Human kind's fascination with the nature and appearance of evil is ancient. According to most belief systems, evil can not take a person away or make them do things by force. The course that evil must take to make a person do its bidding is to coerce them into doing something against their moral standards. This issue has been explored by many writers over the course of history, but the one that I am going to focus on at this moment is Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates. In her story, she makes it evident, contrary to his name, that Arnold Friend is a devil.

The now traditional avatars of evil, thanks to the widespread practice of Christianity, are Satan and his demons. A demon, according to legend, is short, ugly, and has horns on top of its head. The "demon" of this story, Arnold Friend, fits this description fairly well. He is described as being short, looking ageless, and having a fake appearance. "His whole face was a mask, she thought wildly, tanned down to his throat but then running out as if he had plastered makeup on his face but had forgotten about his throat." (Oates 433) "He had to bend to adjust his books. Evidently his feet did not go all the way down; the boots must have been stuffed with something so that he would seem taller." (Oates 434)

In addition to this, everything that he does seems forced. The way he talks, both in tone and style of speaking, doesn't seem sincere. "…he said in a rapid meaningless tone of voice, as if he were running through all the expressions he'd learned but was no longer sure which one of them was in style…" (Oates 435) That shows that what he is doing to Connie, he has been doing for quite some time. He can also pass for a person much younger than his actual age. "She could see then that he wasn't a kid, he was much older - thirty, maybe more." (Oates 432)

However, with the introduction of Arnold Friend, Oates has taken a normal situation and introduced a supernatural undertone to it. There is the obvious omniscience that Arnold possesses over all facets of Connie's life; he knows who she is and where her family is. Someone, during class, brought up the point that he is a stalker. This is true to an extent, but he knows far too much about her to be a normal stalker. He knows what her family is doing across town, "There's your sister in a blue dress, huh? And high heels, the poor sad bitch - nothing like you sweet-heart!" (Oates 433)

Yet, despite all of the demonic symbolism, the most popular interpretation of the story is merely that Connie was raped. The definition of rape though, is having intercourse wit a female forcibly and without her consent. Connie went to Arnold willingly. "She put her hand against the screen. She watched herself push the door slowly open as if she were safe back somewhere in the other doorway, watching this body and this head of long hair moving out into the sunlight where Arnold Friend waited." (Oates 437)

In fact, it can't even be argued that Arnold forcibly made her come to him. The entire time he never went beyond the threshold of her house, which is faintly reminiscent of the old vampire legend in which the vampire can not go into a house unless invited in. Originally he had said to her, "Soon as you touch that phone I don't need to keep my promise and can come inside. You won't want that." (Oates 434) Connie does pick up the phone though, and he still doesn't come inside. In fact, when she picks up the phone, he tells her to put the phone down, and she kicks it away from herself.

Likewise, it can be said that when Connie was performing these actions, she wasn't in control of herself. There were numerous references that alluded to the fact that she was in possession of all of her faculties. "…she ran into the back room and picked up the telephone. Something roared in her ear, a tiny roaring, and she was so sick with fear that she could do nothing but listen to it - the telephone was clammy and very heavy and her fingers groped down to dial but were too weak to touch it…she felt her breath start jerking back and forth in her lungs as if it were something Arnold Friend were stabbing her with…" (Oates 435-436)

Yet, it still remains to be answered, why did Arnold chose Connie? From the first time he meets her at the diner, he seems to know that they will be meeting again, "He wagged a finger and laughed and said, 'Gonna get you, baby,' and Connie turned away again without Eddie noticing anything." (Oates 427) Even when he shows up at her house, he seems to have already decided that this meeting would take place, and he shows that she is already a "marked" woman. "And he drew an X in the air, leaning out toward her." (Oates 431) What about Connie drew Arnold to her?

It could be stated that evil is attracted by the weak, feeble minded, and easily corruptible; people who possess a loose hold on moral concepts. Connie falls under the last category; she seems to possess a very inflated ego. "…she knew she was pretty and that was everything." (Oates 426) Now, according to most legends about devils, they tend to take people that are immersed in their own vanity.

However, once Arnold has taken Connie away from her house, where do they go from there? I believe that the author purposely left this ending open for interpretation. One such meaning that we could construe out of the end is that Arnold took Connie away to copulate with her, and then kill her. "I'll have my arms tight around you so you won't need to try to get away and I'll show you what love is like, what it does." (Oates 436) He speaks to her in a calm, assuring manner, but lying just underneath the surface is an implied threat. "But if you don't come out we're gonna wait till your people come home and then they're all going to get it." (Oates 435)

In addition to this, there are several references to the fact that he is following a script, meaning that he does this kind of thing often. " 'My sweet little blue-eyed girl,' he said, in a half-sung sigh that had nothing to do with her brown eyes…" (Oates 437) "Arnold friend said, in a gentle-loud voice that was like a stage voice…" (Oates 436) However, if he has indeed done this type of thing before, where are the other girls? The point of the story in regards to Arnold Friend is thus: evil has no influence over you if you don't accept it. From the very beginning of the story Connie was wishing someone would take her away. She wanted to be appreciated as a pretty girl, and she wanted attention to be lavished on her. "Connie wished her mother was dead, and she herself was dead… 'She [Connie's mother] makes me want to throw up sometimes'" (Oates 426) In essence, Connie got what she asked for; to get there, she accepted the help of the devil.

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