Arnold Friend Quotes

A door to the beginning of her outcome is all that divides Connie in, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” from Arnold Friend, the devilish predator. Symbolism takes a big part in this story that gives a deeper meaning to Connie’s choices that ultimately extent to giving herself to Arnold. The author, Joyce Carol Oates in the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” represents Arnold Friend as the real world by being challenging and malicious, and Connie as the innocent world by being defenseless and naive.

Through plot, Oates demonstrates how Arnold Friend can be seen as a symbolic Satan. Plot starts when Arnold makes sure to tell Connie he is interested in her as he says,“Gonna get you baby” (Oates 1). Connie is in a drive-in restaurant for an older crowd when Arnold sees her for the first time. Once Connie leaves the drive-in dinner with a boy named Eddie, Arnold decides to make a move on Connie. Arnold uses foreshadowing to let her know he will meet her again. Just as Arnold says he is going to get Connie, he shows up in her driveway, creating a creepy situation. That Sunday afternoon, Connie is alone in her house while her parents and sister are on a picnic at one of their neighbor’s house, Arnold decides to use this opportunity to make his

Arnold Friend’s layers of deception. Connie’s blindness is the pretext of her loss of innocence

In the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” Connie, the main character, is already struggling with many things in life and sneaks her way to date guys. There was also conflicting between her and her mother due to her mother favoring her sister, June and describing her as someone who is a good example of what she wants Connie to be. Her father is never at home due to work and when he is home, the girls do not relate to him. Arnold Friend is described as a dangerous figure with his pale complexion and his slick black hair looking like trouble by not presenting himself in a pleasing way to Connie, by not walking properly. This was an indication on how he was not in the right state of mind and how Arnold shouldn’t be near Connie. There was one scene in the story where Arnold Friend shows up, uninvited, notifying Connie that he is not a friend, but has come to take her away from her home to possibly kidnap her. "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”. Connie feels safe in the house and does not come out until Arnold convinces and demands her that she come out. Things took an unpleasant twist when Arnold tells Connie not use the phone or he will break his promise of not coming in the house

In the story “Where are you Going, Where Have you been?” Joyce Carol Oates tells us about a fifteen year old girl named Connie. Connie is confronted by a young man who is trying to persuade her to take a ride with him. He introduces himself as Arnold Friend and kindly asks her to come with him but she refused. He then threatens Connie and her family. She is then forced outside and leaves with Arnold Friend. Arnold Friend clearly symbolizes the devil through his physical traits, his knowledge of Connie, and his power over her kind of like he was hypnotizing her to go with him.

In “Where are You Going, Where Have you Been?” Joyce Carol Oates uses an allegorical figure of evil to illustrate the theme of temptation. Oates alludes to hell through the character Arnold Friend, as the devil, and his victim Connie, who invites him in by committing the sin of vanity.

In “Where are you going, where have you been,” Friend (a demon) uses his “forked tongue” to manipulate Connie with his words to slowly convince her that she will ultimately give into him no matter what; even the first words we hear from him allude to the fact that he’s gonna overcome her, “Gonna get you, baby.” (Shmoop Editorial Team) Connie, a naive teenage girl in the 1960’s, has this concept that she will never like Arnold Friend, due to his age and his strange qualities; yet she knows that every single thing that Friend tells her is true, and she gets brainwashed to see Friend as her savior rather than her assailant. When Friend arrives at Connie’s home, Friend continuously plays music; during the 1960’s, “The Sexual Revolution” had begun, and the concept of “free love” was very present (Shmoop Editorial Team). The music was a different type of communication Friend used to lure Connie to him, even though, she felt he was older than her; the music can

