Who Is 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

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.

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.

Oates, Joyce C. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 2nd ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008. 421-32. Print.

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

Joyce Carol Oates plays upon the stereotypic female gender role through her adolescent character, Connie, in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” The story was written at a significant time in America’s history. It was a season when social and moral conventions were challenged. This period experienced the rise of women struggling for sexual freedom and gender equality in a patriarchal society. Oates portrays the protagonist, Connie, as naive, unaware and inexperienced; she has yet to find her identity and fully understand her place as a women in the world. She believes she has learned to play the game of the sexes and that she has the upper hand. This belief, though, is quickly subverted when she is confronted by Arnold Friend, a man who works to reinforce patriarchal standards by punishing Connie for acting outside stereotypic female role boundaries, she then realizes as a women, she has very little power.

The main character in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is Connie, the daughter of the family. She has a non-existent relationship with her father as Oates proclaims, “he was away at work

In the story of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” the main character Connie, is always caught up in her appearance. She is nothing like her sister who is said to be the “perfect” child. The mother always says how she wishes she could be like her sister, and Connie wishes that she and her mother were dead. Connie’s friend’s father drives them to a shopping plaza but they always end up going to a restaurant and meet with boys. She then finds a boy named Eddie where she eats with him and goes to an alley with him, where Connie sees a man say to her, “Gonna get you,

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

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.

There are some stories that capture the reader’s attention and which keep us riveted from the beginning to the ultimate line of the tale. ‘’Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’’, a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates in 1966, is one of those. Inspired by the mythic song of the phenomenal singer Bob Dylan entitled ‘’It’s all over Now, Baby Blue,’’ the author describes the main character as a 15-year-old girl named ‘’ Connie’’, who is obsessed by her beauty and does not get along with her family. The heroine of the story ‘’Connie,’’ engages in an adolescent rebellion against her entourage by acting to appear older. This increases her vulnerability through the story and at the end

Connie did not leave her house of her own free will. Supernatural or not, Arnold Friend’s forced her to come with him. One could say that Connie left of her own free will due to Arnold Friend giving her a choice, but the choice her family in danger, making it not much of a choice at all. The aforementioned choice is between leaving with him or him hurting Connie’s family: “...You come out here and give me your hand, and nobody gets hurt, I mean, your nice old bald-headed daddy and your mummy and your sister…” (Oates 416). Arnold Friend continues to threaten Connie’s family, but he twists his words to make it sound like she has a choice. He says, “You don’t want [your family] to get hurt. Now get up, honey. Get up all by yourself” (Oates 418).

Joyce carol Oates makes her mark on the cultural reform taking place in the 1960's with her short story "Where are you going, where have you been." A story about a young girl named Connie, and her exploration of sexuality and independence. Throughout the story we learn of her late night adventures, her disdain for her mother, and her very close off relationship with her father. “He didn't bother talking much to them, but around his bent head Connie's mother kept picking at her until Connie wished her mother was dead and she herself was dead and it was all over." The story is also dedicated to Bob Dylan, who bares a striking resemblance to the antagonist Arnold Friend. However, in interviews, Oates simply said that Dylan’s song “It’s all over

I Know Where I’ve Been, But Not Where I’m Going Every adolescent passes through stages of anger, lust, and a deep desire for belonging in a social group. Adolescents struggle with the transition of being a sheltered child to growing into a mature adult in a world where no one watches over them any longer. Because this phase of life is so complex, few stories can accurately show these feelings from an outside perspective. However, capturing all of these emotions is exactly what Joyce Carol Oates accomplishes in her most famous short story.

Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” begins with the introduction of it’s main character, Connie, a fifteen year- old girl. Oates makes Connie’s vanity