Throughout the story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" by Joyce Carol Oates, we see the story of a young girl named Connie who takes on bad decisions in his life. She has an excess of self-confidence which causes her problems in her life. Connie would do anything to impress boys with her looks and this ultimately led to her impressing the wrong guy. From this story using the idea of ​​feminist criticism, we can see that too much self-confidence can help lead to a false sense of security and lead to male dominance over a person. Feminist criticism can be defined as having to face a stereotypical representation of gender (feminist criticism). In this story we can see stereotypes about women. Connie is a teenager who only cares about her friends and her boy at this point in her life. At the same time, she wants as much attention as possible, especially from boys who she is trying to make more attractive and appealing. However, going out of her way to please boys is dangerous because she is still a young girl. She was overwhelmed by the fact that she thought she was beautiful and that it was the only thing she had to do. Her confidence seemed to be based solely on her appearance and she didn't take into account her reputation or personality. The author even said “She knew she was pretty and that was all” (Oates, p. 1408). When a girl is too materialistic, more people take advantage of her because people think she has no morals. Connie's friends and those she surrounded herself with also knew how selfish she was. Her own mother told her "Stop looking at you, who are you? Do you think you're so pretty?" (Oates, p. 1408) You think that as a mother, you're supposed to boost yourself... middle of paper. .....f Joyce Carol Oates." denittise2008-1. Np, nd Web. November 27, 2013. http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncw/f/denittise2008-1.pdf>"Literary theories: A Sampling of Critical Lenses. Jennifer. “Morphing the Gothic: The New Voice of Gothic Literature Among Contemporary Women Writers.” Google Books, November 27, 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=DlvxYladGBsC&pg=PA42&lpg=. PA42&dq=arnold+friend+male+dominance&source=bl&ots=GCb9QU-tPg&sig=Jw7POx1ajNTiKrFz3QJ-IFm6hF4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_cKOUq76M8misAStnIGYBw&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=arnold%20friend%20male%20 dominance&f=false.Oates, Joyce Carol. Where are you. Come on, where have you been. Give importance to literature. New York: Saint Martin, 2012.