Connie and her mother argue throughout the story. Connie’s mother would act as if she liked her sister better. Connie tried hard to look her best and get her mothers approval but she would find her mother asking, “Why don’t you keep your room clean like your sister? How do you got your hair fixed-what the hell stinks? Hair spray? You don’t see your sister using that junk?” Connie is a young girl who is going through a point in her life where she felt that her mother did not understand her.

Connie wanted her family to view her as a sweet and innocent little girl. However, in reality she was growing up and no one

Connie’s most important decision was to decide if she wanted to grow up right away or stay a child for as long as possible. She knew if she grew up, she would follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her mom is not very pretty now but at one time she was beautiful like Connie. Since Connie thought beauty was everything and she did not want to lose that like her mother did. Connie also knew if she did not take the next step to adulthood she would end up like her sister June. June lived at home and was the secretary at Connie’s high school. This symbolized June as a child because she still lives with her parents and is still in “high school.” Connie believed that June never took that step to adulthood. Connie could not decide to take the step or not because she wanted a fairy tale life, the life found in the movies, and she did not see that in her future with the footsteps of the women she was following.

Her childhood reality and her adulthood desires collided together when Arnold arrived at her home. Her house is no longer her hiding place to be a child because Arnold brought adulthood to her childhood. He made her decide between the two, to stay a little girl or to grow up fast and this terrified her.

Some topics in this essay:
Arnold Friend, Carol Oates’, June June, , Connie Connie, arnold friend, step adulthood, grow fast, “where been”, connie tried, little girl, adulthood connie,