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Compare Connie in "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" and Mariana in "Love in L.A."

Both Connie in Joyce Carol Oates's short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" and Mariana in Dagoberto Gilb's short story "Love in L.A." are the powerless objects of seduction for ne'er-do-well men. In "Love in L.A.," Jake, who is without a job and is obsessed with living the good life in a way that resembles a "tequila ad," hits Mariana's car on the freeway. He proceeds to tell her a series of lies, which she reacts to with some suspicion. She also turns down his offer of breakfast, which would likely lead to more seduction from Jake. In the end, however, Mariana gives Jake her number and asks him to call her, showing that she has fallen for his deception. Jake is a superficial, self-centered guy who lies to get what he wants, but Mariana is still eager to have him call her.

Like Mariana, Connie is unfortunately deceived by a man, but he is far worse than Jake. When she is out with a boy, she sees another man who she doesn't know yet, and flirts with him at a distance: "Connie slit her eyes at him and turned away, but she couldn't help glancing back and there he was, still watching her." She is experimenting with her own sense of power over men, but she is about to encounter Arnold Friend, a man who makes her feel powerless.


Arnold Friend later shows up at her house when Connie is alone, and her first thought when she sees the car isn't to lock her door but to think, "'Christ. Christ,' wondering how bad she looked." She wants some innocent attention from Arnold before she realizes too late that he is bent on evil. In the end, she, like Mariana, feels that she cannot do anything but what Arnold asks her after he threatens her. As the story ends, "She watched herself push the door slowly open as if she were back safe somewhere in the other doorway, watching this body and this head of long hair moving out into the sunlight where Arnold Friend waited." She is doing what he asks while feeling disembodied and not in control of her actions. Like Mariana in her reactions to Jake, Connie knows in some ways that she shouldn't obey Arnold, but she feels powerless to do otherwise. 

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