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

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“Where are you Going, Where have you Been” by Joyce Carol Oates is a short story that tells of the horrors that are possible when a child is rebellious and secretive. The story’s action begins when the main character, Connie, secretly visits a restaurant when she said she was in the movies, here she sees a man and he waves at her. Later, the same man shows up to her house when her family isn’t home and is trying to convince her to ‘go for a ride’ with him, and the reader learns his name is Arnold Friend. Connie talks to him for a bit, and eventually is manipulated into going with him, and it is assumed that Arnold kills her. Arnold Friend is a creepy, demanding older man, and his true personality is highlighted by the way the author writes …show more content…

One major clue as to who Arnold really is, is that he was at the restaurant, a popular place for teenagers to hang out (Oates 1). This makes it seem like he was at the restaurant specifically to find a young girl to manipulate, which was most likely the case. He is also faking his whole demeanor when he is at Connie's house, which is proven by the author writing “He stood there so stiffly relaxed, pretending to be relaxed” (Oates 5). His actions are all insincere in the beginning, and this is revealed later when his demeanor begins to change. He starts to threaten Connie, demanding that he comes with her or he will hurt her family (Oates 8). As well as this, he threatens to come inside if she calls the police, promising “not to come in unless you touch that phone” (Oates 7). In saying this, he is being manipulative towards Connie, scaring her out of calling the police. These actions show the reader his true colors, that he is a strange, demanding, manipulative man. Oates’s story teaches an extremely important lesson to young girls. This story can teach people not to be so secretive, and also to be weary of anybody that you do not know well, no matter how friendly they seem at first. These lessons are taught mostly through the way antagonist of the story, Arnold Friend, is written by the author. Arnold is a creepy, manipulative, and demanding man, but he pretends as if he is not. The author used his name, speech, appearance, and actions to show that a person is not always what they appear to

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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

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Wickedness and malevolence is afoot in the stories “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates and “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor. The antagonists are both men, Arnold Friend and Manley Pointer, who take advantage of women. However, one of these men is more malicious than the other. This man is Arnold Friend from “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” because his intentions with the young woman, who is a minor, appear to be much more evil and daunting than that of Manley Pointer from “Good Country People”.

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Slowly as she begins to notice things about Friend that aren’t right, Connie starts to see more adult like. She starts to notice that he’s not a teenager, but a lot older, and that he is not a friend but far more evil. When Arnold says, “I’m your lover honey…you don’t know what this is, but you will” (Oates 348), Connie falls into shock and starts panics. She tries to break from him, but his slick talk prevents her from doing so. Forcing Connie to come out, Connie is fenced in Arnolds trap.

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The story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, is a one where the idea of how girl who struggles with wanting to be a mature woman, faces her demon full form. The protagonist of the story is Connie, a 15-year-old rebel girl, obsessed with her look; and through fault of her own, meets the antithesis of herself, the antagonist of the story, Arnold Friend. Connie seeks to be a mature adult and desires an emancipation from her family. Seeing herself as mature woman through the desires of her attraction by other boys and men, as well as her mother. Its this same desire which acts as the main fault for her character.

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The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” was written by the author Joyce Carol Oates in 1966. Oates describes her idea for the story after briefly reading an article about the real-life murderer, Charles Schmid, who lured and murdered three teenage girls (Kirszner & Mandell 523). She uses this idea to create the character, Arnold Friend, and his victim, Connie. Connie is a typical teenage girl portrayed as naïve and self-centered. The short story appears realistic, given that the conflict in the story is based off of real events.

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She sees the boys who give her attention as subjugations who “dissolve into a single face that was not even a face but an idea” (Oates 675). But soon enough her dreams and music materialize into the shape of Arnold Friend. Arnold Friend is described as a muscular, older, and mysterious character. He seems to be a work of her imagination as he is ultimately an idea she created that would fit into her perfect fantasy world. Connie is defenseless to Arnold Friend’s manipulations mainly because she has no visible identity of her own.

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In Joyce Carol Oates’s short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” the main protagonist finds herself in a very hostile situation. With an all most fateful encounter with a man known as Arnold Friend. Forcing her to choose whether to run off with him or taking her by force. This man known as Arnold Friend to the reader comes off as almost a demon. A person who uses many temptations, word play, and threats to take advantage of the young protagonist Connie.

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This clairvoyance also points to the fact that he may be a demonic creature. Connie never actually tells Arnold her name but he somehow already knows it. The last detail that points to Arnold being a demonic being is his mind control over Connie. For some reason she is unable to dial for the police.

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The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is about a teenage girl named Connie who is in the mist of her adolescent rebellion. She wants to prove her maturity to others and herself. In the story, Oates describes that Connie always lets her mind flow freely in between her daydream. She even creates and keeps dreaming about her ideal male figure in her mind to make her happy and satisfied. Oates allows the reader to step into Connie’s “dream world” through the appearance of Arnold Friend.

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That also made her become more vulnerable to the real dangers and the evilness that exists in the world. That danger was represented by an old man who pretends to be an eighteen year old boy that seduced and kidnaped Connie. The end of the story Joyce Carol Oates leaves it open to the readers, because that way it makes the reader think of what might have happened, whether she got raped or whether she is killed, after the main character leaves with the antagonist of the story. Oates shows that ignorance, narcissism and the lack of

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They all Just Went Away PAST Purpose: Joyce Carol Oates purpose for writing this personal narrative was share an experience from her youth that has affected her to this day. She recalls back to her younger years where one family was subjected to seemingly endless criticism and judgement solely based on rumors then transitions to her interactions with a member of that family many years later. She discusses how she believed the rumors to be true at one point even though there was no evidence to support them. Oates sought to illustrate the effect of rumors and the validity of that information on the subject at hand.

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984 Words | 4 Pages

“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.

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Arnold Friend’s Biblical Allusions In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Joyce Carol Oates tells a story of a young, innocent teenage girl, Connie who enjoys listening to music and begins exploring her sexuality and being with boys “the way it was in the movies and promised in songs” (Oates 198). In fact she catches the attention of Arnold Friend one night while at the mall meeting up with a boy. Not knowing he would appear in her life, Arnold strangely shows up at her house assuming they made plans to get together. His character is seen as the devil.

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In her short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", Joyce Carol Oates utilizes a variety of literary devices to strengthen the story in its entirety. This short story is essentially about a 16-year-old girl named Connie and the conflict between her desire to be mature and her desire to remain an adolescent. Throughout the story, the audience sees this conflict through her words in addition to through her behavior. The audience is also introduced to Arnold Friend, a rather peculiar man, who essentially kidnaps her. This short story by Joyce Carol Oates functions and is additionally meaningful because of her usage of literary devices.

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In the coming of age story “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates uses symbolism, conflict, and the third person to foreshadow fifteen-year-old Connie’s unfortunate, yet untimely fate. While one may think that the conflict stems from Connie’s promiscuity, it is clear to see her promiscuity is only a result to a much bigger conflict, her mother’s constant nagging and disapproval, alongside the lack of attention from her father. the author paints a vivid picture of what happens when a fifteen-year-old girl such as Connie goes elsewhere to find to find the love, attention, and approval that she lacks at home. All which is vital for her growth and wellbeing as a person.

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