Joyce Carol Oates is known for this story. She is also known for being a seriously prolific writer. Michael Dirda, in a NY Review of Books review, writes, "Joyce Carol Oates still bothers people--in all kinds of ways. For more than forty-five years she has been steadily producing novels, short stories, essays, poems, plays. Between the beginning of 2000 and the end of 2005 she published nineteen books. She has written over seven hundred short stories, more than Maupassant, Kipling, and Chekhov combined."
She is said to write from 8 until 1 every day, plus several hours in the evening.
This story was definitely creepy. The situation of being home alone with a threatening stranger ready to come after you reminds me of a nightmare I would have when I was younger [except the stranger mostly wanted to kill me, not date me]. Arnold scared her with his knowledge of her life, but I found him oddly humorous with the writings on his car and his good natured language that was out of place for situation. He was oblivious to his creepiness.
ReplyDeleteI think Arnold Friend represents both where she has been and where she is going. She says, "all the boys fell back and dissolved into a single face..." Then, in describing Arnold she says she "liked the way he was dressed, which was the way all of them dressed," and also, "his face was a familiar face, somehow." That's how he symbolizes where she's been. And, he is taking her where she is going by getting her out of the house. She doesn't want to move to the future though; she doesn't want to lose her looks like her mother, so she "dawdled in the doorway".
Wow! Talk about stalker. This was one the worst things I have ever read. Although it does bring back memories of guys who would do the same to my sister, except they didn’t have the knowledge of her life. It is kind of weird that he broke into the house instead of asking her in person outside somewhere else. I felt like the stalker was one of those who talked about people being creepy and stalker while not realizing he was one of those same people.
ReplyDeleteThe main character knows where she has been or who she is, she talks about not wanting to be like her mom. I think she sees herself as growing into the image of her mother and she is afraid of that. I like the line in the book where she talks about “dwindling in the doorway” where I think she knew where she came from as a child but not wanting to go on to what has happened to her mom and sister. She wants to stay right where she is.
This story, although short had a powerful resonance with me. To me this story did an excellent job of developing character through another character. We were able to see the daughter as a self- absorbed adolescent through the eyes of her mother, whom was depicted as an older women past her days of beauty and possibly envious of her daughter's youth. We are able to "pan in" and see Connie as she is constantly watching herself. For example, she is continuously watching herself through mirrors and even in the reflection of Arnold Friend's glasses when he appears at her house. Through this theme of reflection, Oates is emphasizing the character of Conner and illustrating her self-obsession.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the eeriness of the story, it was important to connect the title with the actually actions happening within the story. The story titled, " Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is best shown through the actions of her new stalker- Mr. FRIEND - 8 ) he will be your friend too* Where are you going? - Connie is faced with a decision with the presence of this new man- where will she go? This is also displayed by the absence of her family. Where have you been?-This looks back on Connie's past and is again reiterated when Arnold Friend says, "The place where you came from aint there anymore". Ultimately Connie chooses to go to the place that she hadn't seen before and was scared of. Connie is facing a fear and demonstrating a fear of the unknown- But who wouldn't be scared going somewhere with this creep?
Conner AKA Connie **
ReplyDeleteEven though this story seemed to be so full of suspense, I just really couldn’t get into it. I guess it was because after reading that JCO writes so much during the day, that I kind of began to doubt her ability to do anything correctly. Like, her mind needs a rest from all the characters that she’s creating, you know? Does that make sense?
ReplyDeleteThen again, I thought that she characterized her characters very well, at least in the sense of Arnold Friend. I could almost feel his words oozing off the page with how slick he was trying to come off. I pictured him so well in my head, while the rest of the characters, especially Connie, came off hazy.
To me, the mother-older child-younger child relationship seems to cliché to me, but I guess good writing comes with clichés?
I found this story to be rather odd in it's delivery. While it seemed realistic, there was an odd sense of otherworldliness. Why did Arnold know so much about Connie? It could be assumed that he is a stalker, but he seems to know more than a stalker generally would. He also, like Rory mentioned, seemed to be the depiction of every boy she has ever been attracted to. Even more peculiar is that in the matter of a few seconds, Connie realizes that Arnold and Ellie are both much older than she thought on first glance. This conglomerate of faces and facade of youth seem to make Arnold and Ellie out to be inhuman.
ReplyDeleteFor these reasons I believe that the two men are a metaphor for Connie's life. She is obviously scared of Arnold, but eerily drawn to him. It is this intrigue of the unknown that seems to be pulling her towards these men. Another factor of this strange attraction seems to focus on the persona that came with Arnold. He was at times a witty charmer, and at others, a terrifying thug. He was a ladykiller, possibly in more than one sense of the word. Arnold was definitely an alluring and dangerous character, which made this story that much more disturbing.
Well, I've just finished reading Where Are You Going, A.K.A. Danny Zuko Drags Sandy to Hell, and I am thoroughly unsettled. The detail that unsettles me the most is the pacing, and how slowly the ominous feelings creep up on you, like being trapped in a room that's filling up with ice water. It starts out nice and town-and-country-ish, with the description of Connie and her family and her trips to the mall, and you're lulled into your sense of security. Then you hear "Gonna get you, girl," and it gives you pause, but you, the reader, brush it off. Then Arnold shows up at her house, and you start feeling that cold and wet sensation nipping at your bare ankles, but you keep going. Then he invites Connie to ride in his car, a stranger's car, and he knows all of her family and friends' names, and where her family is, and now he looks freaking Forty and he's calling her his lover and he's making threats against her and her family and by the time Connie is screaming into the phone for help, the reader's lips are pressed to the ceiling of that room, begging for a happy ending, for fresh air. And they don't get it.
