Connie is a character who has two sides to her. She is experiencing the archetypal struggle of an adolescent stuck in the twilight between childhood and adulthood. At home she is a self-centered teenager who looks at her mother as a faded beauty and can’t believe that her mother was once as beautiful as she is. Outside of her home she is very outgoing, likes the attention of guys and is out for a little ‘danger’. Connie’s duality leads her to attract situations she might have gotten into if her home situation had been different, for example if she had been treated the same as her sister is. Her mother always scolds her, comparing her to her sister: “Why don’t you keep your room clean like you sister? How’ve you got your hair fixed-what the hell stinks? Hair spray? You don’t see your sister using that junk.” (1216 Oates) Connie is unable to win in this situation and goes another way, rebelling.
Connie is stuck between girl and woman, this is her conflict and is a typical teenager’s problem, which is something we see in all families and we can relate back to ourselves. At home, Connie has a “childlike and bobbing” walk, a “pale and smirking” smile, a “cynical and drawling” laugh (1217 Oates), though when she leaves her house all these actions change completely. She feels as though her sister and mother are too simple and therefore at home is self-centered and unsure about how long her own beauty will last. Her laugh outside her home, “high-pitched and nervous” (1217 Oates) tells us how insecure she is as an independent adult. At home she is very self-centered; outside her sheltered area she gets nervous and shows us how little she knows about the real world.
Away from home Connie tries to attract attention, as her walk is “languid enough to make anyone think she was hearing music in her head,” her mouth was “bright and pink on these evenings out,” (1217 Oates). Connie when she is away from her home takes risks with her life, like “ducking fast across the busy...