Arnold Friend Symbolism

“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon” (Revelations:13:11). Revelations depicts a creature, one of which is the Devil. The same Bible verse can represent Arnold Friend (AF), the antagonist, and how he could represent the Devil. In Joyce Carol Oates “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” a fifteen-year-old girl is living life on the edge. She goes out to parties, dresses one way at home and another way at school. She drives around with guys and spends too much time in the backseat for someone of her age. One night she was out with a guy and they went to ‘a movie,’ then went to a cafe shortly after where she spots a man. This man flirts saying, “I am gonna get you

The first time Connie notices AF is at a restaurant. Connie notices AF staring at her with a wide grin. Some time later AF goes to Connie’s house to take her for a ride. Connie, however, does not want to go for a ride with him. AF tries to be friendly to Connie and shows her the car that he drives. It reads, “33, 19, 17, now these numbers are a secret code, honey” (par. 36). These numbers can represent many things, using math the numbers can represent 666, or the Devil. Another symbol of the numbers is a Bible verse that depicts the Devil rising from the underworld. When Connie would not go with AF, he gets mad and curses, “Christ” (par. 110). This was not meant to be heard by Connie but she heard this word under breath. He bit off the word as if he could not say it, leading many to believe that he is the Devil. Another altercation occurs when Connie will not budge. AF has “set aside [the day] for for a ride” (par. 47). AF knows Sundays are for the Lord, but Connie is not religious. AF has come to take her to Hell. When she takes a ride with AF she is really riding to Hell with the Devil. AF tries to persuade Connie further because he, “knows [Connie’s] name and all about you, lots of things” (par. 58). AF continues to prove that he is the Devil by knowing everything about Connie without ever talking to her. He continues to prove that he is knows

When AF first appears at Connie’s home, she sees his qualities that are similar to the boys she likes: they all wore, “tight faded jeans stuffed into black, scuff boots, a belt that pulled his waist in and showed how lean he was, and white pull-over shirt that was a little soiled and showed the hard small muscles of his arms and shoulders” (par. 46). This man could be dressing to look like a person she would like, almost as if he was trying to fit in with his surroundings. He might be wearing a disguise to better his appearance because if he went out as the Devil, people would avoid him. Connie soon realizes this man is not who he says. Connie confronts about his age and continues to see more oddities about AF, “he had shaggy, shabby black hair that looked crazy as a wig” (par. 16). This feature of his could be that of the Devil trying to cover his horns with a wig of poor quality. The more Connie looks at this man, the more she realizes that he is not who he claims. The more she talks with him the more he changes. AF steps forward from his car and “ [takes off] the sunglasses and she saw how pale the skin around his eyes [were], like holes that were not in shadow but instead in light” (par. 55). This man’s eyes are slits that he hides behind sunglasses: one way the Devil could cover his odd feature of slits as eyes is covering them with sunglasses just as this man has done. Connie is becoming