ReplyDeleteWhat gave this story its strength, in my opinion, is how well Oates is able to describe people, their behaviors, and the thoughts that run through their heads. Arnold is the villain of this story, but what makes him so frightening is that he seems so Real, and intrigues the reader like he intrigues Connie. And when the story takes its smooth and terrible left turn, we're scared for Connie and want to reach out and help her because we know her, she isn't just a stereotype thrown together in minutes. She has a family and dreams and relationships and it seems unfair to snuff all of those out with the stroke of a sentence. Oates puts enough thought into her characters to make us care what happens (or doesn't happen) to them.
My take on the story was that it spoke much about the loss of innocence, and not in a good way. Connie's rebellion and self-indulgence come across as being callow and witless when she starts hanging out with boys instead of being with her friends at the mall like she told her parents. I believe that Arnold Friend is meant to symbolize sin and temptation, aka the devil. When Connie starts to rebel is when she meets him and he eventually follows her home. His suaveness and the way that he seems to know everything about her also seems to lend itself to the image of a tempting devil. Where she has been was her childhood, and where she was going... down the path of temptation. It is a story of loss of innocence as she slowly succumbs to Arnold Friend, not maturing, but losing her childhood and purity in a way that she cannot return to it. Oates manages to convey a sense of tension through dialogue that seems innocuous, but has a darker edge that sets off a fear inside of you.
ReplyDeleteEesh. That was a creepy story. I don't think the fact that his name was Arnold 'Friend' could have been anymore ridiculous, or any funnier, for that matter. The first half of the story is basically a bland description of the boring life Connie lives, and basically how badly she wishes to break free from it. Unfortunately, the freedom that Connie seeks, seems to be in the raping arms of a stalker.
ReplyDeleteThe other strange part about the story is the character named Ellie, Arnold's apparent deaf partner in crime. He's mysterious, and when we find out that he's at least 40 years old we are overcome with an even heavier feeling of discomfort. The fact that he keeps asking Arnold if he wants to take out the phone is strange, I couldn't tell if he meant for Connie to call the cops or if it was some weird joke he had with Arnold. The moment where Connie attempted to call the police was confusing, but I guess she could've been so struck with fear that she couldn't even manage to dial the phone. The idea that it ends with Connie, basically out-of-body, leaving her house and walking to Arnold only adds to the unnerving feeling throughout the story.
Also, the fact that Arnold stuffs his boots to appear taller and more attractive further adds to his facade...and also explains his constant leaning and strange style of movement.
This was a very interesting story that for much of the plot zooms in on a terrorizing sort of moment that is feared by many. I really like the way that this story is designed. We first look at a comparison of Connie, her mother, and her older sister. The mother used to look as good as Connie but her looks have faded - and now she resents Connie for having them. Her sister is almost ten years older, and while living at home, has advanced herself enough in the world to please her mother. Connie is constantly compared with her.
ReplyDeleteI like the way that after this is established we are looking down the line asking where will Connie's life take her? Once we are looking down the line the plot twists - and Connie is placed in a situation that threatens her entire future.
At the end of the story I didn't see it as Connie facing her fears. I saw it as Connie accepting what was going to happen to her and giving up on resisting. She emptily decided to just follow the path rather than fighting it.
Like everyone above me I agree that this story is really creepy, a lot of what I could really say about this story has also been said sadly, I haven’t slept yet and I finally got internet connection. To add to the conversation (even though its sorta over) a friend of mine is going to school to become a director and one of his first shorts was a short movie version of this story. So when I picked up this story and saw the name Arnold Friend, an image of my friend Noah, a fairly creepy looking dude when he wants to be, creeping up on this girl from the doorway of the house.
ReplyDeleteThis story, or so me and him discussed after he showed it to us back home, is pretty much about Arnold Friend being a form of the Devil. His creepy leaning, and just off the right time period remarks, paint him as someone who doesn’t belong. This story inspires, uncomfortable feelings and creepy dreams, not great bedtime material if I do say so myself.
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ReplyDeleteI think what is so intensely wonderful about this story is that I pretty much liked Arnold until he made that weird shift to the dark side. I was almost happy for this Connie because she seemed to out of place in her own life, struggling through all the normal things that teenagers go through. She argues with her parents and doesn’t really get along with them and she is going through the stage of life where she wants more independence then she is necessarily ready for. We can relate, like, and root for all of the characters and I found myself extremely attached to what was going to happen to Connie because I could relate to well to her character.
ReplyDeleteI think character description is the best part of Oates has the distinct ability to get the reader to really relate and more so like the characters. We like Arnold because he is branch of Connie’s independence and I even went so far in my own thoughts to want them to work out and for Connie to find that slice of happiness that teenagers so badly desire. But then I realize that no teenager gets this sort of thing in real life, meeting an older guy at the shopping mall and then things working out blissfully. The truth is things would never work out even if he wasn’t a bad guy, but since he is a bad guy it almost emphasizes Oates’s point even further. Arnold is a symbol of youth and innocence in my opinion. He is the devil knocking at your door, except you have absolutely no choice but to answer and to step out into hell. Part of me wanted to think that she brought this madness on herself, but then the relatable quality hit me and I thought of all the times I was hit on my older, creepy guys in my life. The number was pretty high and anyone of them could have been just like Arnold.