Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a startling short story that many readers can relate to in one way or another. Almost everybody knows somebody like Connie and everyone knows what it is like to be a young teenager. Her attempt to be seen and be popular among her peers took a drastic turn on a peaceful Sunday afternoon.

She was seemingly being watched by a child predator and he struck at the most opportune time. This can be related to today’s online society where similar no-goods pose as children and take advantage of them. The predator in the story was “named” Arnold Friend. The obviously fictitious name is similar to the fake names used by child molesters on MySpace and in chat rooms today. The most scary aspect of this story is that it could have happened to anybody. Although the ending is rather ambiguous, it could easily be deduced that the encounter between Connie and Arnold did not have a happy ending. If only Dateline was at Connie’s house on that fateful Sunday afternoon.