Please describe the theme of "Where are you Going, Where Have you Been?"

The beauty of such texts as this excellent short story by
Joyce Carol Oates is that they leave themselves open to a number of different approaches
rather than being strictly defined by one discrete theme. Thus it is that this story
could be related to a number of different themes. However, from my perspective, one of
its most interesting themes is what is says about identity and how we come to establish
our own identity.

We are presented with Connie, who is an
awkward teenager trying to find her identity in the world. Connie seeks to establish her
identity by developing a rebellious side to her that acts completely differently away
from home than she is at home. Note how this two-sided element to her personality is
explored:

She
wore a pullover jersey top that looked one way when she was at home and another way when
she was away from home. Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one
for anywhere that was not home: her walk, which could be childlike and bobbing, or
languid enough to make anyone think she was hearing musinc in her head; her mouth, which
was pale and smirking most of the time, but bright and pink on these evenings
out...

She is developed as a
character who finds her identity in her own beauty and the effect that her beauty has on
others. However, crucially, because of the instability of her identity and the way that
it is still developing and not fully formed, she leaves herself vulnerable to the
psychological manipulation of Arnold. He is able to recognise her need to be appreciated
and to be flattered, and his repeated reference to her as "honey" and her beauty are
designed to manipulate her unformed identity and make her comply with his clearly
violent and potentially murderous desires. When he says, towards the end of the story,
"...what else is there for a girl like you but to be sweet and pretty and give in?", we
get the feeling that Connie has no choice at this stage but to yield to Arnold, as she
is relying on her partial identity to define who she feels she is. Thus one theme of
this story is the way that, as we search for our identity, we can leave ourselves open
and vulnerable to manipulation by others.