Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been By Arnold Friend

In the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie is out with her friends one night at the dine-in. As she was walking to the car with one of her friends, another guy smiles and waves his finger towards her while passing in his car. She does not think anything of it until later on one Sunday evening when her parents leave the house. Arnold Friend, the guy from the dine-in shows up at Connies home and asks her to go on a joy ride with him but she repeatedly refuses to go. He threatens to harm her family when she tells him no and goes to call the police but ends up hanging up the phone after Arnold threatens to come inside. Connie finally makes the decision to go off with Arnold for a joy ride and no one truly knows what happens to her after he drove away. Individuals assume that Arnold Friend is a serial …show more content…
For example, when Arnold Friend shows up at Connies house knowing exactly where her parents are and what they are doing, her name and who her friends are, “I never said my name was Connies,” she said. “But I know what it is. I know your name and all about you, lots of things,” Arnold Friend said (310)”. Some may assume that Arnold knowing this information is because of his satanic powers, but it is not. It is quite simple for Arnold to walk up to someone and ask them about Connie, as said in A. R. Coulthards essay, “Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” As Pure Realism”, Coulthard states that, “Neither does Arnold Friend possess any supernatural knowledge about Connie. He boasts to her that “I know your name and all about you”, and then proves it by reciting a list of her friends. But this information would be easily available to anyone who frequents teen gathering places, as Arnold does”. Arnold Friend does not have satanic powers when it comes to knowing information about