“Where are you going, Where have you been?” is about a pretty, 15 year old girl named Connie, who was completely superficial and thought that looks were all that was important.  She is overly obsessed with her appearance.  When it comes to boys, she goes against her conscience and makes an irrational decision.  She left her friends behind and took a chance in going for a ride with the boy she found attractive. However, she ends up in a terrifying situation after finding out the boy she liked was actually a thirty-year-old man. The story is Joyce Carol Oates’ way of teaching a lesson to her young readers.  I thought the moral of the story is to show people that they need to be safe, aware of their surroundings, and use good judgment.  She is hoping that her readers will learn from the story and make a better decision than Connie made by reading about her traumatic life event.