Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Arnold Friend is inspired by a real-life serial killer Charles Schmid, who wore his hair in a shoe polish black pompadour and stuffed his shoes with newspaper, a tactic Arnold Friend seems to share: “Evidently his feet did not go all the way down; the boots must have been stuffed with something so that he would seem taller” (263). Like Arnold’s ride-along Ellie, the real-life Schmid’s friend listened to the radio while his first murder took place. These true-to-life details instill a chilling effect. However, Oates adds a new dimension to Arnold when, throughout his visit with Connie, he begins to exhibit an otherworldly knowledge of information he should not possess. When Connie asks how he knows her name, Arnold rattles off the names of children from Connie’s school. His aim is to prove that he is the same age as Connie and from the same social circles Connie belongs to, but when Connie suggests that her family will be back soon, Arnold convincingly describes her family’s current whereabouts and actions as if he has the power to see them.

When interpreted as the embodiment of death, Arnold’s strange behavior, awkward appearance, and constant grinning gain depth and nuance. While trying to lure Connie into his car, Arnold continuously implies a prearranged meeting, as though their encounter had been predetermined. He tells her, “Connie, you ain’t telling the truth. This is your day set aside for a ride with me and you know it” (256). What previously seemed insidious ranting now implies the predeterminism of death’s sudden arrival. Arnold’s appearance is a continuum of allusions to the reaper. Although he has taken his wardrobe and mannerisms direct from the crowd of Connie’s drive-in restaurant and favorite music, Arnold’s quirk for constantly grinning, laughing, and gnashing his teeth are references to a skeleton’s permanent smile. Later, Arnold likens Connie’s home to a “cardboard box I can knock down anytime. You know that and always did know it. You hear me?” (265). Here, Oates uses an allusion to the poetic tradition of the sublime; like Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Romantic Era sonnet Ozymandias, which meditates on the broken stone effigy of a once great ruler in a desert wasteland, man and the constructs invented by man all fall victim to death’s leveling power. Through Arnold, Oates compresses the symbology of death with the grisly reality of men who hunt women. The result is an enduring and terrifying tableau.