Arnold Friend Analysis

984 Words2 Pages

The loss of Innocence Through Arnold Friend
In her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates portrays the loss of innocence into adulthood of a self absorbed fifteen year old girl, Connie, through the demonic antagonist,Arnold Friend, created through internal and external events. The story takes place in a suburban area, in Connie's family home or the local mall where Arnold Friend and Connie meet. Some of the more critical events are internal; these events are given intensity, suspense and climax through the syntax and style employed by Oates.
In the story, Connie is a rebellious teenager who is captivated by music and boys, focusing on how she looks and disregards her family. She spends her time at a local …show more content…

Arnold Friend is a demonic antagonist whose name is symbolic of the devil, having an allegorical meaning, when you drop the r’s you get “An old fiend” giving it affiliation with one of the devils many names, who met in the beginning of the story with Connie at a local teenager hangout spot. He creates tension and makes an X sign with his hand in the air marking Connie as his victim, while she is on a date with another teenager. Arnold Friend shows up to Connie’s house and tries to entice her outside of her house so he can take her innocence away and make her an adult. “Yes, I’m your lover. You don't know what that is but you will.” Arnold Friend comes to take Connies innocence and life into adulthood as Arnold Friend but, there are plot elements throughout the story pointing towards Arnold Friend being a demonic adversary of Connie. Arnold Friend has a dark complexion but not from being tan, his boots do not fit correctly pointing at the fact that he doesn't have real feet, and he could not come into the house to get connie without being invited in like the devil. The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is told through the protagonist Connie around the events of her loss of innocence through the demonic figure, Arnold Friend. The story is created surrounding true events of a murder of a young girl through the creative style and syntax of Joyce Carol Oates. Connie is caught in the sights of Arnold Friend and withstands mental and physical obstacles until her innocence is

Show More
Related

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

    1959 Words  | 4 Pages

    "Connie, don't fool around with me. I mean—I mean, don't fool around," he said, shaking his head. He laughed incredulously. He placed his sunglasses on top of his head, carefully, as if he were indeed wearing a wig…” (Oates 6). Joyce Carol Oates’ short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” highlights an altercation, meeting, conflict and dispute between a teenage girl, named Connie, and a psychotic rapist named Arnold Friend. Throughout their altercation, Arnold Friend tempts and encourages Connie to get in the car with him and lead her to a variety of possible dangerous situations, one of which includes her getting raped . There is no doubt that Joyce Carol Oates’ uses Arnold Friend in her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” to symbolize the Devil and embody all of the evil and sinister forces that are present in our world. This becomes apparent when the reader focuses on how deranged Arnold Friend is and begins to

    Read More

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

    1187 Words  | 3 Pages

    Arnold Friend, one of the two main characters in the short story “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been” written by Joyce Carol Oates, is looked upon as a controversial character. Friend has many distinct character traits, but it is often argued whether those traits are good or bad. Some view Friend as a savior figure, while others see him as a satanic representation. Throughout the story, Oates uses many symbols to convey Friend’s character. Arnold Friend is portrayed as a savior through the symbolic usage of music, cars, and clothing.

    Read More

  • Temptation in Where Are You Going , Where Are you Been?

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    The narrator implies that Arnold Friend is Satan by giving certain clues that the reader can easily deduce. The name that Oates gives to the character is one hint to the reader: “Connie looked away from Friend's smile to the car, which was painted so bright it almost hurt her eyes to look at it. She looked at the name, Arnold Friend. She looked at it for a while as if the words meant something to her that she did not yet know” (583). The name “friend” was commonly used by the Protestants to refer to evil or the devil. Moreover, Arnold Friend's appearance also hints that he is Satan: “There were two boys in the car and now she recognizes the driver: he had shaggy, shabby black hair that looked as a crazy wig”(583). The narrator emphasizes the “wig” to make the reader think that he is wearing it for a purpose, which is hide his devil’s horns. Also, the fact that Arnold Friend's eyes are covered is another stragedy use by Oates to confirm the assumption of the diabolic presence: “ He took off the sunglasses and she saw how pale the skin around his eyes was it, like holes that were not in shadow but in...

    Read More

  • Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Loss Of Innocence Essay

    470 Words  | 1 Pages

    Joyce Carol Oates’s short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” clearly illustrates the loss of innocence adolescents experience as they seek maturity, represented by Connie's dangerous encounter with Arnold Friend. Connie symbolizes the many teens that seek independence from their family in pursuit of maturity. Connie’s great desire to grow up is apparent from the beginning of the story, as she experiments with her sexuality. However, it is clear that Connie is not interested in pursuing a relationship, but relishes the maturity she feels after being with the opposite sex. After following a boy to his car, she was “gleaming with a joy that had nothing to do with Eddie or even this place” (2). This suggests that Connie's exploits

    Read More

  • Reality is Like A Dream in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates

    1504 Words  | 4 Pages

    Joyce Carol Oates intrigues readers in her fictional piece “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by examining the life of a fifteen year old girl. She is beautiful, and her name is Connie. Oates lets the reader know that “everything about her [Connie] had two sides to it, one for home, and one for anywhere but home (27). When Connie goes out, she acts and dresses more mature than she probably should. However, when she is at home, she spends the majority of her time absorbed with daydreams “about the boys she met”(28). This daydreaming behavior is observable to the reader throughout the story. From theories about dreams, theories about subconscious thought, and the clues that Oates provides, the reader is lead to believe that Connie’s experience with Arnold Friend is a nightmare used to awaken her to the consequences that her behavior could result in.

