Analysis of Joyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? :: Joyce Carol Diabolical Symbols Essays

Analysis of Joyce carol Oates Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? In Joyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?critics argue whether the flake of Arnold admirer, clearly the storysantagonist, represents Satan in the story. Indeed, Arnold champion is anallegorical devil figure for the main reason that he tempts Connie, theprotagonist, into riding off with him in his car. Oates characterizes Arnold Friend at first behold as a boy with shaggy,black blur, in a transmutable jalopy painted gold(581). She lets the readerknow that Arnold is not a teenager when Connie begins to notice the featuressuch as the painted eyelashes, his shaggy hair which looked like a wig, and hisstuffed boots these features led her to believe he was not a teenager, but infact, much older. Oates does make Arnold out to be a psychopathic stalker, butnever objectively states the diabolical nature to his character. In Connies Tambourine Man, a critical essay on the story, the a uthorswrite nearly Arnold Friend There are indeed diabolical shades to Arnold unsloped asBlake and Shelley could see Miltons Satan a positive, attractive symbol of thepoet, the sacred embodiment of creative energy, so we should also besensitive to Arnolds multifarious and creative nature(Tierce and Crafton 608).Mike Tierce and John Michael Crafton suggest that Arnold Friend is not adiabolical figure, but instead a spectral and cultural savior. On a more realistic note, Joyce M. Wegs argues the symbolism of ArnoldFriend as a Satan figure when she writes Arnold is far more a grotesqueportrait of a psychopathic killer masquerading as a teenager he also has allthe traditional, sinister traits of that arch dissembler and source of grotesqueterror, the devil(616). She also writes about how the author sets up the ideaof a religious, diabolical figure when she links popular unison and its values asConnies perverted version of a religion. Another clue is Arnolds almostsupernatura l, mysterious knowledge about Connie, her family and her friends(Wegs617). The main reason why the reader would extract this diabolical symbol fromreading the story is that Arnolds character bears striking resemblance toSatans. At the drive-in, Arnold is warning Connie of his coming when he wagshis finger at her and says Gonna get you, baby(Oates 581). The majority ofthe story is Arnold tempting Connie to leave-taking the safe haven that is her home and