"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"

            The way the author, Joyce Oates, wrote about Arnold Friend, she made him sound like an illusion, almost like he wasn’t a real man but a devil. For example, when I read this, “One of his boots was at a strange angle, as if his foot wasn’t in it,” (Oates 518). It reminded me of the physique of the devil. The devil is short and ugly.
            The fact of how he knew everything about Connie and where everyone was, it is almost like he has God-like powers, the ability to see “down” on people and know exactly what they are doing and who they are struck me as odd. Granted he might have been asking around but it didn’t seem like he ever bothered to ask around, he just simply “knew”. If he was asking Betty about Connie, Betty would tell Connie about the creep that was asking about her, wouldn’t she?
            The next thing that I found really convincing that he might be the actual devil, trying to pass off as a human being was when he said in the story, “'But why lock it,'” … “'It’s just a screen door. It’s just nothing,'” (Oates 518). It sounded like he was stating that he could go through it with no problem, just like a ghost could pass through a door. He probably realized this and he was about to blow his cover so he hastily spoke, “’I mean, anybody can break through a screen door…’” He also stated he could just as easily set the house on fire (Oates 518) and we all know what main component Hell is made from – fire.
            Lastly but not the least, he seemed to have the power to “hypnotize” someone as it seemed to show when the girl tried to pick up the phone but “something roared in her ear … she could do nothing but listen… “(Oates 520). By then I was definitely convinced that Arnold Friend was definitely not a friend, much less a human being but a devil. How could he send such terror with something as simple as roaring noise in the ear and STILL be standing outside the house like the story implicated him to be, the story also never implicated that Arnold Friend made the noise at all yet it was obvious it was him.