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Where Are You Going Arnold Friend Quotes

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Elia Bergquist Juan Espinoza EN102 23 February 2023 Where are You Going, What are Your Intentions? In the short story, “Where Have You Been, Where Are You Going?” Carol Joyce Oates creates a thriller of a story that leaves the reader with an unsettling feeling. The story revolves around the two main characters, Arnold Friend and Connie. While Arnold Friends’ true identity as an antagonist is never revealed in the story, there are several aspects of his character that can be explored to gain a better understanding of his role in the story such as his dialogue, actions, and intentions, as a threat. Arnold’s dialogue is the first part of his character development that we see. Immediately after pulling in the driveway Arnold makes a light hearted …show more content…

You use actions, and this is the next clue we look at in this story. Jumping back to the start of the story, Arnold comes to the house uninvited and uses charm as a way to lure her in. Connie describes him as having “shaggy, shabby black hair that looked crazy as a wig”(88). His physical appearance seems to be just as misleading as his dialogue. “Tight faded jeans stuffed into black, scuffed boots, a belt that pulled his waist in and showed how lean he was, and a white pullover shirt that was a little soiled and showed the hard small muscles of his arms and shoulders” (89). Connie mentions that he is dressed like all the rest of her aged boys which leads the reader to believe Arnold did this intentionally to deceive Connie. Body language plays an immense part on Connie, as Arnold performs his unsettling gazes at her. The first being with his sunglasses on. Connie thinks to herself how she cannot see where his eyes are actually looking. This adds to the feeling of danger that fills Connie’s head. While these are all MOSTLY harmless, Arnold gets infuriated towards the end of the story when Connie refuses to leave her house and grasps her arm in hopes that he can force her into his car. While grabbing her arm he says to her, “This place you’re at now, it isn’t your real home, you know that don’t you?” (95). This clearly shows Arnold violating Connie’s person as well as showing Arnolds eagerness to use physical methods to pursue the

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Arnold’s way of talking could possibly even have a sexual connotation that Connie does not pick up on because she’s young and oblivious to the world of sexual pleasures that Arnold lives in. Oates chooses words very carefully to show that Arnold is a devious snake. Connie sees Arnold many times as

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by sweet talking connie to come out with him to the car so he won’t have to come inside the house and so he stay domain. When connie want him to leave she do that by going inside the house and locking the door. “ no i just want you to leave and never come back”. Connie knew something was up and had a bad feeling about arnold when she keep saying no to the ride but he keep sweet talking her to get in the car with

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In the movie, however, Connie comes back home after her car ride with Arnold. It is assumed he does something malicious with her, but he returns her home. She states that he never come back to her house. Connie goes back in and is more welcoming to her family, especially her

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Character Analysis Of Arnold Friend In 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'

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However, Arnold is so much more than a stalker and smooth talker. Connie had withstood his defiling acts, but Arnold shattered that spirit. He saw through Connie as if she was see-through. Pet names and charming yet sinful words were practically sung into Connie's ears to seduce her out of her house. Connie let herself be swayed, not by will but by seduction and manipulation.

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The dilemma is he is obsessed with her. “Each stage of Arnold Friend’s unmasking and Connie’s resulting terror and growing hysteria is carefully delineated” (Barstow). The way Arnold acts towards Connie causes her to fear him. Oates characterizes him as a creepy stalker. “I’ll hold you so tight you won’t think you have to try to get away or pretend anything because you’ll know you can’t” (Oates).

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Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Arnold Friend Comparison

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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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In the story, Connie meets somebody who goes by the name Arnold Friend, who possesses many strange traits and contains an unnatural amount of knowledge about Connie. There has been much

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“A man has come for her, a rapist …” she says, then compares Connie’s fate to that of another story, by saying “Like Tarwater, Connie is about to be ‘raped by the devil himself. ’”(Oates). Not only does the author herself label Arnold as a “rapist” which would not be surprising, seeing that Arnold states “I’ll hold you so tight you won’t think you have to try to get away … because you’ll know you can’t. And I’ll come inside you where it’s all secret …” (Carol Oates 104) she also labels Arnold as “the devil”.

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Although at first glance Friend appears to be a young boy, upon further inspection one begins to realize that something is wrong. Several physical characteristics set Connie off and make her believe that Arnold Friend is no friend. “..she had the idea that he had driven up the driveway all right but had come from nowhere before that and belonged nowhere and that everything about him and even about the music that was so familiar to her was only half real.” Connie see’s that Arnold cannot walk. He stumbles and has to hold onto things to get around, making him appear older than he is.

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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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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

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Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Literary Analysis

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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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Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Arnold Friend Analysis

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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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Analysis Of Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

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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Examples Of Allusions In Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

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He mysteriously knows where Connie lives and invites himself to drive over to her house. Arnold assumes Connie’s friendship by convincing her that he knows everything and everybody, “I know your name and all about you” (Oates 201) when she never told him her name in the first place. He knew her friends, their names as well as what she did the night before. He also knew exactly where Connie’s family was, at a BBQ at Connie’s aunt Tille’s.

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