Why Arnold Was The Devil Essay, Research Paper
Reasons for Arnold Friend being the Devil
In Where are you going, Where have you been? the devil is masquerading as Arnold
Friend, or that he is at least one of the devil s messengers. All the evidence during the corse of
the story helps to support this fact. One could see with all of the supernatural things that Friend
did, such as predict where and where Connie s entire family was and what they were doing,
proved that he was at least one of the Devil s evil little pranksters: He ain t coming. He s at a
barbecue Aunt Tillie s. Right now they re-uh-they re drinking Yeah. Sitting around. There is
your sister in the blue dress, huh? And high heels, the poor sad bitch-nothing like you,
sweetheart! And your mother s helping sone fat woman with the corn, they re cleaning the
husking corn (Oates 452). By Friend predicting what and where Connie s family was doing
should further support the fact that he is the Devil. Another reason that Friend might be the devil
would be the fact that he has a minion, which happens to be Ellie. But the most obvious thing
that one could have noticed was Friend s rough appearance.
Arnold Friend s appearance was that of a person in a Halloween costume. His hair was
all over his head, very shabby, and looked as if it were a wig that was put on wrong. His nose
looked as if it were the beak of a parrot, elongated and hooked. Friend s eyes looked as if they
were pieces of broken mirror that one could see many reflections in. His shoes that he wore were
turned in different ways which would suggest that he did not have feet but hooves instead. Also,
there was the fact that the inside of Arnold s throat was not like any normal persons throat. His
throat looked very tan as if it were made of wheat colored boot s. This could make Friend devil
like because the inside of a regular persons mouth is pink and fleshy. Another fact that could
help support that Friend is the devil is his rhythmic speech Listen: Betty Schultz and Tony Fitch
and Jimmy Pettinger and Nancy Pettinger, he said in a chant. Raymond Stanley and Bob
Hunter (450). Every sentence that Friend spoke it was as if he were trying to vocalize every
word that came out of his mouth. These attributes that Friend showed such as his odd facial
appearance, his rhythmic speech and the fact that the inside of his throat was discolored all
suggested that he may not be of this earth. He could even be one of the Devil s imps from hell.
One could realize that normal people do not look or sound like this.
Besides Friend s appearance, there was his evil intent in manipulating Connie so that her
could rape her and kill her. Friend starts to manipulate Connie with his charm and his other
influential tactics. One of the first ways that Friend tried to manipulate Connie was to tell her
that he was a very popular person and that he knew all of the same people that she knew: Listen:
Betty Schultz and Tony Fitch and Jimmy Pettinger and Nancy Pettinger, Raymond Stanley and
Bob Hunter. I know everybody (450). Friend knew that Connie would fall for this because the
only people that she wanted to be associated with were the popular ones. One can see that the
only thing that Connie is interested in the physical appearance of a person. She is always looking
in the mirror and in other peoples faces to make sure that her own face was ok. Connie s own
mother even told her that she looked in the mirror too much: Stop gawking at yourself. Who do
you think you are? You think that you re so pretty (445)? Her mother told her this because she
knew that she only valued appearance and judged people from what she saw on the surface. This
is why Connie goes to the drive-in restaurant where the older kids hung out.
Friend also manipulated Connie by making her hear thing that were not really there, such
as the roaring in the phone that was just an illusion due
was so scared of Friend that almost anything that he told her she would believe: Soon as you
touch the phone I don t need to keep my promise and can come inside. You don t want that
(453). By Connie not picking up the phone showed how afraid of Friend she was. It even got to
the point where Connie could not even recognize her own kitchen. The fear effect of Friend on
Connie was so strong that it made her forget what her kitchen looked like.
Friend again fooled Connie into thinking that her house was not as safe as she though is
was, that doors and things were easy to avoid I mean, anyone can break through a screen door
and glass and wood and iron or anything else if he needs to, anybody at all, and especially Arnold
Friend (453). By Frined telling Connie this it must suggest that he has some kind of special
powers to break through metal without tools. Friend also made it clear that he would not come
into the house and that Connie was going to come out to him: Honey, honey, I m not coming in
there but your coming out here. You know why (453)? Friend may have told her this because
of her fear that she was about to give in to him. With Connie s growing terror one may notice
that Arnold Friend is growing stronger and that Connie is getting weaker. Friend told Connie
that she was his and that he could show her what real love was like: I ll have my arms tight
around you so you won t need to try and get away and I ll show you what real love is like, what it
does (455). When Friend said this it was as if he were informing Connie that she was his and
that she could not get away.
Finally there was the fact that Friend could have used black-magic on Connie to seduce
her and make do just about any thing that he wanted her to do No honey. Pick it up and put it
back right (454). By Friend saying this to Connie one would think that he had a sort of mind
control over her. There was also the fact that Friend marked her with and X at the drive-in
restaurant. The X was probably Friend s way of putting a spell on Connie so that she would
follow his every whim. Friend even went as far as to bring her family into the picture
The other reason that Arnold Friend can be considered the Devil is because he has an
assistant who happens to be Ellie Oscar. Ellie s appearance was fairly different from that of his
boss, Arnold Friend. His hair could have been real in comparison to Friend who had hair that
looked like a wig. Ellie had a small piece of hair that fell upon his forehead, and the sideburns
that he had exclaimed Elvis look alike. His shirt was half unbuttoned revealing the pale chest
just like that of Friend. The collar on his shirt was pointed so that it looked as if it were
protecting his body from the sun. The little radio that he had was place up to his face as if he
were trying to hide it from everyone. The fact that Ellie could be considered one of Friend s
minion is because he was trying to do a task to impress his boss Want the phone pulled
out? (454). By Ellie pulling out the phone he would show his loyalty. The attempts that he
made to impress Friend were in vain, this action only made Friend angry. Friend figured that he
could control Connie without his help. In seeing that Ellie was Friend s underling one could get
the feeling that Frined was in actually the Devil.
Even though it is not expressed in the story that Friend is the Devil the fact s stated above
should help to sustain it. As one can see through Friend s physical appearance ,the fact that he
may have used black-magic to seduce and manipulate Connie, and the fact that Ellie could
possibly be his minion should suggest that he is just the Devil masquerading as a human. Seeing
that Joyce Carol Oates story was based on the exploits of Charles Schmid it is likely that he
should be the Devil. Evidently, in Oates writing she points out that he is.