Who Is Arnold Friend?

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.

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

Within “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?” it is prevalent that Connie’s family is not religious. Through subtle hints such as the family barbecue that takes place on a Sunday, Oates intentionally tells the reader of the household’s religious status or lack thereof. Since there is not a religious central influence on Connie, she has

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

Yosselin Vazquez-Madera Mrs. Aldridge English 101 26 April 2024 “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” The story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates delves into the complications young children face when regarding their innocence, naivety, and the struggles to find their true identity. Oates presents the protagonist as Connie, a fifteen-year-old girl learning about her own identity and going through the complexities of being a teenager. The antagonist, Arnold Friend, is a grown man who disguises himself as a teenager to prey on the young, vulnerable, and innocent girl, Connie. This story symbolizes Connie’s transition from childhood to adulthood as her own innocence is being manipulated and stripped away by

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 created short story called, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been in order to portray the power of logical, emotional and ethical appeals have over people. She helps illustrate these appeals by using the character Arnold Friend to try to lure a girl named Connie.

The author Joyce Carol Oates mixes the literal, figurative, and psychological, symbol of the short story, “Where are you going, Where have you been?” to the point that it explains a more powerful meaning. From the readers understanding the mix is evident in Oates’s view of Connie and Arnolds double identities, “Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home”. Arnold was more of a satanic symbol. For example, Arnold stuffs his boots in order to appear taller and more attractive or to hide his cloven feet.

Joyce Carol Oates story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” can be interpreted in many ways. The character of Arnold Friend can be read as a “symbolic demon” whose access to Connie turns out to be the result of the immoral differences of the adults in the story. Arnold can represent Connie’s unconscious or alter ego, thus representing an uncontrollable nightmare or her fear of passage from adolescence to adulthood. Connie seems to be in an inward quest to find her own personal identity because she has been deprived by her family and society. Connie’s character belongs to a generation that was exposed to the simple realism of society without being exposed to fairy tales. The story of Connie suggest that women are exactly where their

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.

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

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.

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).

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

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.