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Where You Going Where Have You Been Arnold Friend Character Analysis

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Connie’s vanity causes her make terrible choices about Arnold Friend.
The Trouble of being notice is blaming yourself if what you deserve is horrible things like getting unwanted attention someday you get what coming to you. In Joyce Carol Oates’s story “Where You Going, Where have you Been,” one of the protagonist Connie is a fifteen year old girl who wants to look and act like an arrogant child. She isn’t herself. Connie is just a girl who thinks looks matter, without looks she would be the girl she already is, which is nobody. Connie is one of many other girl “Who is insecure of herself and worries in checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right that she fits in with the crowd” (Oates 1).Connie’s mother who seems to know …show more content…

When Arnold came to the restaurant for the first time he didn’t know the real Connie. To Arnold was just it is girl who is chiefly considered as a desirable rather than a girl to take seriously. Connie is amazed with by the boy appearance with shaggy black hair, in a convertible jalopy (car) painted gold. Connie has dreamed about the boys she saw ever since she went to the restaurant and she believed she like. This wouldn’t have happened if Connie's aspect wouldn't have captured Arnold eyes. Both of these characters confuse their characteristics with a each other's perspective, love, or attraction. Connie vanity causes attention from Arnold Friend and all that is bad. Arnold Friend is the devil in “Where have you been,” it is supernatural and attraction to Connie vain. Arnold Friend to because her attractiveness she believes that she is is better than everybody else and puts people down like Arnold Friend her vanity causes Connie to think that she is superior than anybody, but is mistaken when Arnold wants …show more content…

One of the worst decision Connie could have ever made was going with Arnold on a ride it, let her vanity get the best of her. There is an exciting, intense climax, which is the most important point in a story. In the end, Connie situation may have caused many problems for her in the long run. Connie source of her problems revolves around her vanity, appearance, and maturity. The conflict in the story it that Connie is scared that Arnold might do something horrible to her or her family if she didn’t go on a ride with him who knows where. Nevertheless, Arnold was madly in love that he would find Connie to the ends of the world just to be with her. Connie should have gone with her family, therefore she could never go on a ride with Connie. Another conflict was that Arnold Friend was mentally abusing her, and said “You're my date. I'm your lover, honey." (Oates PG. 10) An absorbed thing to Connie virtually hinting he was going to rape her. The narrator did a pretty good job the fact that none of this wouldn’t have happened if Connie’s vanity and the troubles of being noticed. Connie’s vanity played a role in how she wants people to think she cared about the

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Maria Garcia Professor Galindo English 1302-NC8 6 November 2014 Where Did She Go, Where Was She Taken? “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” was written by author Joyce Carol Oates and published in 1966. This short story is about a fifteen year old girl named Connie who experiments with her sexuality and because of that, she thinks of herself as a mature adult rather than a naïve little girl who still has a lot of growing up to do. She ends up catching the attention of a man by the name of Arnold Friend who is the epitome of creepy. He comes to her home knowing everything there is to know about Connie, and through his fierce manipulation and crafty ways he gets her to come with him, where it can be assumed that she is going to be raped,

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That legacy is how he made others feel, and how he helps others accomplish their dreams” (3). Arnold explains to Connie how her life would be better if she goes with him rather than stay at home being bored and not having that much value to her parents. This demonstrates how Arnold falls under the characteristics of an alpha male where he seeks in providing Connie with a finer future. This is something that never crossed Connie’s head, since her parents at home never showed the guidance in thinking and preparing for a dreamy future.

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658 Words | 3 Pages

She views something as small as a car ride exciting and new because her family avoids giving her the opportunity to be in a situation where she can have adventures and feel love. At the end of the story, when Arnold is still trying to convince Connie to come in his car for a ride he tells her, “I’ll have my arms tight around you so you won’t need to try and get away and I’ll show you what love is like” (Oates 26) Arnold is only trying to provide Connie with the love she is lacking from her family. She does not know what love is and most of the time resents her family and the expectations she is expected to meet. Connie has never been close with anyone, so she does not understand how to give and receive

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Connie, the main character, strives to behave like an adult through her attitude, demeanor, and appearance. This mature façade allows her to attract boys, and yet, she is ignorant of repercussions and the reality of the social setting she lives in. Connie is complacent living in a fantasy world, but soon she is ensnared by the conniving antagonist, Arnold Friend, and

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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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However, this changes when Arnold together with a friend show up at Connie’s home while her parents are away. She realizes there is more to Arnold than meets the eye and that her life and that of her family could be in danger. An article written in an issue of life magazine in 1966

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The way Connie dressed attracted Arnold Friend, a much older guy that is bad news. He also said to Connie that he was her lover, in which the way she presented herself as a mature woman, could have made Arnold Friend think that Connie already knew what comes with being an adult. Connie’s appearance of trying to look older shows her immaturity of what being a mature adult really consist

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However, the “two-sidedness of Connie” are conflicted with the arrival of Arnold Friend. (Gillis

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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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Reluctantly, her parents allow her to stay home alone. A few hours later, a familiar gold jalopy pulls up to her house. The driver announces to Connie that his name is Arnold Friend. His unusual physical appearance, his tone of voice, and what he may symbolize frighten the Connie.

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Connie, a teenage girl, who thinks more of herself than the boy she went out with the evening before, and would rather be deceptive than live in reality. The illusive life Connie plays is made clear between her relationship with her mother, and the life she lives at home and away from home. “Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home:” (Oates 507). This dishonesty Connie plays with is a reflected back later in the story by the second main character of this story. Arnold FRIEND is introduced as a smooth very arrogant guy, yet the same illusory is illustrated between him and Connie once Arnold arrives at Connie’s house.

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Instead of realizing the danger that she was in, Connie was focused on what Arnold Friend was wearing and how attractive he was. Connie’s obsession with finding her own sexuality overpowered her gut feeling of danger. In an analysis of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, Barbara Wiedemann discusses how the antagonist Arnold Friend is based upon serial killer Charles Schmid, who murdered several young girls during the 1960s. In the analysis, Wiedemann

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He tries to seduce and persuade her to go with him for a ride similar to how the Devil lured Eve with a shiny and mysterious apple. Oates displays evidence of biblical allusions regarding Arnold Friend’s appearance and persona in the story by depicting his physical characteristics, his supernatural knowledge, and his demeanor as an image of evil. Connie wants to be desired for her sexuality and Arnold possesses this by his tone throughout the story. His appearance comes

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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.

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This interpretation of the story explains how Connie simply fell prey to the common theme of men acting as predators in society. Therefore, Connie had no say in her fate, so she just decided to go quietly with him. However, this theory completely disregards the psychological disorders that Connie has. Connie did not go quietly with Arnold because he was a dominating male. Instead, Connie left due to her numerous unconscious mental problems.

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