Joyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

Her name is Connie, and she is not unlike many girls of the time she lives in. She is vain, she is constantly at war with her family, and she is in an incredible rush to grow up. Her race to maturity is the trait focused on in Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been." It splits Connie into two different personalities: 'One for home, and one for anywhere that was not home' (431). Everything about her?her walk, her smile, and her laugh?metamorphoses as soon as she steps out the front door. The child is hidden, the seductive young woman emerges, and the world of the ?big kids? is more than willing to take her in. This world is what

Arnold Friend represents Satan because of his physical character, his ability to know things about Connie, and his strange hypnotic power over her. Arnold Friend’s physical traits lead us to believe that he is trying to hide his true identity. He knows a lot of information about Connie that he shouldn’t know. He knew exactly where her parents were and what they were doing. He also has an unexplained force over Connie. This suggests that he has the power to make it seem like Connie was under his control. All of these things are common

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

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, 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 teenage rebellion, which most of people experience during the puberty, always worsens the relationship between parents and children. Written by Joyce Carol Oates, the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” describes the condition and consequence of a family whose child is rebellious. Through the characterization, plot, and dialogue, Oates successfully exhibits the thesis that Connie’s bad ending is the consequence of her parents’ attitude and actions.

Upon reading the story, it was determined that the protagonist named Connie is a 15-year old teenager who is attractive and full of temptations. She constantly lies and disobeys her mother, where she finds herself in danger due to her obsession with vanity. Connie is constantly in state of turmoil, where she is questioning her identity and her double standard life style confirms her behavior:

Arnold Friend or “an old fiend”, is a deceiving manipulative older male who could be your father and has his sidekick who is even older, Arnold stuffs his boots, has a picture of himself sprayed painted on the side of his car that looks like a pumpkin, who openly admits that he’s coming for you and that he stalks you, he’s essentially a sociopath who flirts by threatening you and your family. Arnold aims in on the frailty and aspirations of those around him in particular Connie's romantic fantasies, he utilizes

Connie felt Arnold Friend had a hold on her and anything she was doing to fight it was hurting her instead. Christina Gillis made the connection to Eve meeting with Satan as Arnold Friend attempts with Connie. “Milton says of Satan’s meeting with Eve (paradise lost IX, 732-780) women are vulnerable to seduction” (Gillis 1). Christina Gillis made the connection of how Satan seduced eve to do is bidding to how Arnold is controlling Connie. The situation and actions of Arnold Friend added to the idea that Arnold Friend is a Symbolic

Arnold knows that he can prey on the innocents of this girl. Friend use the girl’s needs against her to get what he wants, which is her. At first glance Connie notices Friend at the diner and uses her assets to keep his attention while out with another boy. Friends sees her and uses the sinister phrase “Gonna get you, Baby” as a warning that she choose to disregard (159). The hair on Arnold’s head is “shaggy, shabby black hair that looked crazy as a wig” (161). His hair contrasted Connie’s, which symbolized her innocence and virtue. His hair is described as being fake, a wig. This shows that Arnold is trying to cover up and project this persona. Arnold’s sunglasses is another symbol. The mirror reflection off the glasses disguises what he was trying to hide

When Arnold Friend and Ellie arrive to Connie’s house she notices something strange about Arnold. For one, they pulled up in a bright gold car with writing all over it. His name is written on the car along with a grinning face with sunglasses and three random numbers. She notices that it looks as

Arnold tries to take her for a ride in his car and at first, Connie believes that this is an act of harmless flirtation, so she plays along. Arnold was the type of guy she would normally go out with, she “liked the way he dressed” (409) and “She recognized...the singsong way he talked, slightly mocking, kidding, but serious and a little melancholy, and...the way he tapped one fist against the other in homage to the perpetual music behind him” (411), but something didn’t seem right with him. As the conversation progresses, Connie starts to realize that Arnold Friend knew all about her life even though they had never (apart from a brief meeting in a parking lot) had a conversation before this. He then demanded that she come with him, and threatened to come inside if she tried to call the

Since Connie is a teenager, we know that she is constantly out with her friends, and even more so because of her relationship with her family. Part of Connie’s hobbies include going to the shopping mall and drive-in restaurants, which were very popular hangout spots during the 1960’s. We get an even better glimpse of the time period once we meet Arnold Friend and Ellie. Arnold’s appearance is bold. He shows up in his flashy car, wearing his “metallic and mirrored” sunglasses. Ellie, the passenger in the car, had slicked down black hair with thick sideburns. During this time, people often had gaudy things and crazy hairstyles. For example, Elvis Presley wore sparkles and metallic, also greased his hair and grew out his sideburns. Even though Arnold doesn’t know Connie, he shows up to her house uninvited and asks her to “come for a ride.” This seemed quite casual to Connie at first and she reacts very naively. This situation was probably more common than it is nowadays, because violence and crime has increased so much throughout the years. People are much more cautious and aware of these situations because the media, news, and technology has rapidly

Arnold Friend makes the statement “my sweet little blue-eyed girl” (Oates 503), which indicates that Arnold does not care enough about Connie to pay attention to the little details about her. Arnold pretends to be into Connie, he says all of the right words to lure her in, he makes promises to her like the one that he will not come into her home without her permission, yet he could. Arnold eventually forces Connie to give in, she gives herself in a sexual way, although Arnold has the capability to harm her if he truly wanted to. Although Arnold calls Connie sweet things like unique, he still cannot give many details about her because he only knows what Connie portrays to the

Arnold Friend shows several signs to the possibility that he is a supernatural force, such as the devil. For instance, several times throughout the short story he seems to be able to quickly change voice tones while talking to Connie. This ability to change voice tones is a special ability the devil is known to have. Also, whenever Ellie pipes in on the conversation Arnold Friend is having with Connie, Arnold begins shooting off rude expressions to Ellie. Connie notices that Arnold says the expressions like he does not know which one is in style anymore. This goes to show that Arnold is older than he looks and has been around for a long time. Another thing she noticed is Arnold because he had “shaggy, shabby black hair that looked crazy as a wig and he was grinning at her,” ().Arnold Friend was the driver and he may have been wearing a wig to hide his horns, which the devil is known to