, even though he is a psychopath. Once she let her guard down, that was a way he could easily manipulate her because she ended up going for a ride with him. Joyce Oates story describes a psychopath Charles Schmid, who was charming, and
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