Figurative Language In 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'

When authors write fictional pieces they have the creativity to embody many types of figurative language into their writing. Fictional authors use different types of figurative language including irony, similes, personification, and foreshadowing to make it easier for readers to dig deeper into the actual meaning of the piece. These rhetorical devices are seen in Joyce Oates, Ray Bradbury, and Kate Chopins’ short stories.
The short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Jayce Carol Oats is written with a main theme of reality versus fantasy. The author purposely includes the character Arnold Friend, who appears as a normal middle-aged man but is actually a demonic figure. The author purposely gives Arnold Friend physical characteristics

The simile incorporated in this piece of evidence tries to compare Arnold Friend to a typical drunk man. Throughout the short story, the character continues to wobble and lose his balance, just like if satan were to put his hooves in shoes. In addition to his characteristics, Arnold Friend seems like a demonic figure with his knowledge of many of the other characters' whereabouts. Connie states that her father will come home, but Arnold replies that he is not coming “he’s at a barbecue… [and there's] your sister in a blue dress, huh? And high heels” (Oates 71-71). At this point, in the short story, it is apparent that Arnold Friend is not an average person. Nobody can see exactly what everyone is doing and what they are wearing making it apparent Arnold is not a friend at all but a monster. The author also gives Arnold Friend the ability to alter one's thought process through music and his words. When Connie is around Arnold she felt “a wave of dizziness rise in her”

The author begins the short story with the parents walking “down the hall of their soundproofed, Happylife Home, which has cost them thirty thousand dollars installed” (Bradbury 255). There is irony with the house's name being the “Happylife Home” because as the story continues, readers quickly realize that this home is far from a happy home, but is the parent's biggest nightmare. With two wealthy parents and a thirty thousand dollar nursery come two spoiled children “more than most”(Bradbury 262) named “Wendy and Peter” (Bradbury 256). The names of these children given by the author were intentional, as the names of kids are an illusion to Peter Pan [film]. In this short story and in the film Wendy and Peter do not trust their parents and wish to never grow up. Additionally, the kids' names can also be seen as foreshadowing for the ending of the story. Furthermore, it is obvious that the parents strive on giving their kids everything they could need or want, but the house has turned into the children's “mother and father, far more important in their lives than their real parents” (Bradbury 262). Calling the house the children's mother and father is personification as the house has turned into a human. Throughout the story, the house