Arnold Friend Essay

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. 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

In many stories, there may be symbols relating to the devil or a savior. In the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” the character Arnold Friend has many controversial views on whether he is a savior or satanic figure. As the main character in the story, Connie gets taken away by Arnold Friend to get raped. Although she gets raped, Tierce and Crafton argue that he is Connie’s savior because he is the “answer to Connie’s ‘unuttered’ call and to her ‘erotic’ desires”(Tierce, Crafton 222)

unexpected visitors. Oates uses symbolism throughout the short story to support her theme of evilness and sinfulness. There are many examples of symbolism being used in this story, with Arnold Friend being the most important symbol. 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

through the character Arnold Friend’s portrayal as a symbolic satan. Through subliminal revelations, Oates slowly expresses the true character of temptation in the form of Arnold Friend. Oates’s eerie introduction of Arnold can be utilized to extrapolate the true meaning of Arnold Friend’s name thus revealing its underlying satanic meaning. When the character Arnold first arrives at Connie’s house, it is stated, “This here is my name, to begin with, he said. ARNOLD FRIEND [...] I wanta introduce

In Joyce Carol Oates’ “short story” “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, a fifteen year old girl named Connie comes face-to-face with a man named Arnold Friend. Oates successfully portrays the similarities between Arnold Friend and the Devil through plot, setting, and characterization. Throughout the text, Oates shows the reader Arnold Friend’s characteristic sinister ability to draw in Connie and manipulate her through what she loves the most. The data reveals, “He lifted his friend’s arm

In Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” many critics argue whether the character of Arnold Friend, clearly the story’s antagonist, represents biblical Satan himself or a psychopathic stalker. Indeed, Arnold Friend could be an allegorical devil figure, the protagonist who lures Connie into riding off with him in his car, or, in the contrary, far more a grotesque portrait of a psychopathic killer masquerading as a teenager. However, he has all the traditional, sinister traits

Arnold Friend, Joyce Carol Oates's antagonist in "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a man that persuades Connie, the fifteen-year-old protagonist and target of Arnold's thirst, into abandoning her home, her family and succumbing to his power. Observed through the supernatural lens, Arnold Friend can be described as a malevolent force that displays many characteristics of a vampire. The story is third person (limited omniscient) told from Connie's point of view and Connie's dreadful introduction

Connie did not exactly understand how she found herself in the passenger seat of Arnold Friend’s gold-painted jalopy. All she knew was that just a few minutes ago, just a mile or two back home, just a tick and a tock away, she could feel her chest heaving and her stomach twisting right behind a screen door with her eyes staring right into Arnold Friend’s face. Now that she thought about it, she couldn’t remember what exactly he looked like, even if his face was only inches away from her own. Maybe

characters and also a protagonist is Arnold Friend, who is possibly

experience when she is confronted by Arnold Friend while at her home alone. She does however show great resilience in her uphill battle between her own desires and fears, swoon by this man and his mystery but terrified by the implications he makes. She makes a decision not of self-preservation but of selfless courage to protect her family whom she loves dearly. At this pivotal moment in the story one could agree with Tierce and Crafton as they suggest that Arnold Friend frees her of this mystery, of these