American Fantasy Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" represents the stark realities of real life invading the American Dream. Connie, the victim, lives the ideal life of a rebellious teen. She cruises the town, goes on dates, and listens to music that ma...

Marie Mitchell Olesen Urbanski reflects on the parallels between a literary work and biblical suggestions in her essay "Existential Allegory: Joyce Carol Oates "Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?" (Studies in Short Fiction, 1978.) In her criticism, she compares the story of Con...

"Where are you going, where have you been?" is a short story written by Joyce Carols Oates, which describes a strange man named Arnold Friend who is obsessed over a young teenager named Connie. Arnold Friend is much older than Connie and cannot be said to be like a child, yet he lures Conn...

Joyce Carol Oates presents a description of an adolescent girl's disaffection with her family and rape by Arnold Friend in the short story "Where are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Throughout the story the reader watches Connie, the central character, reject her family, friends and self in an a...

Is Arnold Friend the Devil in disguise in Joyce Carol Oates' short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" If one were to look at the facts surrounding the actual event this story was based on, any assumption that "Friend" was anything but a man would be thrown out due to logic. However, ...

Perhaps one of the great hallmarks of a great work of fiction is its ability to appear to have been written for the age during which it is being read, regardless of how far back in time it was written. In other words, Joyce Carol Oates' story might strike a contemporary adolescent or young...

We have all experienced nightmares. Nightmares are very different from the everyday dreams that we have for many reasons. The feeling of utter helplessness is a major characteristic of a nightmare that seems to linger in our minds. No matter how fast you think you can run, how hard you think you ...

A famous short story is "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates. This stunning story describes how the seemingly perfect girl, Connie, is terrorized by the most abnormal man, Arnold Friend. Some would argue that he is the devil. Any argument that Arnold Frien...

Sympathy For The Devil? The Rolling Stones once sang, "Please to meet you, hope you guess my name, but what's puzzling you is the nature of my game." On a recent trip home from Macon, this song was playing on the radio. I was reminded of the story Where Are You Going, Where Hav...

Reasons for Arnold Friend being the Devil In "Where are you going, Where have you been?" the devil is masquerading as Arnold Friend, or that he is at least one of the devil's messengers. All the evidence during the corse of the story helps to support this fact. One cou...

Felicia Keka Jim Lyddane ENG102 04/22/04 Just a Dream There are many ideas and opinions floating around about Joyce Carol Oates' story, "Where Are You Going, Where have You Been?", stating that Arnold Friend is a real or wholly imagined character, or Arnold Friend represents th...