In the midst of grief, crisis, celebration, or milestone, we use music to help express the emotions we we feel or may have felt during this period. Music allows us to escape our reality, but only for a moment. This has a negative reaction on our emotions. Music can trigger feelings about a past experience, a loved one, etc. Music is universal. Regardless of the lyrics, tone, or time period of the song, music is an incredibly powerful work of art, deeply connected to human emotions. Joyce Carol Oates uses pop music as a symbol and motif throughout her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” In her short story, Joyce Carol Oates' musical references illustrate Connie's life and journey throughout the story. Music is personified in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Connie, the main character, is a fifteen-year-old girl obsessed with herself and with music. The first mention of music in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is near the beginning of the story. Connie and her girlfriends often hung out at malls and drive-in restaurants with older teenagers. The narrator states that they “listened to the music that made everything so good: the music was always in the background, like the music of a church service; it was something to be reckoned with” (673). Here, music is almost omnipotent and omnipresent. For Connie and her friends, it was always there. It also seems to be something sacred to Connie and her friends. This also has a great influence on Connie and her friend's mood. The music made “everything so good” for them. Music makes everything better. Connie complains about her mother, her sister and her home life. She turns to music to escape her reality. She is both bawling, insecure... in the middle of paper ....... Curiously, Connie's eyes are brown and not blue. The music adds tension to the story “Where are you going, where have you been?” It’s powerful in the way it influences Connie. The music creates tension between Connie's sense of reality and fantasy. She dreams about boys based on love songs, not her actual experiences with them. In fact, the encounters she had with boys turned out to be far less attractive than the romances she saw on television, radio, movies, etc. Music is also powerful for Friend. He uses her as a tool to seduce, control and attract her. The power of music is paramount and has the power to influence us all. It has the ability to shape our understanding and help us communicate. “Where are you going, where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates? effectively demonstrates this concept by showing the impact of music on popular culture and adolescents.