“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 …show more content…
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 …show more content…
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
She hopes that it will be angels that will save them. “I tell that we are expecting a sweet angel and when angels tread, the hosts must be as beautiful as floating hibiscus” (p.86). Through all the things they go
In addition, he appeared to have a familiar face: He hadn't shaved in several days; As a result, his cheeks, chin, and jaw were slightly darker. "It was all a joke, but his long, hawk-like nose smelled like she was a treat he was going to eat." (6) A hawk is a bird of prey, so Arnold's desire for Connie as a snack is implied. We get the impression that Oates is referring to animals when he uses the word "sniffing." As the story progresses, Connie does nothing about his predatory nature.
One evening after sneaking to the diner across the high-way from the shopping plaza, Connie and her best friend meet a boy named Eddie. Charmed by his flirtations, Connie agrees to leave her friend for a few hours in favor of spending time with Eddie. When the two are walking to his car, they pass by a gold jalopy in the parking-lot. It is here that Connie first lays eyes upon Arnold Friend. He stares at her, grins, and as Connie is walking away from him she can’t help but look back at him again.
Andrea and Rusty listened to a preacher named Michael Woronieki. Michael dressed up in strange costumes, and screamed scary phrases like “You’re going to hell.” The Woronieki family drove a bus around the world to share their beliefs and teachings, and Rusty wanted to be just like them so he bought their bus from them. Andrea and Micahel’s wife would exchange letters, and Michael’s wife told Andrea she needs to be a better wife and mother. Andrea and Rusty believed all of Michael’s deranged preachings, which contributed to the crazy things Andrea believed about Satan controlling her.
AF arrived to the house wearing sunglasses but when he takes them off Connie sees that “his eyes were like chips of broken glass that catch light in an amiable way” (par. 55). The Devil has bright little slits as eyes that look as if they glow and reflect light. AF has the same type of eyes and covers them with sunglasses at the beginning. After lying to Connie about his age, AF smiles to reassure her showing that “his teeth were big and white” (par. 84). Arnold’s teeth are scary like the Devil’s, who has big, monstrous teeth that look ready to devour easy targets like Connie.
In “Nightmares!” by Jason Segel, the main character’s qualities contribute to the novel’s theme by showing how Charlie’s denial of his mother’s death affects his relationships and how he deals with that. One example of this is in the towards the beginning of the book, where he comments on his father’s appearance: “Charlie despised it. It didn’t fit with his dad’s chunky black glasses---and it made him seem like a whole different person.”
Arnold Friend was there to take Connie away; away from her childhood and home, which never quite felt like home until her fantasy world deteriorated and reality set it. The next moment is pivotal, this is when Connie forgets her hedonism and becomes something of much more substance. Before Connie studies Arnold Friend’s abnormal personality and erratic behavior she is fascinated by him and even worries that she is ill prepared for this
However, this is countered when Connie notes that “he was much older—thirty, maybe more” (315), a fact that frightens her. What Arnold is to Connie is a challenge of her want to be an adult, and a trail of her ability to deal with adult issue. Such as a man who singles her out sexual reason. Her wish to be an adult is something she seeks while passively avoiding it. Her avoidance is marked by day dreams of puppy love romance, like a typical teenager; yet, her attractive flaunt to be mature is presented as if she seeks to be an
shows the readers that that vanity and lack of self-awareness can make some vulnerable and easily fall for the evilness of the world. Because Connie became vulnerable, she was easily persuaded by Arnold, who was portrayed as the Devil figure and the darkness that exists, to leave her the known safety of her home and to embark on the road to the unclear future. Oates’s story teaches the readers to be cautious of their surroundings and of the people that are unfamiliar to them that live in the same society. That is because even if someone appears to look a certain way they might have a mask that hides the true darkness and evilness that is in their body and
Connie uses her attitude and appearance to attract boys. But she is not aware of the reality of the society in which she lives. Connie is living in a fantasy world, but when she gets trapped by Arnold Friend she is put into a scary reality. There
It is quite possible that Connie has just invented Arnold Friend based on her love of music, at one point in the story it seems like Connie is falling asleep while listening to XYZ Sunday Jamboree and all of the sudden Arnold Friend shows up coincidently listening to the same thing. Instead of saying Arnold Friend knows Connie’s name and many things about her because he is the devil, you could say that Arnold Friend knows all of that because he is described as
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” is about a teenager named Connie who is trying to come to terms with her transformation from childhood to adulthood. Through this process, Connie attempts to act older than she is an tries to gain the attention of boys. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Oates portrays Connie as obsessed with men to symbolize how one’s obsession and narcissistic attitude can cause danger to seem surreal. In the short story, Carol Oates describes Connie as having two different personalities, one being a narcissistic attitude.
It seems like a valid argument and paints Connie as a much more heroic figure than many believe, but it begins to fall apart once her character is actually examined. Through her actions and emotions, Connie shows traits of a passive victim by completely submitting to Arnold, being mentally broken by him, and by barely attempting to retaliate
As written by Arthur Miller, “the Devil [works] again (...) just as he [works] within the Slav who is shocked at (...) a woman’s disrobing herself in a burlesque show. Our opposites are always robed in sexual sin, and it is from this unconscious conviction that demonology”. The Devil “gains both its attractive sensuality and its capacity to infuriate and frighten,” which displays the control he holds over the society in that he can lure in a pure soul, but frighten one as well
She isn’t thinking clearly, but she hopes that’ll get more information out of this man about her mother. “She died before I could meet her sadly.” Eleanor can feel Walker glaring at her, but she ignores him. This opportunity it too good to pass up. “I didn’t know Alice had a sibling,” Allen says, and that would be true, Alice was an only child; but the truth can be twisted a little if need be.