Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates - Research Paper Example

? Literary Analysis: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Introduction A great interest of the contemporaries to the short story by Joyce Carol Oates "Where are you going, where have you been" can be explained by the author’s positioning of Arnold Friend as an imaginative figure representing either a lover, a nightmare, a devil, a dream or other possible images. What is so special about this character and who he really is? The character is so bizarre that the author cannot properly identify him herself. In our essay we would focus on his demonic characteristics that signify that Arnold Friend is the Devil. Nevertheless, it would be relevant to note that interpretation of the Devil should be broader than a counter figure to Jesus Christ. The Devil embodies a sin, a temptation, a girls’ subconscious intention to be seduced by an unknown lover. Thus, further interpretation is supported by the religious interpretation of the image of the Devil, who is positioned as an everlasting seduction for men and women, the one who make them get away from the heavens and appear in hell. Arnold Friend as Devil We are basing our further discussion on the interpretation of Arnold Friend as the Devil. Moreover, it is possible to consider this prototype of the character of Arnold Friend in the following conceptual framework: ARNOLD FRIEND IS A LOVER ARNOLD FRIEND IS A FORBIDDEN FRUIT ARNOLD FRIEND IS A FLESHLY SIN. The first concept “Arnold Friend is a Lover” can be proven by a vivid description used by Oates that positions Arnold Friend as a handsome and sexual man: “He stood there so stiffly relaxed, pretending to be relaxed, with one hand idly on the door handle as if he were keeping himself up that way and had no intention of ever moving again. She recognized most things about him, the tight jeans that showed his thighs and buttocks and the greasy leather boots and the tight shirt, and even that slippery friendly smile of his, that sleepy dreamy smile that all the boys used to get across ideas they didn't want to put into words” (Oates). Thus, Oates introduces an image of a perfect lover. He is friendly, unobtrusive and a sexual man. His image evokes a great interest in Connie. This description shows that she looked at this man with interest, but she only guessed about his essence, about his image that was like a bizarre puzzle for her. She managed to make a whole picture out of split fragments of his handsome image. Nevertheless, she could not make up an integrated image of this man: “all these things did not come together” (Oates). Moreover, Arnold Friend talked to her in a loud voice and it can be considered as if he appealed not only for her. Maybe, he wanted to enchant some other women? Thus, an elusive nature of this character can be seen in Connie’s inability to consider him as an integrated male character and his intention “speaking to someone behind Connie” (Commentary on Oates, 2010). Thus, he is not a real lover; he is an allusion and a ghost of seduction. The second conceptual framework “Arnold Friend is a forbidden fruit” can be traced in Connie’s attempts to reveal a bizarre nature of this man. She wants to find out what is his real intention, why does he pretend to be a teenager, because he is a man of thirty; why does he try to look taller and many other questions occur as well. The more she tries to reveal his puzzle, the more she becomes confused and intrigued by an elusive nature of this character. A suggestion that this character is a forbidden fruit can be explained by a blurred nature of the character, which comprises common features of pop idols and the Devil: “He's the Matthew McConaughey character from Dazed and Confused, the guy who still hangs out at high school waaaay after he's graduated. But he's also got qualities that a long literary tradition associates with evil – like Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost or Dostoyevsky’s devil in the Brothers Karamazov” (Hass, 2003). Thus, it is no wonder that Arnold Friend is the reflection of romantic and sexual fantasies of Connie; she is seduced by him, but she tries to control her feelings. If to draw parallels between the character of Arnold Friend and his religious background, we can talk about Judah’s image. He is a Friend, who is not a Friend, he keeps his promises, but they are nothing more than threats (Dessommes, 1994). A terrifying and a seductive nature of Arnold Friend’s character is a riddle that cannot be read by the girl; it is a fruit that is so close but is cannot be torn. A third interpretation of “Arnold Friend as a fleshly sin” or a conceptual interpretation of Adam friend as the Devil can be proven by the way Connie constantly thinks about this character: “She cried out, she cried out for her mother, she felt her breath start jerking back and forth in her lungs as if it were something Arnold Friend were stabbing her with again and again with no tenderness. A noisy sorrowful wailing rose all about her and she was locked inside it the way she was locked inside this house” (Oates). This sentence implies that there is a ghostly spiritual and intimate contact between inner worlds of Connie, or it would be better to say between her inner intimate depths and invisible absorbing darkness of Arnold Friend’s seduction (Arnold Friend, Web). His everlasting and overall dominance over Connie underlines his powerful male character. Though he is an intimidating character, he is able to lock Connie inside her card-box house, but at the same time he is tempting and absorbing. We can memorize the situation in the Eden, when Eve and Adam were seduced by the Devil. He was more powerful than this couple and he captured them in his seduction train. Arnold Friend is a fleshly sin that is desired by Connie. This collective image of male sexuality and handsomeness, of a devilish seduction and uncontrollable fantasies is usually refereed by critics as “a disparagement of tasteless teenage defiance” (Wesley, 1992). From this perspective, Connie embodied her secret fleshly interest and was affected by Arnold Friend. Oates represents relations between men and women as a “one-sided proposition assuring men the rewards of sexual gratification for the mere grabbing. Most have one characteristic in common: physical intimidation coupled with sexual immaturity posing as a morally responsible agency, cloaked in the authority of uniform or high office, or some sartorial emblem of power over youth” (Weinberger, 1988).Thus, Connie’s attitude to Arnold Friend is being developed as relations to an imaginary person who is more powerful than she is and has no high-pitched ambitions concerning her. He is a banal man; his body and self-positioning is more interesting for Connie, than his real attitude towards her. A real mistake of a person, especially of a woman in love is to imagine that her partner is an idealistic person just because he is more powerful, no matter mentally or physically. Arnold Friend is a collective image created on the basis of cultural representations of a sex-appealing male idol who possesses the real power over women and make them adore him. This idol has no features to be liked so much but still he is attractive because of his devilish background. Nevertheless, devilish background can be clearly traced in this image as well as the author’s main intention to show a perfect girl’s seducer. Conclusion This research paper was focused on considerations about Arnold Friend as the Devil. This collective image of a female seducer, a perfect lover, a fleshly sin, or whatever he may be named rises up to religious background. This religious background represents interest and is studied by numerous scientists. Oates managed to show not only an everlasting challenge of male-female intimate relations bounds establishment, but also correlate it with social issues of 60s and religious background. Arnold Friend is the embodiment of a seductive and devilish nature of males and the way they capture females in their enchanting train of seduction. Works cited 1. Commentary on "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" (2010). Retrieved from: 2. Dessommes, Nancy Bishop. "O'Connor's Mrs. May and Oates's Connie: An Unlikely Pair of Religious Initiates." Studies in Short Fiction 31.3 (1994): 433+. Questia. Web. 29 June 2011. 3. Hass, Robert Bernard. "Quirk, Tom. Nothing Abstract: Investigations in the Literary Imagination." Studies in the Novel 35.2 (2003): 283+. Questia. Web. 29 June 2011. 4. If Arnold Friend is symbolized to be the devil or some form of Anti-Christ figure, who is Ellie. Retrieved from: 5. Oates, J. C. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Retrieved from: 6. Weinberger, G. J. “Who Is Arnold Friend? The Other Self in Joyce Carol Oates’s ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’” American Imago 45 (Summer, 1988): 205-15. 7. Wesley, Marilyn C. "The Transgressive Other of Joyce Carol Oates's Recent Fiction."Critique 33.4 (1992): 255-262. Questia. Web. 29 June 2011. Read More