Where_Are_You_Going_Were_Have_You_Been

Sandra Kolinsky Professor Hillringhouse Comp II March 2, 2011 Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been Joyce Carol Oates “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been'” is about a fifteen year old girl who struggles to escape reality and portrays herself as a beauty queen. The young girl, Connie, is hell-bent on not becoming like her mother or sister. She seems to be at constant odds with her mother, makes fun of her sister and her relationship with her father is non-existent, as he is always working. She never thinks of a world beyond her doorstep until Arnold Friend arrives. Arnold Friend represents an evil force sent by the devil or he may be the devil himself. Arnold gradually and insistently convinces Connie to join him. She makes the ultimate decision to sacrifice herself to save the lives of her family, but by doing so she will not achieve her own salvation. The story begins by introducing the reader to Connie. She spends the summer going to town with friends, listening to music and meeting boys. She and her friends share similar interests in boys; “they would lean together and whisper and laugh secretly” (Oates, ). Like many teens, Connie seemingly lives two lives: one that her family sees, the other she projects to her peers. She frequently tests her limits by making her parents believe she was with her friends shopping or seeing a movie, when instead she “sometimes crosses the highway, ducking fast across the busy road, to a drive in restaurants where kids hung out” (Oates, ). It is here where Connie will learn that her rush to grow up is foolish and that she is trying to jump into a word that she knows nothing about and that is potentially dangerous. It is also at the drive-in restaurant that Connie first shows her interest in Arnold. She is leaving with a boy named Eddie to take pleasure in the freedom she has for the moment and to get something to eat. Connie notices Arnold as she walks with Eddie to his car: “Connie slit her eyes at him and turned away, but she couldn’t help for glancing back and there he was still watching her” (Oates, ). Arnold shows his fascination, for example, “He wagged a finger and laughed and said “Gonna get you baby,” (Oates, ) and Connie turns away. This world is what she thinks she wants until the day a shiny convertible pulls into her driveway and the mysterious Arnold Friend emerges. The author uses symbolism to reveal the characterization of Arnold Friend, who is a symbol of an evil being, possibly the devil in disguise. Oates deliberately uses both Arnold Friend’s first and last name only, if not, the readers and Connie would view him to be more of a common man and more human-like. Also, Arnold’s name, just like his identity, is fake as he suspiciously confirms his name is real. “I wanta introduce myself, I’m Arnold Friend and that’s my real name” (Oates, ). A demon, according to legend, is short, ugly and has horns on top of his head. Arnold Friend is described as having: “shaggy shabby black hair that looked as a crazy wig” (Oates,). The narrator emphasizes the “wig” to make the reader think that he is wearing it for a purpose, to hide something, possibly his devil horns. Although Connie approves of his clothing, she noticed something quite disturbing about his appearance. As he walked she noticed that he staggered and that his boots were stuffed so that he would appear taller. However, the boots could also symbolize that he had hoofs. The fact that Arnold Friend’s eyes are covered is another strange sign use by Oates to confirm the assumption of the diabolic presence: “He took off the sunglasses and saw how pale the skin around his eyes was, like holes that were not in the shadow but instead in light. His eyes were like chips of broken glass that catch the light in an amiable way” (Oates, ). Not to mention he also posses supernatural knowledge about Connie, her family and her friends. He knows the family is at a barbeque and describes the events goings on; he knows what color dress her sister is wearing. He tells Connie, her mother is “helping some fat woman with the corn, they are cleaning the corn-husking the corn-” (Oates,). Although Arnold Friend assures Connie that he will not come in after her, this could possibly be figurative for his established role as evil; maybe he can not cross the threshold uninvited. He has come from nowhere to bring her hell. The climax of the story comes to a heavy inhale, as she screams out for help, Arthur Friend symbolically rapes Connie, thus finalizing her submission :“She felt her breath start jerking back and forth in her lungs as if it were something Arthur Friend was stabbing her with again and again with no tenderness” (Oates,). All that screaming had made her hollow to show she did have a soul. She comes to the realization that she “won’t see her mother again” or “sleep in her own bed” (Oates,). Connie sacrifices her self for her family. As Connie had always led two lives: one of innocence and one of maturity: “She put her hand against the screen. She watched herself push the door slowly open as if she were back safe somewhere in the doorway, watching this body and this head of long hair moving out into the sunlight where Arnold Friend waited.” (Oates) The ending to the story is a bit surreal as Connie steps out to join Arnold Friend, she no longer sees the driveway or neighborhood, but just a “vast sunlight reaches of land behind him and on all sides of him”(Oates,). Although she makes the supreme sacrifice to save her family we never really learn what happens. One could believe when Arnold calls her his “blue-eyed girl” when her eyes are really brown that she is transformed into an angelic like creature with “sunlight reaches” (Oates,). But she now belongs to Arnold and has become like him; submitted totally to his will and lost her chance for salvation.