Arnold Friend, as friendly as he seems in the beginning, has the ability to persuade people into an estranged thought process. He is manipulative in his facts of conversation with Connie, who shows to eventually be easily coerced. Is it Connie’s immature weakness as a teenager or Arnold’s undoubted tactics that make her final decision to join him? In the beginning Connie is impressed with Arnold Friend. He was older and more mature. As a teenager, this is what she was attracted towards. She had dated older guys and was drawn in this same direction with him. Arnold starts the conversations by giving her complements and bragging about his car. He is trying to show Connie that they have the same interests.