Lonely And Arnold Quotes And Analysis

Adding on to that, Connie’s shortfall that rock music has molded her has come to light when Arnold Friend gives sexual advances to her. Joyce Carol Oates shows this by writing, “It was the same program that was playing inside the house. “Bobby King?” she said. “I listen to him all the time. I think he’s great.” “He’s kind of great,” Connie said reluctantly.” “Listen, that guy’s great. He knows where the action is.” (p.3-para.2). This shows how Connie feels shocked that Arnold was also listening to the same music as she was when she was inside the house last time. Since she was incompetent in realizing how teenagers interpret the music than adult figures, Connie is vulnerable when Arnold threatens her to come to him because of the rock music that is being allotted to teenagers. To sum it up, the sexual song lyrics and the image of rock music that is normally played and embraced in the American culture has influenced Connie, a teenager, physically and mentally; therefore, she is taken advantage of by Arnold because of her immaturity and youth.

When Arnold felt that Connie was not going to do what he wanted, he started to threat in hurting her family. The more the story was coming to end, the more orders were thrown at Connie by Arnold. Many different critics were written on why Connie decided to leave her family and home and leave with a stranger. But taking the time of the story into account, it is possible to see that men, like Arnold, broke women pride and dominated them. Marie Urbanski writes “Connie leaves with Arnold because she is, “bowing to absolute forces which her youthful

Her knowledge of her beauty allows her to draw attention to it from many guys of many ages. She loves the attention that she gets from these boys, and that often seduces her into the decisions that she makes. Her first encounter with Arnold Friend occurs when she is in the car with one of the boys she met, Eddie. She glances to her right and sees Arnold, in his car, staring at her. Arnold spoke with his lips to tell her “Gonna get you, baby”, and perhaps it is this threat that causes Connie to symbolize him as a jeopardy to her innocence that the reader sees in her nightmare (Oates 28).

When Connie first hears a car pulling up in her driveway, her attention is immediately directed to her hair and looks. She isn’t concerned as much about who is outside or what they want, but how see will look to them. When she initially sees Arnold she is attracted to his style and car. He is muscular in tight faded jeans and a drives a bright gold jalopy. His image is everything that Connie has fantasized about and can relate to. Arnold is even playing

During the conversation between Connie and Arnold Friend, she experiences a dramatic moment so intense that it cannot be avoided or ignored. Her attempt was creating a sexy appearance and fascinating the boys in the local diner delivers as her experiment to analyze new fields as well as a new side of herself. However, until Arnold comes into the story, her expeditions have always been closed into security. She may go into an dark alley with a boy for a short period, but no matter what happens there,

Another symbolism of evil is that Arnold tells Connie that he will not come in her house. He has come to take Connie away but “he may not cross a threshold uninvited” (Wegs 2). Arnold threatens Connie by telling her that if she does not come outside then he will wait till her family gets home “then they’re all going to get it” (Oates 481). Arnold ultimately lures Connie out by promising that her family will be unharmed if she gives herself to him (Oates 1). We do not know how Connie sacrifices herself. As Oates states in her article, we only know “that she is generous enough to make it”.

Arnold is a perfect example for showing how men take advantage of women both emotionally and physically. Throughout the story he uses his words to pursue Connie to come outside. He asks her five different times if she wants to go for a ride when he is trying to get her out of the house. While he is trying to get her to come outside, he is also sweet talking her. Within the last two pages of the article Arnold calls Connie “Honey” six times. He also uses other lines such as “you’re cute,” “Connie sweetheart,”

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

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

Symbolism is used throughout the story in many way. The first thing stated about Connie is that she has a: [...] habit of craning her neck to look into mirrors or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right. (469) Connie feels like she has some kind of control by judging people with her eyes. The observer has control over the observed. When Connie is under Arnold's gaze, when she meets him for the first time in the restaurant parking lot, she can't help looking at him, evening doing a double take. She is interested in him because she feels she has control over him. She likes the familiar interest he has in her. Arnold wants her, Connie knows that, yet Connie is depriving him of her. Later on, when Arnold first appears at her door, he's wearing sunglasses, hiding himself from Connie's gaze, while he is free to gaze at her all he wants. These sunglasses represent the power roles have switching. Connie is observed for most of the story, as an object to be ogled by men or envied by women. The last scene of

