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Arnold Friend Character Analysis

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In “Where are you going, Where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates Connie, the main character, lives a life that leads to her despair. Joyce Carol Oates also makes it a point to comment multiple times on Connie’s beauty and how she is always dressed up. It does not matter if Connie is at home alone, or after she has snuck out of the house to a diner trying to get older boys, she always looks her best. Her “prince,” Arnold Friend, comes to her house to sweep her off her feet and does not give her the option to say no. Through his manipulative attitude and stalking, Arnold Friend knows Connie very well to where he shares characteristics with a famous American Serial Killer known as Charles Schmid also known as “The Pied Piper of Tucson.” This …show more content…

Feminist Joyce Carol Oates is well-known. With the help of her opinions, she develops a confident female figure who is also self-aware. Despite being self-assured in her appearance, Connie works hard to convey her maturity through her choice of attire, makeup, and seductive demeanor. Joyce Carol Oates employs feminism in the narrative to illustrate how women are perceived in society. Connie is a youthful, self-assured teen who is constantly self-conscious about her appearance because most guys prefer to date women who are attractive, wear lovely clothes, and apply makeup. In society, women are expected to appear their best at all times.“The fact that one of Connie's main concerns in life is picking up guys may imply that too many women make finding a man their primary goal in life” (Wilber). This is true because females spend most of their time trying to look pretty for a male's approval in hopes of finding someone to settle down with and build a life. But, when Connie goes out she is not going out to get to know the guys better, she is just going out to see and talk to cute boys. This symbolizes women’s sexual desires to men and how they start a relationship based on features. In the story, it talks about how all the faces …show more content…

He is “The Pied Piper of Tucson” who is known for being a manipulative serial killer who lures his victims away to rape and kill them. A few similarities between the two starts with their appearance. Charles Schmid is a short man who stands at about 5’2 and “Schmid stuffed rags and tin cans into his black leather boots to appear a few inches taller” (Quirk 414). It is not specified what is stuffed in Arnold Friends boots, but as Connie was taking in his appearance, she noticed that his feet did not seem to be all the way in his shoe. Another similarity that they share is their age range. Charles Schmid was just 23 years old when he murdered his first victim.When Connie first meets Arnold's Friend in the book, she notices that he seems a little older than he claims to be. Connie believes that while he claims to be eighteen, he appears to be approximately thirty. He might be, or he might be exactly the same age as Schmid, but can a teenager truly tell someone's age just by looking at them? Even while some claim that Arnold Friend is nothing more than a representation of Satan, it is difficult to dispute that this character served as the model for her antagonist when comparing the two characters' attributes. Oates even goes so far as to give Arnold's acquaintance a fake ole to draw a contrast. Writing her story in only realist terms, Joyce Carol Oates. Although Connie and Arnold

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The short story “Where Are you Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates brings a dark transition of a child to an adult. Connie, the main character, is a young girl with all the care-free worries of someone her age. She day-dreams about romance and love through the popular songs on the radio, spends evenings with friends at the local shopping mall and dive diner, and flirts with boys. Like many girls her age, Connie seems to sleep-walk through life, dancing to a tune that only she can hear or understand. But this is cut away when she meets a stranger named Arnold Friend.

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In Joyce Carol Oats “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been,” we are introduced to two main characters. The names of the two main characters are Connie and Arnold Friend. In Oates’s short story, Arnold Friend is an imposter that tries to convince young Connie to go on a ride with him and his friend Ellie. Connie refuses to go on the ride but Arnold’s use unnatural techniques to force Connie to leave her house and go with him. Arnold Friend’s awareness of Connie’s family and friends and his ability to persuade Connie reveals that he is more than just a creepy old man trying to kidnap a young girl.

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In Joyce Carol Oates fictional short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” the majority of the story lies beneath the surface. More specifically than just the story, you realize that there is more to the character Arnold Friend than what may appear. The author has always remained silent and ambiguous about the real meaning of Arnold Friend’s true nature and she leaves room for the readers to make their own interpretation of him. Readers can analyze Arnold Friend and see him as the devil, he could just be the personification of popular music imagined by Connie in a dream, but Arnold Friend could also be the result of drug use.

