Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?": Arnold Fiend

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energy, so we should also be
sensitive to Arnold's multifaceted and creative nature”(Tierce and Crafton 608).
Mike Tierce and John Michael Crafton suggest that Arnold Friend is not a
diabolical figure, but instead a religious and cultural savior.
On a more realistic note, Joyce M. Wegs argues the symbolism of Arnold
Friend as a Satan figure when she writes: “Arnold is far more a grotesque
portrait of a psychopathic killer masquerading as a teenager; he also has all
the traditional, sinister traits of that arch deceiver and source of grotesque
terror, the devil”(616). She also writes about how the author sets up the idea
of a religious, diabolical figure when she links popular music and its values as
Connie's perverted version of a religion. Another hint is Arnold's almost
supernatural, mysterious knowledge about Connie, her family and her friends(Wegs
617).
The main reason why the reader would extract this diabolical symbol from
reading the story is that Arnold's ...

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