Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been - Essay Example She defies her parents, lies, and talks down to her mother. She also sneaks around and flirts with older boys whom she may or may not know. Connie is aware of dressing, looking, and acting differently in places other than her own home, acknowledging the stark contrast of the two people she tends to be and making it known that there is a reason for the two to exist. However, as much as Connie gives off the appearance of being an adult, when Arnold Friend and Ellie come around, she is revealed to be the young, helpless child that she really is. The greatest secret that presents an obstacle to Connie’s path to adulthood is that Connie is not fully ready to enter adulthood. The way that she allows people to see her is all just a show. Connie, while having the same animosity towards her mother and sister that most teenagers have, has no desire to be an entity separate from her family. By becoming an adult, she loses the protection that comes with being a child (Keilbach 12). She ma y fight with her mother and be eager to be away from her, but one of the first things that Connie does upon Arnold Friend’s invasion is call out for her family members. Similarly, Connie may flaunt that she has sexual experience with males, but all that she really has is just the outward appearance of someone who has had this experience. She wants others to believe that she is an adult, yet she does not want to sacrifice the benefits of childhood.