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 could see with all of the supernatural things that Friend
did, such as predict where and where Connie's entire family was and what they were doing,
proved that he was at least one of the Devil's evil little pranksters: "He ain't coming. He's at a
barbecue Aunt Tillie's. Right now they're-uh-they're drinking Yeah. Sitting around. There is
your sister in the blue dress, huh? And high heels, the poor sad bitch-nothing like you,
sweetheart! And your mother's helping sone fat woman with the corn, they're cleaning the
husking corn" (Oates 452). By Friend predicting what and where Connie's family was doing
should further support the fact that he is the Devil. Another reason that Friend might be the devil
would be the fact that he has a minion, which happens to be Ellie. But the most obvious thing
that one could have noticed was Friend's rough appearance.
Arnold Friend's appearance was that of a person in a Halloween costume. His hair was
all over his head, very shabby, and looked as if it were a wig that was put on wrong. His nose
looked as if it were the beak of a parrot, elongated and hooked. Friend's eyes looked as if they
were pieces of broken mirror that one could see many reflections in. His shoes that he wore were
turned in different ways which would suggest that he did not have feet but hooves instead. Also,
there was the fact that the inside of Arnold's throat was not like any normal persons throat. His
throat looked very tan as if it were made of wheat colored boot's. This could make Friend devil
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