Connie is seen as a sex object, which shows how women are dominated by men during this time. In this short story, Oates states, “Gonna get you baby” (Oates 1). This shows how women are more than likely to be approached when they are alone and men tend to think they can talk to a woman any way they please. This can reveal signs of pedaphinilia when there is such a huge age difference, which the reader sees between Connie and Arnold Friend. Arnold Friend thinks he can approach Connie in that manner because all he wants is her body. In the short story, Oates states, “Yes, I’m your lover. You don’t know what that is but you will” (CITE) which shows how men feel like they own women so they do not have to respect them by using inappropriate words. Friend stalks Connie and invades her privacy for his own needs, not thinking about how this can affect Connie’s mental health. In the story, it states, “Don’cha wanta go for a ride?’ (CITE) which is forcing Connie to do something after she said no. Women is today’s society are insecure and vulnerable because they let men use them for their body. (you need research in these paragraphs! I do not see any!)

He caught Connie’s eye as she was walking out with a boy. Arnold then smiled and mouth the words that he would have her. At this moment you can assume such an action is quite unusual and that we have not seen the last of him. He then is reintroduced when he shows up at her house. Arnold uses his appearance to help him look younger as if he was actually a teen and not a thirty something year old man. Arnold does this in order to not alert Connie as he attempt to socially engage with her. The author has done so in a manner that help the reader grasp the extent that this man is willing to go, therefore creating a suspicion of Arnold and what his true intention are. Connie describes him as a boy with shaggy black hair who wear tight jean, boots, belt and shirt that was worn to show his muscular physique. All of which was typical of the boys in that society. Connie also describes his car; a convertible jalopy painted gold with decals of a phrase that was use by kids but was outdated, a smiley face with glasses that resembled a pumpkin, and his name. Arnold really has his teenage image down almost impeccable. Dressing as a teen is not the only suspicious characteristic Arnold has, his outdated phrase

This exposure with Arnold Friend was Connie’s death experience, and through the story Arnold carries out an order from his superiors to lead Connie to her death, and he is certain that she has to leave with him. Even though, she tries to fight to stay inside her house or “alive” but she knows that the end of her existence is closer that she imagines. Oates states, “She thought, I’m not going to see my mother again. She thought, I’m not going to sleep in my bed again” (Oates). This fear in Connie’s heart and mind is telling her that she is not going to be ok, and that she is going

The plot of the story is rather simple until the end. Connie is a fifteen-year-old girl who, like all fifteen-year-old girls, thinks she knows everything and doesn’t need to grow up into boring adulthood. She stays home from a barbeque and gets into an interesting conversation with Arnold Friend. It isn’t until the climax that Connie makes a confusing choice. A climax is a choice a character makes or an epiphany a character has. It’s the turning point of the story. Connie’s choice is when she realizes that there is nothing else she can do, and she must go with Arnold. Connie gets in the car with Arnold, presumably to her own death. What’s interesting is why Oates makes the decision to end the story this way. Connie’s parents could have come home, saved her, and Connie would have learned the lesson her mother was trying to teach her all along. Why did it end the way it did? Before Connie decides to go with Arnold, there is a scene that leaves a lot of questions. “She began to scream into the phone, into the roaring. She cried out, she cried for her mother, she felt her breath start jerking back and forth in her lungs as if it were something Arnold Friend were stabbing her with again and again with no tenderness.” While it isn’t clear exactly what happens, we can assume that Arnold attacks her. Afterwards, Connie

Consequently, it is because of the ideal she’s fulfilling that Connie is so incredibly vulnerable to the dangers of Arnold Friends tactics since it prevents her from defending herself in time to save herself, both emotionally and physically. Arnold Friend, at first glance, embodies everything Connie appreciates. An open, bright gold jalopy, shaggy black hair, wears sunglasses, seemingly suave talking about his car and enticing her with a ride, and “Connie liked the way he’s dressed, which was the way all of them dressed: tight, faded jeans stuffed into black, scuffed boots, a belt that pulled his waist in and showed how lean he was, and a white pull-over shirt that was a little soiled and showed the hard small muscles of his arms and