Setting

Published in 1966, the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is set somewhere in the suburbs of an unnamed town in the US (p. 162, ll. 33-37).

Time setting

The main action spans over about an hour or so on a Sunday, during midday. However, the story also includes references to a previous episode,...

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Physical setting

In the narrative, important elements of the physical setting are the shopping plaza with its parking lot, the diner across from it, and Connie’s house.

The diner is described in more detail, as it is the place where Connie and her friend like to hang around, picking up older boys without their parents’ knowledge: “The restaurant was shaped like a big bottle, though squatter than a real bottle, and on its cap was a revolving figure of a grinning boy holding a hamburger aloft.” (p. 163, ll. 18-20); “They went up through the maze of parked and cruising cars to the brightlit, fly-infested restaurant, their faces pleased and expectant as if they were entering a sacred building that loomed up out of the night…” (p. 163, ll. 24-27)

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Social setting

The social setting used in the short story includes several aspects related to American society in the 1960s.

Firstly, the story presents the relationship between family members, with a particular focus on Connie, who is a teenage girl. In her family, the father is mostly an absent figure while the mother praises Connie’s older sister June and criticizes Connie. In her turn, Connie despises her sister’s righteous behavior and hides things from her parents,...

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