    Read More

  • Archetypes In Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

    536 Words  | 2 Pages

    Arnold Friend could possibly be a symbol of the devil. Friend tries to be kind and tells Connie he will take care of her and everything to try and get her to come with him. Oates says, “His whole face was a mask, she thought wildly, tanned down onto his throat…”; this could symbolically be connected with the devil. The devil would never be out in the open he would be in disguise. McManus also talks about how Friend is related with the devil. “Friend’s suggestion is that if Connie’s house was on fire, that she would run out to him, may also suggest symbolism. Fire being associated with devil.” This is a great symbol of Friend and the devil because fire is most definitely associated with the

    Read More

  • Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates

    1146 Words  | 3 Pages

    Arnold Friend’s layers of deception. Connie’s blindness is the pretext of her loss of innocence

    Read More

  • Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

    1230 Words  | 3 Pages

    Joyce Carol Oates' short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" written in the late sixties, reveals several explanations of its plot. The story revolves around a young girl being seduced, kidnapped, raped and then killed. The story is purposely vague and that may lead to different interpretations. Teenage sex is one way to look at it while drug use or the eerie thought that something supernatural may be happening may be another. The story combines elements of what everyone may have experienced as an adolescent mixed with the unexpected dangers of vanity, drugs, music and trust at an early age. Ultimately, it is up to the reader to choose what the real meaning of this story is. At one point or another one has encountered, either through personal experience or through observation, a teenager who believes that the world is plotting against them. The angst of older siblings, peer pressure set upon them by their friends, the need for individualism, and the false pretense that at fifteen years of age, they are grown are all factors which affect the main character in this story.

    Read More

  • Arnold Friend Symbolism

    349 Words  | 1 Pages

    Arnold Friend represents Satan tempting Connie to sin. Throughout the encounter, he “wobbled in high boots” to hide his hoofs; in fact, one “was at a strange angle, as if his foot wasn’t in it” (6-7). He smiles “from inside a mask” that does not cover past his neck (7). Furthermore, he mutters a “spat curse,” and “this ‘Christ!’ sounded forced” (7). He tries to appear human through a disguise and common language, but he has difficulty merely saying the name of his powerful enemy. As he attempts to lure her into sin, his smile that “assured her that everything was fine,” and his creepy, “lurching”

    Read More

  • Biblical Allusion in Joyce Carol Oates' Story "Where are You Going? Where Have You Been?"

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oates uses a great number of symbols in her short story "Where are you going? Where have you been? to create an aura of unease and Devilishness. Her principal symbols are Arnold Friend, his disguise, and the music Connie listens to. Oates' use of symbolism and Biblical allusions to Satan force the reader to raise an eyebrow to the character of Arnold Friend and the doomed future of Connie.

    Read More

  • Arnold Friend Archetypes

    988 Words  | 2 Pages

    Arnold Friend is an important character in Connie’s story because he is one of the main reasons she goes undergoes a change. In short, while Connie is going through a teenage phase of exploring sexuality, he comes to Connie’s house to take her with the intention of raping her. More importantly he is portrayed with some of devilish appearances and behavior, to stress the idea of the situation Connie has gotten into and the meaning of her transition. The devil archetype is seen as an evil character that embodies devil characteristics as well as tempting the protagonist with things that will ruin their soul. Thesis Statement!!!! Some evidence that Arnold Friend is the devil incarnate are the facts that he does not cross threshold, he seems to be all-knowing and he has to tempt and persuade Connie to leave with him.

    Read More

  • Arnold Friend Symbolizes the Devil in Where are you Going, Where Have you been? by Joyce Carol Oates

    519 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the story “Where are you Going, Where Have you been?” Joyce Carol Oates tells us about a fifteen year old girl named Connie. Connie is confronted by a young man who is trying to persuade her to take a ride with him. He introduces himself as Arnold Friend and kindly asks her to come with him but she refused. He then threatens Connie and her family. She is then forced outside and leaves with Arnold Friend. Arnold Friend clearly symbolizes the devil through his physical traits, his knowledge of Connie, and his power over her kind of like he was hypnotizing her to go with him.

    Read More

  • Arnold Friend Analysis Essay

    862 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” written by Joyce Carol Oats, the writer includes a very interesting character. One of the main characters, Arnold Friend, is a dynamic character due to the sudden changes of this physical appearance and personality. At first he seems charming and a little on the sweet side, but then his dark side starts to show as the story progresses. He first appears when Connie abandons her friend to go with a boy named Eddie. Arnold is seen in his gold convertible Jalopy, which is the first sign that he wants to be alluring. His first words in the story are "Gonna get you, baby" this foreshadows his intentions when it comes to Connie

    Read More

  • Connie´s Coming of Age

    1245 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Eternal Present in Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Michele D. Theriot, Journal of Short Story in English, 48, (Spring 2007): 59-70. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 November 2013.

    Read More

  • Where Are You Going?

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the short story “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?”, by Joyce Carol Oates, the use of the symbolism of Connie’s clothes, her fascination with her beauty, Arnold Friend’s car and Arnold Friend himself help to understand the story’s theme of evil and manipulation. The story, peppered with underlying tones of evil, finds Oates writing about 15-year-old Connie, the protagonist of the story, a pretty girl who is a little too into her own attractiveness, which eventually gets her into trouble with a man named Arnold Friend. The story is liberally doused with symbolism, from the way Connie dresses to the shoes on Arnold Friend’s feet. In “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?” the reader can pick up on some of the symbols very easily, while others need deeper thought. The subtle hints of symbolism throughout the story create a riveting tale that draws the reader in. Connie finally succumbs to Arnold Friend at the end of the story, it then becomes obvious that he represents the devil and the symbolism of her clothing and Arnold’s car all tie together to create a better understanding of the story.

    Read More

More about Arnold Friend Analysis

Open Document