Where Are You Going Where Have You Been
Joyce Carol Oates · 1966
A teenage girl meets a stranger in a gold convertible. The most anthologized American short story, and for good reason.
The case against
Oates built a story that decodes almost too neatly: drop the R's from Arnold Friend and you get the point, as generations of term papers have. The menace is real, but the symbolism sits close to the surface, asking to be taught. Connie herself is mostly a vanity and a scream; the device is the star.
Short Stories · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
if this one calls to you, so will these →
