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Essay Archive - Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?": Arnold Fiend
Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?": Arnold Fiend
In Joyce Carol Oates' “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”
critics argue whether the character of Arnold Friend, clearly the story's
antagonist, represents Satan in the story. Indeed, Arnold Friend is an
allegorical devil figure for the main reason that he tempts Connie, the
protagonist, into riding off with him in his car.
Oates characterizes Arnold Friend at first glance as “a boy with
shaggy, black hair, in a convertible jalopy painted gold”(581). She lets
the rea....
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