Arnold Friend Symbolism

Author’s Intent: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
The 1966 story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?, written by American author Joyce Carol Oates, directly confronts the horrible fate of many mislead teens in a time of pronounced social upheaval. In this short story, the narrator follows the experiences of a typical, rebellious teen named Connie, whose haste in growing up presumably leads her to be raped and killed by an older man. Oates uses characterization, allusion, and symbolism in order to illustrate the dangers of the increasing commonality of tempting maturity too soon.
One way Oates shows the widespread threat of this issue is through the characterization of Connie. Oates makes an intentional effort to portray Connie …show more content…
Arriving at her house uninvited, Arnold Friend expectantly calls out to Connie seeing if she is ready to go for a ride. As the narrator describes the two’s skeptically flirtatious conversation, the audience is able to identify several connections between Arnold Friend and Satan himself, the first of which being his unexplainable knowledge about Connie’s family and the other teens in the town. When Oates reveals the information that Arnold Friend uses play Connie’s emotions, the girl begins to question him, asking how he could know all these personal details about her neighbors considering he wasn’t from the area (6). This absence of explanation leads the reader to assume that Arnold Friend has sources of knowledge beyond what is in the reach of humans. A second factor that links Arnold Friend to Satan is his increasingly obvious disguise. Despite dressing “the way all of them dressed” (5), even Connie could see that “not all these things came together” (6) and that his overall appearance did not seem humanly. The narrator claims “the skin around his eyes were like holes that were not in shadow but instead in light” (5); Oates even goes as far as to include that Arnold Friend has to adjust his boots because “his feet did not go all the way down” (9) indicating he has a deformity resembling the devil’s cloven hoofs.

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