Joyce Carol Oates and Arnold Fiend Essay

Submitted By Courtney-Santos
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Pages: 2
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Courtney Santos
Dr. Debillo
Literary Studies I
15 February 2015

What is the Truth in Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Arnold Fiend is the biggest dilemma that this story has and who he actually is. Is he The Pied Piper of Tuscan? Comparing the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, to the background information of “The Pied Piper of Tuscan” I could not have seen a more clear resemblance of the two. Don Moser tells the story about a 23-year-old murderer, Charles Schmid and how he cruised around in a golden car around the teenager’s nightclub sound oddly familiar to Arnold Fiend and what he had done throughout the story. Constant discussion on who the character Arnold Fiend truly represents is what gives this story something very unique about it. The Pied Piper was a very unusual individual and was a heartthrob of all the young beautiful teenage girls of the area. He had received this nickname due to a very popular song in the 1960’s era. Charles Schmid had dark black air, fairly tan skin, pale lips, and a mole on his cheek. He was short and would stuff old rags into the bottoms of his shoes to make himself taller and he was known for wearing makeup. Arnold Fiend had black hair and “…looked crazy as a wig…” (Oates, “Where” 508) he was short as well almost the height of 15-year-old Connie, but he was much older than she. Schmid murdered three innocent teenage girls and at the end of the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” Arnold Fiend threatens Connie’s family and as soon as she went to retrieve the phone she started to scream for her family, screaming
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