Bettleheim discusses narcissism in his psychological analysis of the variations of Snow White, and it made me realize how much of a role narcissism plays in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” By Joyce Carol Oates. The main character, Connie, is a teenage girl obsessed with her appearance and puts herself in an incredibly dangerous situation with an admirer because of her narcissism and want for attention. This story warns of the “evil consequences of narcissism,” such as in “Little Snow White.”
Bettleheim also states that it is the parent and child who both have these narcissistic personalities. I did not consider Connie’s mother narcissistic, but this quote from Bethlehem’s article is interesting and made me look at her in a different light. “It is the narcissistic parent who feels most threatened by his child’s growing up, because that means the parent must be aging” (Bettleheim, 203). Although she never says anything grandiose about herself, it is her mean disposition towards Connie that may come from fear of her own aging, which makes her narcissistic.
