‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’, a short story by Joyce Carol Oates, takes place in the mid-sixties and revolves around two central characters, Connie and Arnold Friend, who mysteriously appears at Connie’s home and tries to coax her into coming with him before ultimately forcing her. Arnold Friend is a much debated character among critics, largely due to hints of inhuman abilities and his intentions for Connie. It is hard to determine the answers to these because there is no direct description of Arnold Friend that states what he is, nor is it revealed what happens to Connie in the end. The article ‘Connie’s Tambourine Man: A New Reading of Arnold Friend’ by Mike Tierce and John Crafton describes Arnold as a Bob Dylan reincarnation, messiah type figure who has come to save Connie from her family and childhood. However, Mike Tierce and John Crafton’s misinterpretation of Arnold Friend being a savior is wrong because they misconstrue Arnold’s intentions towards Connie, his physical appearance, the numbers on the side of his car, and the role music plays in the portrayal of Arnold Friend.…
In "Where are you going, Where have you been?", Connie starts out as most teenage girls seemingly would - she wants to be more daring, to appear older, to experience more of the world. She sneaks away from childish pursuits, to the teenage or adult world, to drink and kiss boys rather than shop for school clothes, to see movies in a steamy car instead of in a theater. She talks of being beautiful as if it were her only good grace - beauty, to her, is the ultimate goal. She wants to be older, and more beautiful, and this is her downfall. Her foolishness, and her naivety is what appeals to Arnold Friend in the first place. Arnold Friend, a stranger, appeals to her early on in the story. He is older, more powerful, and smarter. She is frightened, of course, but intrigued, and it is her yearning for the adult world, and the adult life, that, in the end, causes her downfall. She is suckered in by the convincing conman who uses his words to appeal to her weaknesses. She is tricked into being what Arnold wants her to be by his smooth words and his façade of confidence. She's toyed with, played for the naïve fool she is, who is far too young for the world she wants to be a part of. Only at the very end of the story does she begin to realize what she has gotten herself…
Impulsive behavior is common in our modern society. That impulsive behavior is controlled by a person’s id. Lots of people let their id control all of their decision making. This can eventually lead to a person’s inner darkness to be revealed. This concept is exemplified in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”. In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie’s impulsive behavior along with the symbolism behind Arnold Friend in order to express how her uncontrollable id eventually caused her downfall.…
Although Connie works hard to present the appearance of being a mature woman who is experienced with men, her encounter with Arnold reveals that this is only a performance. She has created an attractive adult persona through her clothing, hairstyle, and general behavior and gets the attention she desires from boys. But Connie confuses her ability to command attention from boys with her desire to actually have them pursue her in a sexual way. The love and romance evident in songs she listens to and images of pop culture that surround her are much different from the reality of adult sexuality. Although Connie does experiment with sexuality, such as when she goes into the alley with Eddie, she is fearful of actually becoming an adult. Arnold Friend takes her by force into adulthood, but this violent act represents a shift within Connie herself: the abandoning of childlike fantasy for the realities of being a mature woman.Although Connie works hard to present the appearance of being a mature woman who is experienced with men, her encounter with Arnold reveals that this is only a performance. She has created an attractive adult persona through her clothing, hairstyle, and general behavior and gets the attention she desires from boys. But Connie confuses her ability to command attention from boys with her desire to actually have them pursue her in a sexual way. The love and romance evident in songs she listens to and images of pop culture that surround her are much different from the reality of adult sexuality. Although Connie does experiment with sexuality, such as when she goes into the alley with Eddie, she is fearful of actually becoming an adult. Arnold Friend takes her by force into adulthood, but this violent act represents a shift within Connie herself: the abandoning of childlike fantasy for the realities of being a mature woman.Although Connie works hard to present the appearance of being a mature woman who is experienced with men, her encounter with Arnold…
Arnold Friend follows Connie from the beginning of the story. When Connie finally notices his presence, "he [stares] at her and then his lips widen…and there he [is] still watching her," revealing his true desires and aspirations. Arnold not only wants to kill Connie, but to see and understand every breath she takes. Although she is unaware of his closeness, it becomes obvious that Arnold Friend is stalking Connie. When he states, "I know my Connie", it is clear that in Arnold's mind, Connie is a component of his game that he must understand. Bringing fear to Connie's eyes, Arnold states, "I know your name and all about you, lots of things,” truly proving the breadth of his knowledge and his demented intentions. Recalling seeing Connie at the drive-in the night before, "wagging a finger and laughing," and saying "gonna get you, baby" in response to Connie's smirk, he reveals his true obsession with Connie. Although Arnold pursues Connie stealthily, there are many other elements of his behavior that testify to his sociopathic mind.…
Joyce Carlo Oats makes a point at describing the vanity and superiority of the main character. The story is laid out to get its readers to think about if she deserved to be kidnapped. As the story develops you see that Connie go from a fifteen year old who does not appreciate her family to a normal girl who just wants to be safe. When Arnold Friend is first intentioned you think he is just a cute boy but when he shows up and forces Connie to go with him you see his true colors. The line “We ain’t leaving until you come with us.” was the first line that you get a really disturbing vibe from Arnold Friend and from that point on even Connie knows that he is an evil…
