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Arnold Friend or Arnold Foe

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Arnold Friend or Arnold Foe
Professor Hauth-Forgie
English 102
19 February 2014

Arnold Friend or Arnold Foe
‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’, a short story by Joyce Carol Oates, takes place in the mid-sixties and revolves around two central characters, Connie and Arnold Friend, who mysteriously appears at Connie’s home and tries to coax her into coming with him before ultimately forcing her. Arnold Friend is a much debated character among critics, largely due to hints of inhuman abilities and his intentions for Connie. It is hard to determine the answers to these because there is no direct description of Arnold Friend that states what he is, nor is it revealed what happens to Connie in the end. The article ‘Connie’s Tambourine Man: A New Reading of Arnold Friend’ by Mike Tierce and John Crafton describes Arnold as a Bob Dylan reincarnation, messiah type figure who has come to save Connie from her family and childhood. However, Mike Tierce and John Crafton’s misinterpretation of Arnold Friend being a savior is wrong because they misconstrue Arnold’s intentions towards Connie, his physical appearance, the numbers on the side of his car, and the role music plays in the portrayal of Arnold Friend.
Tierce and Crafton’s theory that Arnold is a savior is flawed because they misunderstand Arnold Friend’s intentions of freeing Connie from the limitations of a child. Tierce and Crafton believe Arnold Friend was conjured up by Connie’s imagination. Tierce and Crafton believe that he is a manifestation of all the desires Connie holds in her heart. Her wish to be a grown woman created a messiah named Arnold Friend, who came to her to take her away from her father’s home and set her free, saying to Connie, “we’ll go out to a nice field, out in the country here where it smells so nice and it’s sunny”(Joyce Carol Oates, 515). Taking the innocence and limitations that her age brings allows her to leave and go with Arnold Friend (Connie’s Tambourine Man: A New Reading of Arnold Friend). He
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