Compare And Contrast A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Arnold Friend

In where are you going, where have you been the major conflict is the lack of self-confidence and immaturity of Connie. From that, the complication of being stalked by Arnold arises. The author does not just tell us Connie is a naive girl but discusses her actions and lack of actions leading us to believe so. Because of that, by the time the complication start taking shape, the reader can almost guess what would be next, that is Arnold is one of the boys that are Connie’s age. Knowing a lot about Connie by now, we will guess after being reluctant for a while she will take off with him like she has done before so many times, there how ever is a surprise waiting. Once we start following the dialogue between Connie and Arnold and know more about his awkward looks and language we start understanding the symbolism Oates has been using. He is the prince of darkness and he is there to take Connie to her final destiny, the land of the dead. Talking about the old woman down the street who was also murdered he is

“I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love” (Marilyn Monroe). Joyce Carol Oates is the author of the realistic allegory story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”. The story is about a young girl named Connie, who likes seeking attention from men, as a distraction from her problems at home. She meets a man named Arnold Friend, he goes after Connie, claiming he has to take her for a ride, but it is obvious he wants to do other things. Because of this character’s actions, it is determined that he is a representation of the devil. Through plot, characterization, and dialogue, Oates successfully portrays Arnold Friend as a symbolic Satan.

In the short story “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?” both characters, Connie and Arnold, suffer from having dual identities. Connie is an individual who acts completely different outside her home, where she tries to portray an image of being sexually appealing. However, she is the complete opposite within her home, where she hides her sexuality and acts more like the adolescent she really is. Arnold is a mature man, something Connie is looking for in life and this intrigues her. Both characters have trouble with their dual identities, Connie’s leads her to being vulnerable to growing mature in an unpleasant manner by the force of Arnold, while Arnold’s unknown character proves to not be genuine, as Connie brings out his violent nature in her quest to be an independent adult.

The short stories, "A Good man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Conner and "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner both stories connect because have dangerous, unusual characteristics and share a number of similar character traits. Their similarities stem not only from both women's education, but also from the controversy of their actions within the social dynamics of the world in which they live now. "A Good man is Hard to Find" is about a grandmother and her family brutally murdered by a coldhearted killer, and "A Rose for Emily"is about a lady who murders her lover and then sleeps beside his rotting body. Not only have O'Conner and Faulkner created similar plots in their respective stories but also both story create similar character in their Protagonits.

Arnold Friend's façade gives the reader the feeling that something is wrong, as if Oates were trying to persuade Connie away from her impending doom. When Arnold first pulls into Connie's driveway, the reader is alarmed. Connie notices that he is actually much older than he appears and the reader knows that

In the two short stories “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O'Connor and "Where are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates, there are many similarities in the characters ‘Misfit’ and Arnold Friend; although they aren’t clear at the beginning they become clearer after analyzing. For instance, they are both charming and know how to talk to their prey and get what they want. We see this in A Good Man is Hard to Find with the Misfit, he stays calm throughout and it almost seems like the grandmother is getting to him, saying things like "I know you're a good man. You don't look a bit like you have com- mon blood. I know you must come from nice people!" "Yes mam," he said, "finest people

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

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.

Connie, the girl that every guy wants but only a few are lucky to get, is quite possibly one of the most cliche characters in literature. She’s a two-faced, insecure girl with a smart mouth and resentment towards her family members. In the beginning of the story, Oates sets the scene with Connie out with her friend, whom she then ditches to hang out with some random guy she met at the diner. Everything seems to be going predictably, until the unimaginable happens when Arnold Friend pulls into her driveway, beckoning her to come outside since he knows her family isn’t home. He knows this because he has convinced himself that Connie is in love with him, and he wants her so bad that he has been stalking her for who knows how long. In Where are you going, Where have you been?, Oates uses the cunning and charismatic Arnold Friend along with the insecure Connie to foreshadow the horrible fate that is met.

Arnold has shown himself as a very dangerous predator. “Aside from his dress and mannerisms, which eventually strike Connie as 'wrong', Friend is described as having a ‘nose long and hawk-like, sniffing as if she were a great treat he was going to gobble up.’ His ‘teeth were big and white’ just like the wolf in the cautionary tale of ‘Little Red Riding Hood.’ Charles Perrault's version of this fairy tale ends with the moral ‘Children, especially attractive, well bred young women, should never talk to strangers, for if they should do so, they may well provide dinner for a wolf.”(qtd. In Caldwell) Connie tries to call the police but she cannot and ends up trying to call for her mother but she is home alone. She was shaking and cannot dial the phone. One possibility is that this is a dream and she is seeing what will happen to her if she continues the path that she is on. In a dream you are not in control. You try to observe what is happening and see if you can understand what is going on. Arnold tells her what to do and she does it without any hesitation. She just obeys and does what he tells her to do. So she puts down the phone.

Joyce Carol Oates’ story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” could be read in a completely literal sense. A man abducts a young girl from her home using psychological torment. At first, it seems like a mostly regular serial killer story. But, when analyzed, it is truly much deeper. Even though Arnold Friend might seem like just a psychopath, could he perhaps be something even more sinister?

Connie notices the man staring at her and when she looks back Arnold Friend says, “‘gonna get you, baby’” (390). Arnold Friend’s evilness and predatory nature is revealed at this point. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Oates portrays, through the character Arnold Friend, how evil plagues a small town, the consequences of letting evil prevail, and how evil is personified in a character.

Flannery O’Connor wrote “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” in 1953. O’Connor was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. She was a southern writer who included her own Roman Catholic faith along with questions of morality and ethic in her work. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote “Young Goodman Brown” in 1835. Hawthorne was also an American novelist and short story writer. Much of his writings contain moral metaphors with Puritan inspiration. His works are often centered in New England and focused on evil and sin. In these two writings the epiphanies presented do have some similarities, but are almost the exact opposite in every aspect.

Without a doubt, “Good Country People,” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor are two stories that are both sorrow and redemption filled. The stories can surprise the readers by the actions and paths led within them. Every choice that a character makes in these two stories show how inevitable the endings will be.

Within the short stories, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" and "A Good Man is Hard to Find" there are several areas of both similarity and difference. The differences are not hard to spot between these two stories. These stories take place in different places, have different cultures, and are even set in different periods in history, however; if the reader looks deep enough they can see the common foundation that both stories are built upon. The commonality within both stories manifests comes in the form two different themes one being the coexistence of cruelty and compassion and the other being how religion is exploited within both stories just with two vastly different outcomes for each.