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The impression of approaching danger since the story moves along is created pertaining to the reader in Joyce Jean Oates’ brief story, Exactly where Are You Heading, Where Have You Been?, through using mythical elements to describe what is going on in the story. Throughout the account, she uses several descriptions associated with the devil to act as metaphors intended for the male personality and what happens to Connie while also representational of the power of evil to tempt, get over, and destroy the individual.
Connie is the image of innocence.
A young woman of 20, she is in the time adolescence when young women begin to check out beyond all their childhood lives and have a taste showing how it is prefer to be a parent. She is also pretty, captivated with mirrors and fussing with her looks. She is very unlike her plain elderly sister. Similar to most pretty ladies her grow older who want enjoyment and not be “plain and steady just like the sister, Connie is giggly and eager for new things, not aware that danger lurks all set to exploit the fantasies of girls like her. She is like innocent Red Riding Bonnet who thinks the woods are nice, comfortable places traveling through unaware of the wolf that lives within.
Following describing Connie and her family, the writer introduces the technique of incorporating mythic element in the storyline by talking about the drive-in restaurant like a “sacred building that loomed up out from the night to give them what haven and blessings they yearned for¦the music was¦like music for a church service¦The restaurant can be described as wholesome place for young people to meet and revel in each other peoples company. However , once Connie gets out from the restaurant towards the parking lot, the girl with not safe ever again.
The devil lurks just outdoors sacred spots, ready to induce anyone who gets out of the brow and who may be willing to take action naughty and fun. It truly is outside wherever Connie recognizes Arnold Good friend for the first time whilst they would not end up being introduced to one another then as Connie is to use Eddie, a wholesome youngster her era whom your woman meets inside the “sacred cafe.
Right after that first appointment, the story begins its scary quality because the author focuses on Arnold Good friend and uses mythological and cultural groups with the devil to describe him. A single association is definitely how Arnold Friend comes into the picture and how he appears like. His strategy is announced by the “glow of slow-pulsed joy that seemed to surge mysteriously out from the music which in turn Connie was listening to at that time her father and mother and sibling went to a barbecue party at her aunt’s one particular weekend, going out of her by itself in the house. Stone music, music that are quickly and hard, is linked to rebellious teenagers.
Arnold Friend appears to her with a rock and roll song without your knowledge and looking just like a rock star himself, just as the men in Connie’s fantasy. He had “fair brown hair¦sideburns (that) gave him a fierce, uncomfortable look¦wore sunglasses¦tight faded jeans stuffed in to black, scuffed boots, a belt that pulled his waist in and confirmed how low fat he was¦the jaw and chin and cheeks somewhat darkened because he hadn’t shaved¦and the nose area long and hawklike. His features are razor-sharp, his dress scruffy, and his bearing is incredibly manly. He appeals to her fantasy to look attractive to her, hence making it easier to achieve his purpose.
However , the skin around his eyes, which she notices when he will take off his eyeglasses, was “like holes that have been not in shadow although instead in light. The eyes themselves were “like chips of broken cup that light in an mellifluous way. They were devilish eyes, dazzling and contrary to normal man eyes. If he speaks, it truly is in “a simple lilting voice, just as if he were reciting the words to a song. He regularly smiles, also.
His name can be Arnold Friend, an obvious pun on “fiend. He is naturally a bad dude with poor intentions although one who conceal them well. No different name is more trustworthy than one who features “Friend for the family identity.
Arnold voyages a fantastic jalopy. The shiny car symbolizes the way the temptations of evil often come in a dazzling and desirable package. Connie herself can be amused and fascinated with the car. He uses signals and secret unique codes. When the car comes to a stop by the entry way, “the horn sounded 4 taps. Beside Arnold Friend’s car are more rules: the amounts 33, nineteen, and seventeen. He as well tells Connie at a single point during their conversation that he includes a sign, the letter By. Superstition, having its preoccupation with codes, indicators and amounts, is associated with the irony.
Another relationship is the advice that Arnold Friend is aware everything regarding Connie which is even telepathic. When he telephone calls Connie by name, she is surprised since she hardly ever introduced himself at any time ahead of he hard drives into their front door. He knows the names of her family, all her friends from practice, and explains to her that he can discover what is happening by Aunt Tillie’s barbecue get together at the very moment that he is discussing with her.
Connie, of course , knows the danger she’s in though it takes a while to drain in since at first she thinks your woman can merely waive Arnold off and he would basically leave her exclusively. She knows the indications to the sort of brewing problems she is facing with Arnold when the lady recognizes “that sleepy dreamy smile that the boys used to get across ideas they will didn’t desire to put in to words¦and the singsong method he discussed, slightly mocking, kidding, yet serious¦ Your woman knows the game of temptations and the lady tries to withstand as hard as she could.
Afterwards in the conversation, however , when Connie continue to be resist and particularly when the girl threatens him with contacting the police, Arnold slowly will take off the cover up he offers put on to seduce her with sweet taste and turns into forceful. Evil cannot continue on its nice face when it realizes just how it is within the verge of defeat. In order to cannot acquire its approach through nice talk and wheedling, it could resort to the usage of force and violence. Connie also recognizes the switch and she gets real worry and dread. Arnold helps it be clear to her when he says, “the place where you originated from ain’t there any more, and where you had in mind to go is usually cancelled out. Of course , Connie would have called her parents or the police and it could possess frightened Arnold off and leave her.
All things considered, she is inside the house while he is locked outdoors. He cannot go in and it would took him a while to break the doorway, long enough intended for Connie to help make the call. But like the devil, he plays with her weakness, dilemma and fear at the moment. Arnold controls him self, knowing that it might work better in the event that Connie comes out of her individual will. This individual continues to seduce her with promises of a pleasurable knowledge. He guarantees to bring her “to a good field, out in the country here where Arnold will “have (his) hands tight around (her). He attempts to convince her that she actually is better than any one of her loved ones and only he can understand her and her needs ideal.
Towards the end of the account, Arnold will keep coaxing till Connie feels she is certainly not herself any longer. The author explains it while an incantation. She is tempted and hypnotized by his words. She gets become an observer watching herself “put out her hand resistant to the screen¦push the door slowly open¦moving out into the sunlight where Arnold Revolutionary waited. She has given up herself for the devil. She has fallen by grace. She could never be the same once again.
Using descriptive elements linked to the mythical monster called the devil proves to become an effective approach in growing the story because it adds that extra component of scariness in the reading. Someone associate what is going on in the account with the extra imageries and it intensifies the uncertainty and anticipations of the certainly tragic stopping of the feminine character. The ending is not only about Connie giving himself up to Arnold. It is also about how evil has tempted chasteness, wins above her, and leads her to a bad end.
Job Cited
Oates, Joyce Jean. Where Will you be Going, Wherever Have You Been?
