Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Arnold Friend Character Analysis

Where there is desire, there is hope, despair, and struggle. Joyce Carol Oates illustrates animatedly the asphyxiated struggle of desire in her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” The story narrates the life of a young girl, named Connie, and her fated and enigmatic confrontation with a strange man. Feeling trapped in her own home with her own family, Connie, a self-conscious and rebellious teenager, tries to figure out a way to identify herself with the world around her. Her desire of escaping the reality fuels her struggle to enter adulthood. Through the physical form of Arnold Friend, who embodies both the hope and the despair in Connie’s struggle, the author metaphorically portrays a vigorous and psychological pressure that Connie has to endure. The story is scripted to allude to the danger of identifying oneself through sexuality in young girls. To better understanding this cryptic story, it is important to follow the psychological processes and conflict of Connie’s character, which help unveil the allegorical meaning of a young girl’s rite of passage through sex.

June is described as “ twenty-four and still lived at home[...] she was so plain and chunky and steady that Connie had to hear her praised all the time by her mother and her mother's sisters. June did this, June did that, she saved money and helped clean the house and cooked and Connie couldn't do a thing, her mind was all filled with trashy daydreams.”(Oates) The two sisters got along with each other on some days, but mostly they seemed to resent each other. Even when her mother compared the two of them, Connie believed that “ her mother preferred her to June just because she was prettier” (Oates) While there was not any indication that his was true, the way that Connie's mother

The late 1950s was a time of cultural revolution which had a large influence on the American youth. “As the next decade drew near, issues such as civil rights, war, women 's rights, and the sexual revolution would deeply affect many American teenagers. The conservative family values and morals that predominated in the 1950s were just beginning to be challenged as the decade came to a close” (Moss and Wilson 3). As a result, many teenagers lost the conservative morals of the 1950s and became more independent. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie represents the result of this cultural revolution. Criticized by her mother for her promiscuity, Connie is an independent girl who often hangs out with her friends trying to attract boys. In doing so, she attracts a sexual predator named Arnold Friend who visits her at her home to try to get her to leave with him to presumably rape her. At the end of the story, Connie chooses to go with him. Connie gets into this dangerous situation because of a mistaken belief on her self-worth, the loss of morals by her and the adults in the story, and the influence of the 1960s popular music. Looking at “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” through the historical and feminist lenses, suggests that the story is really about how the misconceptions on self-worth and the diversion of 1960s society from

If not thought about or read over more than once, the fact that Connie’s father was almost a phantom in her life might be missed. In this era, fathers in particular were not very active in their children’s lives, daughters especially; they were the mother’s problem. This same idea carries over to the father of Connie’s best girlfriend, who after driving them to the stores or movies “…never even bothered to ask what they had done.” (Oates, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"), the name of the story is also a question that should be asked of any daughter by her father. The fathers in question here display a sense of total apathy to the question of what their daughters are actually doing. These fathers came from a time in the 40’s and 50’s when men worried about men things and woman issues were exactly that. Men and in particular fathers of that time made no effort to be involved in their daughters lives as they are today. Oates noticed that issue in society and attached it to her work in this story although minutely. The main conflict in Connie’s life is trying to balance a fine line between the way she acts at home in front of her mother, and her secret wild side which she only shows to her friends and the boys she meets. Oates’ characterization of Connie is that of a round character, one of intense

There is the search of independence where we witness the conflict between Connie and her mother. Connie's act of making herself beautiful and attractive sexually also shows her search for independence. She is also realistically dependant on the adults in her life, her parents take care of her and drive her places, like a normal parent would. However, in the story Connie is in a constant fight with her her mother and sister, this is the only type of life she is aware of. She does make several attempts to explore a new life, like changing her appearance, and attracting boys at the diner. Until Arnold Friend arrives her experiences have always been safe. After she willingly let herself into an intimate situation with Eddie, she got returned home safely. However, what comes out is that Connie's search for independence has a poor outcome.

The characterizations of Connie’s family members have great effects on Connie. And Connie’s mother’s characterization is the main motivator for Connie’s rebellion. She always compares Connie with June, who is the “ideal daughter” in her eyes, and blames Connie for some little things, such as improper dressing and not having a tidy room. Oates suggests that the reason for Connie’s mother prohibiting Connie to dress up like an adult is that “ Her mother had been pretty once too” (Oates 1), but now “her looks were gone and that was why she always after Connie” (Oates 1). Therefore, she is jealous about Connie’s beauty and feels uncomfortable when seeing Connie wear beautiful outfits. Meanwhile, she likes June so much because June is obedient and plain, which makes her feel that she is dominant in the relationship. In the short story, Connie’s father is not given much description by the author, but

