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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