ipl-logo

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

1202 Words5 Pages

People’s desires can vary from person to person. Some want power, others want to find the love of their lives. However, getting what we want is difficult. People can go through their entire lives not fully receive their deepest longings. Some desires have consequences that can lead to terrible ramifications. The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” written by Joyce Carol Oates, is about the main character Connie and her life. Connie is self-centered, preoccupied with her looks to attract boys. She despises her parents and wishes that she could escape from her family. Freedom and men are what she desires most but sadly, sometimes people are not careful for what they wish for. Arnold Friend is an evil and a physical manifestation …show more content…

Connie is an average fifteen year old girl. Connie wants boys and freedom. Her conflict is what started her motives for what she wants. Connie feels trapped in her own home. She also does not think too highly of herself. Like most girls, she is interested in boys and infatuated with her looks. She “glances into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right” (Oates 305). As A.R Coulthard writes in her paper “Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” as Pure Realism” that Connie “like many teenagers, is in love with love” (507). Coulthard believes that she is too young to understand what love means and how it works, instead of thinking more of the shallow …show more content…

But the way he acts and looks draws many parallels to another known evil entity to what is known as the satyr. As Joan Easterly say is "The Shadow of a Satyr in Oate's `Where Are You Going, Where have you been?" it elaborates that satyrs are “notorious for their lechery, aggressive in their pursuit, and pastoral in their habitat” (538). Joan continues to make similarities between the satyr and Arnold Friend like how he uses music to get her attention. Making it seems like the music Arnold is using to charm or enchant into Connie; methods that satyr would use. His aggressive nature can be seen when he threatens Connie to come out of the house when everything he uses fails. Satyrs have similar attitudes of this behavior. The major point between Arnold Friend similarities to satyrs is that the devil is more interested in possession of human souls than the sexual attraction of Connie. Satyrs were more interested in sexual advances than the

Show More
Related

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Arnold Friend Symbolism

596 Words | 3 Pages

Arnold Friend a second time shows symbolic satan through character. Arnold Friends mesmeric influences of Connie further supports my contention that he represents as superhuman force “ Don’t you know who I can?...” he asks in an eerie fashion. Arnold Friend confronts Connie and trying to get her to ride with him, Connie refuses saying I don’t even know you. Arnold Friend showss symbolic satan through dialogue.

Read More

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Arnold Friend Comparison

1190 Words | 5 Pages

In the story, Connie looked at the phrase “man the flying saucers and she felt like “words meant something to her that she did not yet know” (p.) which if she was on drugs she might not be aware of the fact that what she is seeing is not real, but eventually when she is sober she will understand. The ambiguity of Arnold Friend leaves many unanswered questions for readers. Unless Joyce Carol Oates decides to reveal the real Arnold Friend, readers may never know if he was in fact the devil or just a figment of Connie’s

Read More

Arnold Friend In Where Are You Going

824 Words | 4 Pages

As many teens have been asked these same questions multiple times by their parents as well as Connie has, one could assume. She is fifteen with long blonde hair which seemed to draw everyone’s attention. Oates begins the story explaining how Connie was gawking at herself in the mirror, as just about any other ordinary fifteen-year-old girl would; and that’s just what Connie is portrayed to be, ordinary. She shows a mighty interest in boys, she knows that she is very beautiful. She’s superficial, very naïve, and self-centered.

Read More

Analysis Of Carol Joyce Oates Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?

1777 Words | 8 Pages

Carol Joyce Oates’ “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” presents how falling into temptation leads to giving up control and innocence. Though her mother is unapproving of her actions, Connie spends her time seeking attention from male strangers. Home alone, Connie is approached by a compelling creature who convinces her to leave her life and join him on his unknown journey. Through disapproving her family, having multiple appearances, listening to music, and her desperation to receive attention from boys, Connie gives up control of herself losing the purity of adolescents and contributing to her detrimental fate. It is imperative that one should not be controlled because of a desire to impress others.

Read More

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Connie Character Analysis

1325 Words | 6 Pages

Oates explains how Connie is always “dreaming about the boys she had met” and all the boys “dissolved into a single face…” which portrays her creating the perfect boy (Oates 2). Arnold knows Connie is desperate for love and he is willing to give it to her if she comes with him. Clifford J Kurkowski says in his article that Connie is “joining someone who… cares about her more than either of her parents or her sister has” which displays the isolation and neglect Connie had in her life (Kurkowski 5). Clearly, Arnold was the not the only one who had made Connie a victim. Her parents have prevented Connie from ever having that sense of care in her life and was always insulted and compared.

Read More

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Character Analysis Essay

670 Words | 3 Pages

Connie's choice of life style and attitude shows her lack of morals. Connie constantly has conflicts with her family. She is beginning to break away from them. Because the mother is jealous, she likes to put Connie's self esteem down: " Stop gawking at yourself. Who are you?

Read More

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Character Analysis Essay

792 Words | 4 Pages

Joyce Carol Oates’ short story, “Where are You Going, Where have You Been?” , shows how the devil used his tactics to trap and capture Connie. The devil worked in creating a predisposition in Connie that made her more susceptible to him. He deceived her in the beginning by showing her a false appearance. That false appearance only lasted a short while.

Read More

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Literary Analysis

1630 Words | 7 Pages

Throughout Joyce Carol Oates’s short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” , it is evident that the main character, Connie, a teenage girl who equates her beauty to self-worth and love to the attention she receives from strangers at a local restaurant, has some issues with herself. Constantly being torn between two different locations, her home, a place where she feels trapped, worthless, and unloved by her family, and a local town, where she feels calm and secure spending time with boys and listening to music, Connie is led to confusion over who she really is and this leads to an unstable identity. In the story, Oates’s uses the literary element of setting, including both Connie’s actions and feelings and the physical descriptions of both Connie’s house and the local town, to develop both Connie’s character and the theme of self-identity,

Read More

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Arnold Friend Character

890 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Literary Analysis

694 Words | 3 Pages

He knew her name even though she had only quickly glimpsed at him the night prior with no communication from her at all. He knows where her parents are, what they are doing, how long they will be, how they look he even knows who her best friends are. Essentially Arnold Friend is the very essence of nightmare to Connie he is everything she is afraid of. He pressures her in to a situation out of her control. He takes away her pride of rejecting people and forces her to choose her family being hurt of facing her demons and going with him.

Read More

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Arnold Friend Analysis

817 Words | 4 Pages

In Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Connie is a fifteen-year-old girl, who does not necessarily get along with her family. During the week, she often times goes to a shopping plaza with some of her friends. However, they sneak across the highway to go to a popular diner where the older crowd hangs out at. At home, Connie is often times arguing with her family. One day her family is invited to her aunt's barbecue but Connie refuses to go.

Read More

Character Analysis Of Connie In 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been'

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.

Read More

Literary Devices In Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

804 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Symbolism In 'Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?'

700 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Psychological Analysis

657 Words | 3 Pages

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).

Read More

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

Related Topics

Open Document