Joyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

The Pied Piper Arnold Friend, diversely known as Charles Schmid or “The Pied Piper of Tuscon,” in the story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” is a serial killer who has a name for himself. Throughout his life, Charles Schmid manages to kill three teenage girls from 1964 to 1965 by beguiling them to him by altering his appearance and intriguing his victims by his persuasive choice of words . In 1966, Joyce Carol Oates found inspiration to write ,“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” in a Life Magazine starring Schmid’s manslaughter case in one of the pages. The inspiration Oates found was that a man was preying on adolescent teenagers and she knew then that this could be turned into a story. Katherine Ramsland states, “Charles …show more content…
Schmid manages to murder three young victims whose names are Alleen Rowe, Gretchen Fritz, and Wendy Fritz and Friend’s one victim was Connie. Michael Newton voices, “Charles killed three innocent young women with Alleen Rowe being one of the most important killings. Arnold executed Connie, which was Alleen Rowe in Charles’ case” (39). None of these names compare to Connie's name, creating one difference between the victims of Arnold and Charles. The location of the women he links up with was different, but still the same general setting. In the story, Friend only killed one girl, but Schmid actually kills three girls in the span of one year, differentiating the two. Schmid finds his way to the murders by taking out his victims to a date, away from personal comfort of their home while Friend shows up at the house when no one was present and taking them somewhere. Oates only provides us with little details of his appearance and Connie's disappearance, but Schmid was given a $300 allowance, providing him with spending money to lure his women out. Schmid’s adopted parents are wealthy, providing him with gifts such as watches, clothes, and whatever else Charles wishes for. All these things helped in the luring in of the girls. The difference in Oates not offering any background information about Friend is a difference in how we view the two in comparison to each …show more content…
The story takes place in the same setting as the setting in real life and also the personalities given to us were the same between the two. Although they both were compared to each other identically, the murder identity of the victims of both were changed, as well as the location, giving us a difference between the