What do the numbers mean in Where Are You Going Where have you been?
Harold Hurley posits that the numbers carry a sexual connotations because when added together they equal 69, a sexual position. This reading makes sense in the context of the story and in relation to Arnold’s continuous claims that he will teach Connie about lover, and specifically sex.
Why does Connie finally go outside as Arnold demands?
Arnold instructs Connie to come outside and says she is better than her family because they would not sacrifice themselves for her, as she is about to sacrifice herself for them. Connie’s dreams of love and romance are replaced by her dread of the oncoming sexual assault.
Why is Arnold friend attracted to Connie?
Arnold is attracted to Connie’s beauty and the innocence of her youth. As the author outlines at the beginning of the story, Connie has the type of long, dark blonde hair that attracts admiring looks—looks which, at the age of 15, she is becoming increasingly aware of.
What does Connie do at the end of the story?
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 does Arnold friend know so much about Connie?
He invites her to go for a ride. Arnold Friend seems to know many things about Connie: her name, who her friends are, and the fact that her family is gone for the afternoon. When Arnold’s friend Ellie turns around, Connie sees he looks like a forty-year-old baby.
What does Ellie offer for Arnold friend?
Ellie Oscar serves as Arnold Friend’s largely silent sidekick, sitting in the car and listening to the radio for most of the story’s action. Eventually he offers to cut Connie’s phone line, bolstering Arnold Friend’s ambiguous and seductive verbal threats with the possibility of real, physical violence.
How is Arnold friend’s name symbolic and ironic?
How is Arnold Friend’s name symbolic and ironic? Arnold’s name is ironic because he is the opposite of a friend, symbolically showing that those.
Is Arnold Friend supernatural?
Connie’s predator, Arnold Friend, is not just any supernatural force. He is the devil himself, attempting to lure a young soul with forced friendship; his last name is a direct reference to this. Arnold Friend has the ability to change voice tones (DiYanni 679), a power that Satan is known to have.
What does Arnold friend look like?
He wears mirrored sunglasses, has translucent skin, and has hair that is so wild that it looks like a wig. When he walks, he wobbles, as though his shoes don’t fit properly. Some critics suggest that his unsteadiness hints at the possibility that his feet are actually hooves, as the devil would have.
What does Connie symbolize?
Many critics have interpreted Arnold Friend as a symbol of some larger idea or force, such as the devil, death, or sexuality. Connie, also, has been said to represent many things: Eve, troubled youth, or spiritually unenlightened humanity.
Is Connie dreaming in where are you going?
In Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” the reader can conclude that this story is Connie’s realistic dream. The narrator leaves the reader to decide Connie’s fate, which is waking up from this awful nightmare relieved that her dream was not reality. Works Cited. Oates, Joyce Carol.
Are beauty standards important?
Beauty ideals are heavily implemented within our society, especially within the media telling us how we’re all supposed to look. Due to beauty ideals many women often end up being dissatisfied with what they see in the mirror.