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In the short story, “Where are You Going, Where have You Been?,” Joyce Carol Oates provides an account of a typical fifteen-year-old girl whose days are spent disregarding her parents, hanging out with her friends, and daydreaming about boys. That is, until she meets Arnold Friend. The story takes an unexpected turn soon after the ironically named character is introduced. Eventually, Arnold Friend’s cunning deception leads to Connie’s unanticipated demise.

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“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” is an intriguing short story by Joyce Carol Oates that leaves readers to delve into their own interpretations of what truly happened in the story. As a matter of fact, the last section of Oates’ story is what has caused the most discussion as Connie’s fate is at the mercy of a sinister man known as Arnold Friend. Furthermore, the fact that the story ends without a clear explanation of who Friend was only adds to the mystery as the reader does not know what exactly happened to Connie or if she was only having a dream. This paper will decipher the author’s message, analyze the characters of Arnold Friend and Ellie, and deduce Connie’s fate. Oates’s main message in her short story is exactly pinpointed

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However, this is countered when Connie notes that “he was much older—thirty, maybe more” (315), a fact that frightens her. What Arnold is to Connie is a challenge of her want to be an adult, and a trail of her ability to deal with adult issue. Such as a man who singles her out sexual reason. Her wish to be an adult is something she seeks while passively avoiding it. Her avoidance is marked by day dreams of puppy love romance, like a typical teenager; yet, her attractive flaunt to be mature is presented as if she seeks to be an

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“She cried out, she cried for her mother, she felt her breath start jerking back and forth in her lungs as if it were something Arnold Friend was stabbing her with again and again with no tenderness.” (Oates 8). This quote stated in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates shows the capture of Connie by Arnold Friend. Connie’s actions that lead up to her capture are mainly caused by her insecurities which are prevalent through these actions. Her deep-rooted insecurities influence her decisions, actions, and the way she appears to others, which ultimately leads up to the development of the story.

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Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oats is a short story that is based on a true event that happened in the 1960’s. The allegory came from the man named Charles Schmid, who was a serial killer in which he was known for his ability to get the girls to fall for him. As for the story, Connie, the protagonist, wants to grow up and live in a fast pace and experience adulthood. She soon meets up with a guy named Arnold Friend, the antagonist, who is in search of finding someone to kill or looking for another innocent soul to take. In terms of the story, the author uses a type of writing that differentiates what is reality versus fantasy by using the literary devices of symbolism of Arnold Friend, setting of the music Connie

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Oates’s biography explained her fiction writing as a mixture violence and sexual obsession. The writing style definitely fits the plot point of this story with both of her literary ingredients being present in not only Arnold Friend but in Connie as well. The Protagonist Connie is presented in a very self-centered way. She is obsessed with her looks and often fantasizes about all the boys she meets.

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In Joyce Carol Oates's short story, “Where are you going, and where have you been?” , there is a character named Connie. Connie is a fifteen-year-old girl who believes she is one of the most beautiful girls. She is a rebellious teen who argues with her mother. The relationship between her and her mother is very rocky.

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1203 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the story, there are many instances: the illogical time and settings, the similarity between Arnold and Connie and the unrealistic events show that the meeting between Connie and Arnold Friend is a dream. The dream is also a preparation for Connie before she steps onto the stage of being an adult. Connie’s dream begins when she refuses to go to her aunt’s house for barbecue party. She stays home, and under the warmness of the sun, she begins her day dreaming about love and the boy she has met the night before. In the beginning, the author writes “Connie sat with her eyes closed in the sun…”

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1399 Words | 6 Pages

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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Machiavelli wrote a book called The Prince, which portray his views on how the Italian government should be. His ideal government was focused on power and success. What I think is that he is right to a certain extent. With a government there needs to be balance of power, success, and care of the people. Power is good because the nation is able to protect it's inhabitants.

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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.

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The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates can be interpreted in a multitude of ways due to its ambiguity. A psychological lens, however, provides the most accurate viewpoint for analyzing the story as it clarifies certain obscure scenes and actions of Connie. One psychological issue of Connie that is easily inferred from the beginning of the story is her insecurity about her looks. Connie constantly worries about the way that she looks and takes any opportunity to do so, “craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right” (1).

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