What is the significance of the opening scene of Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been"?

The story describes the self-consciousness and growing self-awareness of a teenage girl in the 1960s, a time of limited roles for women. Connie knows that she is pretty and believes that this is all that matters. All of the events in the story follow from this belief. Connie thinks that she is in control of her life because she is pretty. Being pretty allows her to live as if in a magic bubble moving to the sounds of the music "she was hearing in her head". Her mother, who "had been pretty once too," knows better, however, and tries to make Connie see the error of her ways by confronting her with the positive features of her older sister, "plain and chunky and steady" June. In her mother's mind, prettiness equals foolishness, and a reliance on physical appearance is just asking for trouble. The characters of June and Connie represent the contrast between illusion and reality.