Discuss the role of the parents in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been.

On one level, it is really tough to judge any parents that
had to endure what Connie's parents were forced to endure.  They left the home and when
they return their child is gone.  Presumably, the child will not return.  Few, if any,
can ever imagine what that pain is like.  I think that any assessment of their parenting
skills in the story has to be tempered with this.  I think that there are some typical
adolescent/ parent chasms.  Connie's mother seems to constantly criticize her for her
superficial indulgences.  At the same time, there is comparison with the more
traditional sister ("You don't see your sister using that junk [hair spray]." The father
does not seem to be a very active figure in the story.  This might be more cultural, as
the father who drives Connie and her friends to the mall picks the children up and
doesn't ask any questions.  Connie is separate from her family when she decides to not
attend the barbecue, probably one of the most fated decisions in the story.  It seems
that Connie's parents are in the awkward adolescent/ parent dynamic where they want to
give freedom to the child and yet criticize in the vain attempt of trying to forge some
connection and have some role.  The lack of genunie link between parent and child is
problematic.  In general, there is a lack of connection between children and their
parents.  To a certain extent, Friend picks up on this and stresses this to Connie in
his assertion that she is "not like them."  In the initial stages, this appeals to
Connie when Friend comes by the home.  Yet, it is something that she ends up affirming
when she recognizes the potential threat Friend poses to her family.  She ends up being
the best of daughters to save her family at the cost of her own happiness.  There is no
doubt that there is a relationship present, but I think that there might have been too
great of an error made in not imposing greater restrictions on Connie to force her to
gain a psychological footing or foundation that would have helped her repel the Arnold
Friends of the world.