Before we can analyze Connie’s interaction with Arnold Friend, we must first look at how immaturity affects her behavior on a daily basis. Since she is only able to focus on her social status, Connie often acts vain. She is consistently glancing back at her reflection to make sure is still pretty. She wants to remain young and beautiful, two qualities that are important to her. This demonstrates her immaturity by illustrating how she is afraid to become an adult. As Connie turns to check her appearance in every mirror, she is looking back into the past rather than the future. She is

Joyce Carol Oates is an American novelist and short story writer. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” first appeared in the Fall of 1966 in Epoch Magazine. This particular work of fiction was inspired by the four Tucson, Arizona murders committed by Charles Howard Schmid, Jr., also known as the Pied Piper of Tucson. Charles Schmid stood at about 5’3” yet he wore oversize cowboys boots that he filled up with balled-up socks and rags to add inches. He wore freaky pancake makeup and died his hair jet black, yet he was loved by all the girls. Although he had graduated high school he still hung around with a younger crowd; in fact his girlfriend in 1964, Mary French was a seventeen year old who helped him lure his first victim.(Bovsun, Mara. "Justice Story: Pied Piper of

Many authors look for inspiration in ways such as reflecting on past experiences, art, movies, history, or even nature. There are endless ways to develop new ideas in our everyday lives. In 1966, author Joyce Carol Oates was inspired to write a short story in a very peculiar way. While reading Life Magazine, she stumbled across an article about a serial killer with a bazar style and personality, which prompted her to write one of her most famous works to date. In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Carol Oates uses characteristics of serial killer Charles Howard Schmid Jr. to develop her fictional character Arnold Friend.

“Gonna get you baby”, one of the most skin crawling phrases to be used in this piece, gives a clue to the reader that Arnold Friend is going to end up having another, closer encounter with Connie. Although this takes place at the beginning of the story, before a description of Arnold’s character has been given to the reader, there is a sense that something awful will end up happening to Connie. The way Arnold is described as staring at Connie and widening his lips into a grin adds to the otherworldly, evil-like personality that he embodies. Arnold continues to watch Connie even after she has given him complete disregard. With his eye’s piercing through her skin like a cold needle in a vein, it is hard to imagine the overwhelmingly eerie

In her sorrow for the behavior of her daughter Connie, the mother often expresses a bit more appreciation and consideration for the older sister June. She declares somewhere in the story, ‘’Why don’t you keep your room clean like your sister? How’ve you got your hair fixed-what the hell stinks? Hair spray? You don’t see your sister using that junk’’ (Henderson ). It is well-known that anything in excess is harmful, but Connie does not seem to have been aware of this. Connie’s behavior, far away from doing good to her, exposes her to her sexual predator as an easy prey.

In her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates depicts the journey of Connie, a beautiful, mistreated, 15 year old girl yearning for attention and the loss of her innocence along the way. Oates creates this story around four murders by Charles Schmid and retells them with her own style, giving internal events the excitement, suspense, and climax normally associated with external events. Oates utilizes the demonic adversary, Arnold Friend, to awaken Connie from the self absorbed world she lives in, to display the true colors of herself through internal events he inflicts upon her. These incidents occur in Connies home and the mall where she often visits to escape reality, they reveal a change of

While taking English 102: Introduction to Literature as a dual enrollment course at Chesapeake College, one particular reading assignment from the course still haunts me to this very day. Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" involves the predation of a young, careless girl, Connie, by a manipulative older male, Arnold Friend. Accidentally catching Arnold's eye while passing by his car, Connie is initially intrigued by her admirer. While home alone, Arnold unexpectedly arrives at her house and beckons her to come out for a ride with him to which she rejects. Consequently, Arnold abandons his friendly facade as he verbally threatens Connie and her family if she decides to call the police or does not comply with his requests. Therefore, in hopes of protecting her family, Connie surrenders to Arnold Friend.

In the short story, “Where are you going, where have you been”, by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie’s family refuses to accept her attempts to create an identity different from her older sisters; ultimately causing her to form repressed thoughts regarding her family and herself. These repressed thoughts become the motivating force behind Connie’s daydreams and implementation of her defense mechanisms, when confronted by Arnold Friend and Ellie. Once Connie recognizes her repressed thoughts regarding Arnold Friend, she undergoes reality anxiety. Although her efforts to escape Arnold Friend are futile, she uncovers the truth behind her newfound: that it was hollow and self-centered. Therefore, the short story, “Where are you going, where have you been”,

Arnold states, “There's your sister in a blue dress, huh? And high heels, the poor sad bitch—nothing like you, sweetheart!” (4), but how can a boy Connie met only once possibly know all the details of her family or even know where she lives? The explanation is simple: Connie knows all those details. Since Arnold is just an imaginary vision that Connie created, she uses details of her life that she knows, and ‘allows’ Arnold to recognize and recite them in her dream.