Who is Arnold Friend based on?
Oates has described how she based the character of Arnold Friend on the real life serial killer, Charles Schmid, who also wore makeup and stuffed his boots in order to alter his appearance, and was known for preying on teenage girls—taking three of their lives in Tuscon, Arizona the 1960s.
What is the message of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
The main themes of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” are appearance versus reality, the embodiment of evil, and self-sacrifice. Appearance vs. reality: Both Connie and Arnold have two-sided natures, presenting an appealing self when necessary and withholding another.
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been author’s purpose?
mwestwood, M.A. Joyce Carol Oates wrote her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” after reading about the 1950s serial murders of Charles Schmid, a story that was profiled in Life magazine. For one thing, she was concerned with the increasing fixation on sexual themes in the youth culture…
What does music symbolize in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Music Symbol Analysis. From the outset of the story, music symbolizes Connie’s inner life, specifically the pleasure she takes in romantic relationships and romantic ideals themselves. Whenever she goes to the plaza with her friends, music is always playing in the background.
What do the numbers 33 19 17 mean?
When Connie asks him what the stuff painted on his car means, Arnold goes through the various sayings and eventually comes to the numbers 33,19, 17. … Harold Hurley posits that the numbers carry a sexual connotations because when added together they equal 69, a sexual position.
What did Arnold Friend do to Connie?
Arnold Friend
He speaks calmly and quietly to Connie, which makes him seem even more threatening, and in an ambiguous scene near the end of the story, he may attack her inside her home. He ultimately convinces Connie to get in the car with him. Read an in-depth analysis of Arnold Friend.
Why is Arnold friend’s car gold?
Arnold Friend’s flashy gold car, with its outdated phrases written on the sides, is an extension of Arnold himself: extreme and not entirely right. The car gives Connie her first clues that there might be something wrong with or dangerous about Arnold.
What does Ellie Oscar represent?
Ellie Oscar
“Ellie” is a name which could easily be read as “Ally”. His last name, Oscar, has Irish roots just as Connie’s does, “Os” is a prefix which means “deer”, while “cara” means “friend”. Taken together, the phrase sounds like “dear friend.”
How does Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been related to Bob Dylan?
Joyce Carol Oates dedicated “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” to Bob Dylan, and she has claimed that the story was influenced by Dylan’s haunting song “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.” The story contains echoes of the song’s lyrics, such as the following: “The vagabond who’s rapping at your door / Is standing …
What happened to Connie in where are you going?
Connie is compelled to leave with him and do what he demands of her. The story ends as Connie leaves her front porch; her eventual fate is left ambiguous.”
How old is Arnold friend?
The stranger identifies himself as “Arnold Friend,” and he insists that he’s 18 years old. Initially calmed by his smooth-talking, Arnold asks for Connie to accompany him on a ride to a far away location.
What are the numbers on Arnold friends car?
Arnold Friend arrives at Connie’s house in his car, and Connie notices that not only is it battered from a previous accident, but also that it is marked with sentences, such as “DONE BY CRAZY DRIVER”; Friend’s own name; and the numbers 33,19,17, which appear to reference a verse in the Bible, which reads “When he …
What’s this about the Pettinger girl?
Having children outside marriage carries a social stigma for the mother. Some critics suspect that when Connie’s mother asks her daughter,’ ‘What’s this about the Pettinger girl?,” she is alluding to a rumor that a schoolmate of Connie’s may be enceinte.
Where did Connie go in Grapes of Wrath?
Connie says, If I’d of knowed it would be like this I wouldn’ of came. ” This upsets Rose of Sharon, and she storms away to sulk in her tent. When she settles down, she realizes that Connie is gone. Al tells the family that he saw Connie heading south and presumably back to Oklahoma.
What is something that Connie notices about Arnold Friend after she has talked to him for a while?
On her way to Eddie’s car, Connie feels overwhelmingly happy, a feeling she connects to the music playing more than her excitement at being with Eddie, and sucks “in her breath with the pure pleasure of being alive.” At that moment she notices a boy (later revealed as Arnold Friend) just a few feet away; he has “shaggy …
What does Arnold Friend mean when he tells Connie the place where you came from aint there any more?
Arnold says to her, “’The place where you came from ain’t there any more, and where you had in mind to go is cancelled out,’” negating past and future and suggesting that what she knows now will be eternal, another eternal present state.
What did Connie do instead of go to a barbecue with her family?
Connie spends the summer avoiding her mother’s prying questions and dreaming about the boys she meets. One Sunday, her parents and June leave her at home alone while they go to a family barbeque. Connie washes her hair and dozes while she lets it dry in the sun.
Where do Connie and her friends go when they leave the shopping plaza?
Connie and her friends enjoy being dropped off at a shopping plaza without adult supervision, wearing ballerina slippers and charm bracelets. Often after being dropped off, they run across the highway to a drive-in where older kids gather.
What is the meaning of the title Where Are You Going Where have you been Why is the title a question?
Instead, they allude to a biblical quote from Judges 19:17. In this verse, an old man asks a traveler the questions before offering the man the hospitality of his home. … The title also points to the strained relationship between Connie and her parents, who nag her about her behavior but do not question her actions.
Why does Connie go with Arnold and Ellie?
This fear, this defense that Connie has developed, is another reason that she ends up with Arnold Friend in the end. … Her insecurity, her low self-esteem, and her fear of intimacy all aid her in her unconscious decision to leave her house and go with the devious Arnold Friend in his gold convertible jalopy.
Who arrives in Connie’s driveway while her parents are at the barbeque?
At some point later in the summer, Connie is left alone at home on a Sunday when the rest of her family go out for a barbecue. A car pulls up in the driveway: it’s Arnold Friend and Ellie Oscar.