"There Was Once" by Margaret Atwood and "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates is two very different stories. "There Was Once" was held in a conversational tone, while "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is more of a short story. When comparing these two stories the reader will indeed find similarities as well as the differences.  One of the most obvious similarities is the fact that both stories have a very strong and evident female character. The major underlying theme in both stories is the theme of fantasy vs. reality. 

Starting with "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" at the beginning of the story, the main character Connie, is already being introduced in a place of an imaginary world. She is shown as a young, fifteen year old girl that is obsessed with her looks and appearance, "She had a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people's fact to make sure her own was all right." (Oates, 333) Oates continues to build Connie as someone that rebels against her mother and envy's her older sister June.  One day, Connie is allowed to out for the day to be with her best friend, the two are supposed to spend the day at a shopping plaza; instead, they sneak across the highway to meet boys.  At this point in the story, the story has now reached a place of no return. The story enters the fast-line, escalating quickly, on night Connie left her best friend to go have dinner with a boy named Eddie, leaving dinner Connie notices a gold convertible, and conveniently Eddie notices nothing. Later on in the story, Connie is home alone one day when the gold convertible plus up in her driveway. The driver gets out the car and introduces himself to Connie as Arnold Friend. Arnold tells Connie to get in the car with him and his friend Ellie to take a ride. Reluctantly, Connie begins to walk towards the gold convertible, and finally understands where she is going. 

In "There Once Was" Margaret Atwood tells a short story in a conversational point of view. There are two women; one woman is beginning to tell a fairy tale story to another female. The first character to speak began the story by introducing the main female character in the fairy tale, "There was once a poor girl, as beautiful as she was good, who lived with her wicked stepmother in a house in the forest." (Atwood, 305) While the story telling character tries to continue the story, the listening character continues to intervene and want to make changes. For example, as the story telling character continues to tell the story, the other breaks in and says, "Forest? Forest is passe, I mean, I've had it with all this wilderness stuff." (305) This constant story telling, interruption, and bickering continued throughout the story, until the end when the listener challenged the story teller to stop talking about the "dead past" and talk about the now (306). 

The main similarity between each of the two main female characters is they both have someone they do not want to listen to. Listening is a key factor in conversations, as in "There Once Was" or a key factor in growing up as in "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" In "There Once Was" the main character was listening, but she did not comprehend what the storyteller was trying to convey. The main character was only trying to find mistakes or discrepancies that she could point out and make the storyteller change the story over and over again.  For example, "Stop right there. I think we can cut the beautiful, don't you?" (Atwood 305) Here is one of the many times the main character interrupted the story teller, wanting her to change the story to make it more of a story she wants to here and less of a story the storyteller wants to tell. One may notice how the main character is forcing the storyteller to refrain from the average fairytale and make it more realistic.  The main character in "Where Have You Been, Where Are You Going?" is similar to the main character in "There Once Was" because she made it obvious that she does not like listening to her mother and made sure she knew it. For example, Connie learns that her family is going to a barbecue "and Connie said no, she wasn't interested, rolling her eyes to let he mother know just what she thought of it." (336) Both girls show an apparent rebellion, choosing to live a life in a fantasyland or a life in reality.  

Teenage fantasy is one of the major differences between both the two main characters and each of the stories.  The main character in "There Once Was" decided that she did not want to hear about a fantasy world with fantasy people.  For example, as the storyteller was continuing the story after numerous interruptions, and again the main character interrupted and stated, "It's not a right image of out society, today. Let's have some urban for a change." (305) This main character wanted to stay as far away from fantasy and closer to reality or the now. Connie on the other hand loved to play in both worlds. When she was at home she was on form of Connie, ignoring her parents and envying her sister but when she went out with friends she was a totally different Connie.  "Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not at home." (334) Oates continues the paragraph by describe the multiple things about Connie that would change such as; her walk and her mouth. Connie loved to live this life of two different people in this fantasyland completely opposite to the main character in "There Once Was".

Another difference between the two stories is, the obsession with appearances. In "There Once Was" the main character was clear that appearances and descriptions were just oppressors to the story. When the storyteller begins to tell her story once again, she was trying to describe the woman in the story and the main character highly disliked it. The main character states, "Stop right there. I think we can cut the beautiful don't you? Women these days have to deal with too many intimidating physical role models as it is, what's with those bimbos in the ads." (305) In this statement the main character clearly shows her apparent distaste in how women are labeled and standards they are suppose to live up too. That distaste and disagreement with the way women are treated is completely opposite to how Connie feels. In the beginning of the story Connie has been described as someone that cannot stop looking at herself. She is obsessed with how she looks and how others see her. She does not want to be "average" as stated in "There Once Was" (305). Connie wants to be pretty no matter what, even if that means believing her mother is out to get her. "Her mother had been pretty once too, if you could believe those old snapshots in the album, but now her looks were gone and that was why she was always after Connie." (333) Using that inner thought from Connie, Oates continues to describe and character living in a fantasy world, thinking that even her mother was after her. 

The final difference between "There Once Was" and "Where Are You Going and Where Have You Been?" is each stories atmosphere. In "There Once Was" the atmosphere was more conversational, but in turn it was one sided. The storyteller's opinion became less and less important, the story shifted to the main character being the one directing which direction the story goes. All the way up until the end, the storyteller had a better, changed, and improved line to add to the story. But, the very last lines the storyteller had finally ran out, the constant back and fourth had worn them down and the fifth line from the end left the story teller speechless. "What's this was once? Enough of the dead past. Tell me about now." The atmosphere went from long sentence conversation to only a few words per sentence. The atmosphere in "Where Have You Been? Where Are You Going?" was more of a fun atmosphere with the teenage rebellion and fantasy being the main emotion. The fun story about a teen's life escalated very quickly. Oates to took the readers emotions from one extreme to another; the reader went from happiness to fear very quickly. "Connie felt a wave of dizziness rise in her at this sight and she stared at him as if waiting for something to change the shock of the moment, make it alright again." (340-341) In this moment Connie's fantasy life of being older has finally caught up to her, she no long could hide, a boy named Arnold Friend was here to take her for a ride. 

    The last few lines of the "The Once Was" showed the apparent divide from hearing and learning about some sort of fantasy to demanding to hear about reality. The main character refused to let something that is not real or urban to be told to her. When on the other hand the main character of "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" did not understand the dangers of living in a fantasy world rather than in reality until it was too late. Each story had very similar outer aspects such as feminine leads and the apparent rebellion stirring in each one. The inner aspects are what is most important and allows the reader to understand and compare the major theme of fantasy vs. reality. 
