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

Arnold Friend’s character was thought to symbolize the devil coming to take Connie because she wandered too far down the path of a sinner. Symbolism is a crucial part of the story because it helps the reader read between the lines and see beyond the obvious meanings of things. Some will argue that Arnold Friend symbolizes the serial killer Charles Schmid, but Oates makes it very clear that Arnold Friend is a symbol of the devil. According to History.com, Joyce Carol Oates was born On June 16, 1938, in Lockport New York.

According to McCabe and Wauchope “The most common type of relationship was that of a stranger, with 55/130 or 42% of rapist selecting a stranger as their victim” (239). While some psychopathic serial rapists may pick someone close to them or someone they know, that is not the case with Arnold Friend. In Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Oates uses Arnold Friend’s stalker tendencies, use of Connie’s weaknesses, and deceiving looks to allow us to view Friend as a psychopathic serial rapist who has committed similar prior crimes. Throughout the story, Connie wants to grow up so quickly and have the attention that she thinks she wants but in reality it is nothing she could ever imagine and by doing this Oates shows

He is wearing a disguise to cover his devilish attributes. The Devil is known for having horns, wings, hooves, and other characteristics. AF must hide these from Connie to make sure he looks just like a normal boy. As Arnold first arrives at Connie’s house, she notices his “shabby black hair that looked crazy as a wig” (par. 16). The Devil has horns sprouting out of his head, and Arnold is trying to hide these horns by wearing a wig.

Arnold truly is devoted in his own twisted mind to getting ahold of Connie

Arnold Friend was there to take Connie away; away from her childhood and home, which never quite felt like home until her fantasy world deteriorated and reality set it. The next moment is pivotal, this is when Connie forgets her hedonism and becomes something of much more substance. Before Connie studies Arnold Friend’s abnormal personality and erratic behavior she is fascinated by him and even worries that she is ill prepared for this

As we know, the devil was jealous of the God, so by calling Connie his lover, he was gaining his own bride. Also, on 325, Arnold verbalizes “This place you are now- inside you daddy’s house- is nothing but a cardboard box I can knock down any time.” In other words, homogeneous to Satan, Arnold had an abundance of power to make you question the existence of good things, such as as a savior or

As stated earlier, the author herself described the true events that she based the story on in a published article from the New York Times. Arnold Friend should not be referred to as the devil because he has no real knowledge of her family, but instead he just made a lucky guess that they were not home or he could have easily gathered the information through his own observations (Wiedemann 173). There are many elements of symbolism and examples of similes that make the story more interesting and give it a deeper meaning and overall, it is realistic and based on actual events that

An antagonist like Arnold has surpassed the typical traits of a killer or a psychopath, or some combination of both; he lives in a disguise that distorts his appearance and behavior. He becomes a Satan-like figure, arriving in his gold car and honking "as if this were a signal Connie knew" (Oates, “Where” 142) like a demonic second coming. Arnold, a physical manifestation of evil, sees the weaknesses in the flirtatious, carefree identity Connie presents to him. Brenda Daly suggests that the shiny exterior of the van summarizes the identity of Arnold, stating that the exciting, intriguing person he seems to be is nothing more than a false identity (34). By using Arnold to represent the devil, Oates is quietly commenting on the duality of everyday life, saying that the world is full of people like Arnold who are pretending to be something they are

Ar no friend, the guy she ignored at the mall. An old fiend, would in fact be Arnold himself at the mall giving her fiendish looks. And arch fiend, the latter being another name for Satan. Symbolism is also found with Ellie Oscar.

It is quite possible that Connie has just invented Arnold Friend based on her love of music, at one point in the story it seems like Connie is falling asleep while listening to XYZ Sunday Jamboree and all of the sudden Arnold Friend shows up coincidently listening to the same thing. Instead of saying Arnold Friend knows Connie’s name and many things about her because he is the devil, you could say that Arnold Friend knows all of that because he is described as

How could he possibly know about the old lady and the chickens if she is already dead or not around for him to get access to that kind of information? Since he's not there to observe these occurrences that he is bringing up, this leads me to believe that he has abilities and powers similar to ones that the devil would possess. He could also be deceiving Connie with information that can appear as accurate and truthful but knows he is lying. In the Bible, it writes, “Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (Kail 1), referring to the

The strongest villain we have encountered in literature thus far is Arnold Friend. Premiering in Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where are you going, where have you been,” Arnold Friend is inspired by a true story. In 1960, there was a man that preyed on young girls in Arizona, later called the “Pied Piper of Tucson.” Although this man wore obviously fake makeup and clothes, he befriended the young teenage girls with his charm and sweet talk. Similar to the real man, Arnold Friend is a character that talks his way out of every question he is asked by everyone. Arnold Friend is a man of deception, hiding behind his disguise as a teenage boy, whose charisma allows him to get what he wants.

In the story "Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?", Joyce Carol Oates does an outstanding job on creating an element of bone chilling and goosebumps when reading it. Arnold Fiend, or as he likes to introduce to people as Friend, is a demon in disguise as he represents himself as goat like by his appearance, how he knows everything about Connie, the 15 year old protagonist, even when he just met her, and by how his car symbolizes himself and religion too. Simple things in the story like numbers and flies can mean more than what they are. Arnold Friend first appears when Connie is hanging out with her friends and a guy named Eddie, who is giving her attention just as she likes it.

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” is about a teenager named Connie who is trying to come to terms with her transformation from childhood to adulthood. Through this process, Connie attempts to act older than she is an tries to gain the attention of boys. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Oates portrays Connie as obsessed with men to symbolize how one’s obsession and narcissistic attitude can cause danger to seem surreal. In the short story, Carol Oates describes Connie as having two different personalities, one being a narcissistic attitude.

He knew her name even though she had only quickly glimpsed at him the night prior with no communication from her at all. He knows where her parents are, what they are doing, how long they will be, how they look he even knows who her best friends are. Essentially Arnold Friend is the very essence of nightmare to Connie he is everything she is afraid of. He pressures her in to a situation out of her control. He takes away her pride of rejecting people and forces her to choose her family being hurt of facing her demons and going with him.