An American Girl

There are different types of characters used for story-telling. Main characters or highly involved ones are usually "round," or they are well developed by the author and are quite responsive to the unfolding events of the story. Characters may also be labeled "flat," meaning they are not developed within the story; minor characters that have no major role in the story are often flat characters. Depending on how a character reacts to the action and events of a story, they may be labeled as "dynamic" or "static." Dynamic characters change and develop throughout the story, reacting to the events they face. Static characters, on the other hand, remain the same no matter what challenges and events they face in the story. Round and dynamic characters need to have a reason for their change, to be better understood, this is called their motivation. Motivation for a character can be crucial to not only understand a character but for the analysis of an entire story.

Writers can use the characters in their stories in many different fashions. Some may be heroes and some may be villains, some may be the active person of the story and some may be there only to help the main character along. Indeed there is an endless amount of possibilities for the use of a character. In the story of "Where are you going, where have you been?" by Joyce Carol Oates the use of characters as her main narrative element can plainly be seen. It is through the two main characters that the story is set and played out. Oates focuses mostly on two main characters in her story. The main character, Connie, can be considered a round, dynamic character. The antagonist of the story, Arnold, is a static character, but could also be considered round. Oates relies heavily on the motivation of these two characters to help the story develop. While other narrative elements such as setting and symbolism do have a presence in the story, they remain in the background and do not share the importance that her characters take.

Oates pulls the central idea and theme of this story from true events that occurred in the early 1960's. In "Where are you going, where have you been," we learn about a fifteen year old girl named Connie. Connie is basically your typical teenage girl for the time period. The main conflict of the story enters at the same time as the antagonist Arnold Friend. A very charismatic character, Arnold is quite a bit older than Connie, somewhere in his thirties. Upon first meeting, Connie is highly intrigued by Arnold. This changes quickly when Arnold arrives at the house of Connie and forces her, with threats on her family, to leave with him and another male. Oates does not explain what becomes of Connie and Arnold, but it is easy to expect the worst for Connie.

Connie is very well developed in this story. She is described as being a very pretty girl, a girl with two sides to her beauty: "Connie had long dark blonde hair that drew anyone's eye to it... she wore a pull-over jersey blouse that looked one way when she was at home and another way when she was away from home. Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home: her walk that could be childlike and bobbing, or languid enough to make anyone think she was hearing music in her head, her mouth which was pale and smirking most of the time, but bright and pink on these evenings out, her laugh which was cynical and drawling at home- "Ha, ha, very funny" -but high-pitched and nervous anywhere else..." Perhaps Connie was trying to hide another side to her from her family. It does seem that people act very differently while around family, than they do while they are with friends. This is especially true with teenagers. She was very self-loving at the beginning of the story, as she constantly was looking in mirrors at herself, and checking other people's faces, to be sure hers was O.K. According to Connie, her mother was a bit jealous of her. "Her mother had been pretty once too, if you could believe those old snapshots in the album, but now her looks were gone and that was why she was always after Connie." These actions may not seem particularly important to anyone; in fact, they are basically the same thoughts and actions of any typical 15 year old girl. Her actions and thoughts drastically change after coming in contact with Arnold.

This story may be seen as a type of fairy-tale. Schulz and Rockwood state that: "Woven into the complex texture of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Are motifs from such tales as The Red Spirit in the Bottle, Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Three Little Pigs. The Pied Piper of Hamelin, which ends tragically and so...does not qualify as a proper fairy tale, serves as the "frame device" that contains all the other tales (Schulz & Rockwood, 565)." It does seem that Connie gives an almost inhuman description of Arnold, almost surreal. She is intrigued by him, and yet at the same time, afraid of him. As with many fairy tales, the curiosity of the character usually ends with trouble or tragedy, as happens in this story. Perhaps Connie was influenced by the music and media of her generation, so blinded by it that she could not see where her curiosity would lead her. "Connie represents an entire generation of young people who have grown up - or tried to - without the help of those bedtime stories which not only entertain the child, but also enable him vicariously to experience and work through problems which he will encounter in adolescence. The only "stories" Connie knows are those of the sexually provocative but superficial lyrics of the popular songs or of the equally insubstantial movies she attends (Schulz & Rockwood, 565)."

With Arnold's arrival Connie begins to withdraw from being so outspoken and self-confident. His forcefulness upon her and threats towards her family begin to make her more self-less. Indeed it is possible that she goes with him, not for fear of her life, but for fear of the lives of her family members. Arnold becomes her motivation to change. His actions cause her changes. While the changes do make her a better person, and quite possibly force her to become more adult-like, he is not to be taken as a protagonist.

Arnold may be interpreted as being the exact opposite of Connie. Though he does pretend to act young and innocent we understand that he is a really a "wolf in sheep's clothing." In fact it may be interpreted that Arnold Friend is Oate's incarnation of the devil himself. Many critics have all agreed that Arnold is a demonic presence within the story: "Marie Urbanski argues that Arnold's feet resemble the devil's cloven hoofs, Joan Winslow calls the story an encounter with the devil, Tom Quirk maintains the story describes a demoniac character, and Christina Marsden Gillis refers to the satanic visitor's incantation (Tierce & Crafton, 567)." Roy Male takes Arnold in a very different kind of light, saying it is possible that he is some kind of savior: "...if Arnold Friend is not satanic, then his arrival could be that of a savior. As a manifestation of her own desires, he frees her from the limitations of a fifteen-year-old girl, assisting her maturation by stripping her of her childlike vision (Tierce & Crafton, 568-569)." I particularly do not agree with this interpretation of Arnold, but I can understand how Male might see Arnold in that way. If we do take Arnold to be a symbol of the devil, then the story not only encompasses a tale of lost innocence of a teenage girl, but also the battle between good and evil.

Arnold represents a true kind of evil. Not the kind that one finds in horror and slasher films, but tone that a person must always be wary of. Arnold is a very charismatic and tricky character. He uses his charm to warm the hearts of his future victims. At first he may not seem evil to the person he wants to attack, but as his true intentions begin to show, the victim sees him for what he truly is. Unfortunately for his victim, this is usually at a point in time which is too late to turn away from him. Oates use of character for Arnold shows how it is possible for one character to cover many different conflicts within a story, and how a single character can represent so much to different people.

Connie's change due to the interactions with Arnold is the major conflict of this story and the main use of Oates characters. Without Arnold's arrival, Connie would have never had such a great change of heart. Oates shows us how through the evils of the world, the good side of people can emerge. She also shows us that one character can represent more than one thing to many people. The use of characters in a story can greatly influence how the reader reacts to it, can make them sympathize for a certain person, or can make them hate them. The character is truly what makes a story special.

Works Cited

Oates, Joyce Carol "Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?" Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Compact 7^th Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage, 2010. 547-558. Print.

Schulz, Gretchen & Rockwood, R. J. R. "from In Fairlyland without a map: Connie's Exploration Inward in Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Compact 7^th Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage, 2010. 563-566. Print.

Tierce, Mike & Crafton, John Michael. "from Connies Tambourine Man: A New Reading of Arnold Friend." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Compact 7^th Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage, 2010. 567-569. Print.