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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.
Connie’s clothes and infatuation with her own beauty symbolize her lack of maturity or knowing her true self, which in the end enables her to be manipulated by Arnold Friend. Connie was enamored with her own beauty; in the beginning of the story Oates states that Connie “knew
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she was pretty and that was everything” (225). This captivation with herself along with the constant looking in the mirrors and thinking her mother was only pestering her all the time because her mother’s own good looks were long gone by now (225) shows a sign of immaturity because she believes everything revolves around whether or not someo...
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...; he has evil intentions and evil behind every aspect of his being.
Oates’ use of the way Arnold looks and acts so similar to the devil, her use of the words on the car meaning something foreign and her subtle symbolism with Connie’s attire make the story’s theme of evil and manipulation stand out so much more. Connie’s clothing symbolizing
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the lack of knowing her true self lets Arnold Friend overpower her in the end. The words and letters on Arnold’s car symbolize warnings that Connie should have picked up on. Because Arnold symbolizes the devil, the evil inside of him gives him advantages to manipulate Connie into leaving her house, despite everything inside of Connie screaming at her not to go. The symbolisms in these objects or people are all deeply rooted to the theme of this short story, “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?”.
"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
The main theme of this story is that of Connie’s search for independence. Oates portrays this theme by exemplifying Connie’s tendency to frequent places where older people are, in her attempt to quicken her path to adulthood. This theme is also portrayed by Connie’s desire to go with Arnold who is exploiting her need for independence, and in the end forces Connie to grow up faster through cruel means.
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.
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
Connie's character plays a big role in what ultimately happens to her. Connie is a vain girl that thinks the way you look is everything. She plays the stereotypical part for girls in today's society. She thinks that as long as you are pretty and dress a certain way then you are everything. This comes across when Oates writes "Connie thought that her mother preferred her to June because she was prettier" (980). By flaunting her looks she could easily give a guy like Arnold Friend perverted ideas about her. It could make them see her as easy, which he did.
Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is about a young girl's struggle to escape reality while defying authority and portraying herself as a beauty queen; ultimately, she is forced back to reality when confronted by a man who symbolizes her demise. The young girl, Connie, is hell- bent on not becoming like her mother or sister. She feels she is above them because she is prettier. She wants to live in a "dream world" where she listens to music all day and lives with Prince Charming. She does not encounter Prince Charming but is visited by someone, Arnold Friend, who embodies the soul of something evil. Arnold Friend symbolizes "Death" in that he is going to take Connie away from the world she once knew. Even if she is not dead, she will never be the same person again, and will be dead in spirit. With the incorporation of irony, Oates illustrates how Connie's self-infatuation, her sole reason for living, is the reason she is faced with such a terrible situation possibly ending her life.
...most people trying to put on a show for themselves or for others. Connie was a young individual who thought she knew everything, but was not given the chance to find that out on her own. Some things may have pushed her into the arms of Arnold Friend. For example, it could have been his sharp, repetitive words that Connie made herself believe. Arnold Friend fooled her in the beginning and by making himself appear to be “an old friend” but his interior read “arch fiend”. Arnold Friend is a mythological character that represents the evil that sits in everyone. In some people that evil can burst out like rays of light, like the ones that were described in the story by Connie. Like the expression, “there is a devil on one shoulder, and an angel on the other”, Arnold Friend was Connie's devil.
Oates takes us to a journey of rebellion as the protagonist sorts through self-created illusion in order to come to terms with her own sexual inexperience. Connie’s desires for attention from the opposite sex, her vanity and immaturity blind her to think of the real intentions of guys, in this case Arnold Friend. A character that many critics argue is real, yet, others argue it was created by Connie’s mind.
Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” tells the tale of a fifteen year old girl named Connie living in the early 1960’s who is stalked and ultimately abducted by a man who calls himself Arnold Friend. The short story is based on a true event, but has been analyzed by many literary scholars and allegedly possesses numerous underlying themes. Two of the most popular interpretations of the story are that the entire scenario is only dreamt by Connie (Rubin, 58) and that the abductor is really the devil in disguise (Easterly, 537). But the truth is that sometimes people really can just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Connie, a victim of terrifying circumstance will be forever changed by her interactions with Friend.
Can a person get so subconsciously desperate that he/she, unknowingly, creates an imaginary figure to rescue them? While that may seem like an insane notion to ponder, it is all too real for Connie, a fifteen year old girl in “Where are you going, Where have you been?” by Joyce Oates. There are three separate writers whose interpretations of Oates’ story prove that the answer to that question, in Connie’s case is yes. Arnold Friend is a figment of Connie’s imagination created by her desperate need for a reality check.
...en he was at her house, and who Arnold Friend truly was. Some people believe that Arnold Friend is a predator seeking out a new victim, but I think that in some strange way Arnold becomes Connie way to escape into her fantasy world. When she learns his true intentions she is scared to death at first but eventually that fear gives way when entering his car. Connie may think that she’s not going to see her mother again or sleep in her bed again, but at the same time she’s going to escape from her old life. Maybe she has made her decision at that moment; Connie no longer resists Arnold after that moment and does everything he says to do. As she steps out the door, she sees the "vast sunlit reaches of the land behind him," in contrast with the house she is leaving, which "looked small." This shows that she is stepping out into her fantasy world, or so she thinks she is.
Connie’s first encounter with her adversary occurs when she sneaks across the highway to a diner instead of going to the movie theater. Arnold Friend is depicted as ‘a boy with shaggy black hair, in a convertible jalopy painted gold.’ (Oates 7.46) After Connie glanced over her shoulder at him a second time, Arnold Friend exclaims that he’s “gonna get you, baby”. Connie thinks nothing of it and ignores him. Little did she know that he wanted ...
The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” written by Joyce Carol Oates, hasn’t failed to leave readers captivated and terrified. Many critics analyze what exactly happened during the story, was the whole scene a dream or was Arnold Friend really the devil? Those two speculations represent a big part of the story, the character who is often forgotten in analysis, continues to be Ellie Oscar. Although he rarely speaks, Ellie’s mysterious and passive identity is still important. In the article titled, “The Identity of Ellie Oscar Reconsidered” by Anthony Ellis, he offers the idea that Ellie and Eddie were actually the same person, which would explain where Arnold got his information about Connie. In contrast, Alice Hall Petry’s
Connie first encounters Arnold in a parking lot while she is out with her friends, but she does not yet know who he is. She notices him standing near his car, a gold colored convertible jalopy, staring at her. When she walks by he says he is going to "get" her, but Connie does not think anything of it and just turns away.
Have you ever been so focused on achieving your dreams that you become unaware of your current situation? When we focus on the goals ahead of us, we fail to see the obstacles and dangers that are in front of us. In order to achieve our goals we involuntarily put ourselves in an unwanted situation. Connie, herself, struggles to achieve her goal of being a desirable girl that turns heads when she walks into the room. She becomes so set on being this girl that she doesn’t realize the danger of the situation. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Oates utilizes metaphors, diction, and imagery to show how Connie is in a constant tug between her reality and her dreams, and how this confines her freedoms in a world that is surrounded with malevolence.