Never Talk To Strangers The author of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been, Joyce Carol Oates, employs many different aspects of life into all of her stories and short stories. She was born in June 1938 and has seen a lot during her time as an author. During the 1960’s, she was inspired to write Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been because of a man named Charles Schmid who was a serial killer that murdered three people in 1964. She was interested in the thought process of such a criminal and used this to create Arnold Friend, the antagonist of the story and the kidnapper and potential murderer of Connie, the protagonist of the story. Oates also has plenty of symbols in the story that add depth into the story’s plot. Some symbols include