Starting with “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Connie is viewed by the readers as being in this dreamlike state, which is simply used as a nightmare to show Connie the reality of her life when girls decide they want to grow up too fast. Hence, the entire experience with Arnold Friend was just Connie’s subconscious demonstrating to her what her “big girl” attitude and behavior could result in, and how it could change her life. Furthermore, with the story not having a definitive ending, it also shows that this is not reality for Connie, but just a pure glimpse of her path and future. Similarly, in “Young Goodman Brown,” Brown is also dreaming of his “what if” future. Throughout the story, people are magically appearing and disappearing. For example, when Brown talks about seeing Goody Cloyse. The story gives no indication that she acknowledges him being in the forest, yet they have known each other since he was a boy. As soon as the devil

The text says, “gonna get you baby”(Oates 1). The fact that Arnold Friend doesn't even know Connie and the first thing he says to her is that he is going to get her. That is pretty satanic, he speaks it into existence that he is going to get her and he does. Westwood backs up the claim stating that through foreshadowing Arnold Friend is similar to the devil. Westwood states that, “Exercising a eerie power, he predicts what will happen”(Westwood 1). Arnold Friend knows he is going to get Connie and what he is going to do with her before he even knows it. These are traits that the devil also has. Constant conflict between Connie and her mother causes Connie to wish for something that she now regrets. The text states, “Connie’s mother kept picking at her until Connie wished her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it was all over” (Oates 1). Connie and her mother are always bickering and Connie wishes herself and her mother were dead. When feeling low or depressed the devil finds ways to get control or seduce you. Arnold Friend takes advantage of Connie’s low self esteem and giver her close to what she wishes for. Through plot Arnold Friend reveals his many sinister traits and why the similarity between himself and the devil is so vivid.

Arnold Friend is seen as a symbolic satan due to the fact of how Oates uses dialogue through the short story.

Arnold Friend, a main character founded in the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, is often a debated by many readers to be a demon, a crazed stalker and maniac, or in fact Lucifer himself. After reading the short story and analyzing the details of the characters, Arnold Friend really stands out and leaves many unanswered questions on what the author was intending to do with this particular character in identifying who he really is. After thoroughly analyzing the character, Arnold Friend, throughout the story, it is unclear to say that he is a human, yet it is much clearer to indicate that he is a demon, the Devil, or a figment of Connie’s imagination as her deepest desires coming to life.

The devil has long been associated with evil, and containing a negative connotation. Connie continuously acts promiscuously, resulting in the devil appearing at her house. Connie, however, when first meeting Arnold is unphased by the potential harm and acts in a flirtatious manner to grab his attention. In the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, she uses symbolism to to represent that Arnold Friend is the devil.

Arnold Friend is a seductive man, or should I say ArN OLD FrIEND with a dark appearance hiding something deeper, something evil? Arnold, posing as a teen-age boy, is none other than the devil himself, which shows in his words and actions, and in his physical traits. From the very beginning of, Joyce Carol Oates', "Where are you going, Where Have you been?" a certain number of religious references are interspersed throughout. These references help to maintain a biblical feeling, as well as to set a path for Friend's entry into the story. They also foreshadow that; powers beyond a human level will be presented. Friend looks like one person in the beginning, but as the story unfolds, he is shown as someone else or

On top of Arnold Friend being the Devil, the story is him taking her to her afterlife. The story’s lack of closure is due to the fact Connie is going to Hell. Like Hell, the only person who knows Connie’s fate is the Devil and Connie. When Arnold Friend gives Connie his “mark” it represents a physical “label” that sinners would have when they are “marked” to go to hell after they die. She is unable to escape Arnold, and in a realistic situation she could have tried more to escape Arnold.

Another characteristic that Arnold portrays that makes him seem satanic is his ability of knowing all. When Arnold starts conversing with Connie, she starts noticing that he knows a lot about her, which is highly unusual since she doesn’t know him. In Abby Werlock’s article she states, “Oates uses magic realism to suggest that Arnold is not all he appears to be; indeed, her third-person narrator suggests that he is not only obscene and slightly out of place but everywhere, knowing everything”. While Arnold talks to Connie, he mentions her name even though she has never told him, which is very peculiar to Connie: Arnold says, “’But I know what it is. I know your name and all about you, lots of things’” (Oates 324). Easterly recognizes the ability