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is a short story that brings many girl’s nightmares to life. The story is one about a young, naïve girl named Connie, and her deranged abductor, Arnold Friend. Oates uses the setting in Connie’s life to create a very realistic situation. Oates also uses descriptive language to create vivid images of the setting, charters, and the emotions Connie feels. By analyzing Connie’s home setting and the descriptive language Oates uses, we will be able to further understand how Connie’s thoughts and actions were effected by her setting.…
In the story Where are You Going, Where have you been reach out to young girls that have family issue and personal issues going on in their life. Connie is a young teenager who is self-centered and thinks that she is a grown women but still has a child mindset. She doesn’t know how much danger she is in by messing with a older man that she barely knew. Connie felt like nobody in the family careed about her so she decided to stay at home instead of going to the family barbecue.…
This story centers around a girl who has a lot of liberty to do what she wants. However, her flaw is simply that she is too naive towards the world’s dangers and has a difficulty creating any sort of intimate relationship with anyone. Much like Laura, she has a cold relationship with her mother. Connie sees her mother as a person who is difficult to please and who is also constantly comparing her with her older sister June. “June did this, June did that,, she saved money and helped clean the house and cooked…” (Oates 492). This constant comparison with her sister drives Connie to the point of anger and disgust, where Connie cannot stand being with her mom for extended periods of time. This will go on to play a crucial role in the development of the story. Connie’s frustration with her mother is also made evident by the way Connie believes that her mother prefers June over her, stating that “if June’s name was mentioned her mother’s tone was approving, and if Connie’s name was mentioned it was disapproving” (Oates 495). Connie feels as if she is not appreciated within her household, a factor that leads her to make questionable decisions once Arnold Friend makes his appearance later on in the story. Along with her shaky relationship with her mother, Connie also has difficulty creating relationships with other people.…
Connie didn’t try to escape, not because she didn’t want to, but because she found she truly couldn’t. Moving her limbs, she felt the pull of her skin and muscles as if someone else was moving them and making her leave her home and her family to some unknown place. As she sat in the leathery seat - was it leather? Or was it silk? - she had a passing thought, but couldn’t grasp it quickly enough to bring them into words.…
A kid wants to be noticed, but some people don’t go about it the right way in order to get the attention that they are seeking. Connie gets her attention through the way in which she walks and the questionable clothing she wears. At some point a person has to at least have the awareness and maturity to know when they are on dangerous grounds. She is too innocent to realize that Arnold Friend is not there for good intentions but he is giving her the attention she wants from people so even if she has a bad feeling about him she still feels attracted as much as she feels repelled. “She couldn’t decide if she liked him or if he was just a jerk”(Oates 4). An adult woman who knows what to look for in a guy past his appearance would know right away that Arnold is not someone that they would want to be associated with. Innocence becomes dangerous in this story considering Connie really doesn’t know any better, for up to this point she hasn’t seen anything go wrong as a result of the way she was acting, but until something was too show her that her ways were wrong she could never know to stop doing what she was doing in which case eventually her innocence was going to hurt her. A person cannot mature past their child like behaviors until that innocence that they once had is lost and until then they cannot get out of the stage in which they are…
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, fill with underlying tones of evil. In this short story, Oates write 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 full with symbolism, from the way Connie dresses to the shoes on Arnold Friend’s feet. In “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?” As i was reading the story, I picked up on some of the symbols very easily, while others needed deeper thought. The subtle hints of symbolism throughout the story create a fascinating tale that draws people in. Connie finally surrender 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.…
One of the big mysteries In Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?,” Is Arnold Friend the devil or not. Arnold Friend portrays the devil in many ways. In the story, Arnold friend is the devil, he went to Connie’s house and tries to get her to go for a ride with him and his friend Elli Oscar so, he can rape and kill her. Arnold Friend is none other than the devil himself, which shows in his appearance, his speech, his actions and supernatural psychic powers.…
The day seemed longer by the minute and the aching head ache wasn’t helping either. Buzzing in her ear and the throbbing in her head didn’t make it easy on her trying to figure out where she was. Her wet back felt like it was touching something like leather, maybe a car seat she thought. The sound of the blasting V8 engine reassured her that she was. Arnold Friend was driving while listening to a Bobby King program but his metallic shades couldn’t give a hint whether he liked it or not. Just then Arnold turned his head and saw who just woke up. “Mornin’ honey” he said in his usual deep tone. She had to turn away because the glasses reflected the sunset right into her eyes and it was that moment that she realized that it was almost dusk and she still wasn’t home.…
Many critics have found that the possibility of the psychological changes of a teenager is a discussable topic to learn and argue about. Connie, the young teenage girl in the story of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” faces an unpredictably-dangerous situation that challenges her knowledge of insecurity and adulthood. As a matter of the fact, Connie is molded into the central character of the story and at the same time she functions as a character representing a normal teenager. Any other teenagers in another family could be the next “Connie”, who could get confusion with his or her psychological concern. There are several factors discussed below, arguing to be contributed to Connie’s psychological senses and behaviors:…