Analysis Of Where Are You Going Where Have You Been

Morals and Religion in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been
Some readers and critics see “Where are you going, Where have you have you been" as a moral parable. In this essay I will examine the moral and religious themes that seems to lie behind "Where are you going, Where have you have you been" the short story by Joyce Carol Oates. Joyce Carol Oates uses metaphor, allegory, and symbolism to convey these themes to the reader without being to overt. The short story is loosely based on the crime of the serial killer Charles Schmid, also known as “The Pied Piper of Tuscon”. The story is about the teenager Connie and how she catches the eye of the sinister and alluring Arnold Friend. This leads to a fateful encounter in Connie's sad young …show more content…
Oates portrays Connie as the quintessential teenage girl;She doesn’t get along with her mother, is very self-absorbed, is boy crazy and adventurous. The theme of vanity shows up quickly in the story and is where the first hint of a religious and moral theme is glimpsed. Connie “had a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was all right” (Oates 1). Vanity is at the heart of Connie's problems with her mother. Connie's mother “had been pretty once too” (Oates 1) and is resentful of Connie's youth and beauty. This lead her to treating Connie poorly and favoring her older sister June. This leads to her alienating Connie and drives Connie to engage in her rebellious behavior of sneaking off with her friends. Connie is just awakening to adolescence, sexuality and sense of self. Her conflicts with her mother causes her to put up a false self while she is around her family. As written by Oates, “Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home”(Oates 1). It is this hidden side of Connie that most likely brings her to the to the attention of Arnold Friend. Arnold Friend is also a victim of vanity. Friend puts on a false facade of trying to look younger than he actually is. He stuffs his boots so that he looks taller. This is both to ensnare his victims and for his own vanity's sake. Friend is vane …show more content…
Arnold Friend is a fraud, a charlatan, and a dangerous predator. Some believe he is a representation of the devil. As Urbaski states, “It is apparent that Friend represents the devil who tempts the chaste yet morally vacuous girl-victim.”(Urbanski 2) and also”His feet resemble the devil's cloven hooves: “One of his boots was at a strange angle, as if his foot wasn't in it.”(Urbanski 1-2). But some just see him as a evil figure. As Cuizon points out, “He represents evil, temptations or sins. He may not be the devil incarnate but he certainly is related or allied with the dark forces”(Cuizon 1). The fact that Oates has Friend come for Connie of on a sunday and that of her family “none of them bothered with church”(Oates 3) could be seen as of significance as to the nature of Friend. Like the devil, Arnold Friend uses temptation,seduction and intimidation to try and get Connie to submit to him,“Friend intersperses smiles with threats”(Urbanski 2). The fact that music plays a major part of Friend's seduction of Connie is also important to note. Music is seen in many religious tradions as a tool of seduction used by the devil to entice people to him. The way he implicitly threatens Connie's family or burn the house down to force her out of it is are just some of the example of how crafty and manipulative he is. The fact that it is ultimately the threat to Connie's family that gets her to finally give in to him though is more