Textual Analysis

Creepy Friend

While growing up, my parents always told me to “stay away from strangers”.   Joyce Carol Oates’ story “Where are you going, where have you been” addresses this topic in a much more extreme case.   “Where are you going, where have you been” is about a young girl named Connie.   She is a much different person when hanging out with friends then she is at home.   One Sunday afternoon, when her family was all at their aunt’s house, Connie got a visit from Arnold Friend and even though she didn’t know it right away, Arnold was going to change her life.   The movie “Smooth Talk” that was made after “Where are you going, where have you been”, was very similar to it.   The only main distinction was at the end of the movie, Connie returns home after the drive with Arnold.   In the story, you never find out what happened to her.   Different themes and techniques made the story by Oates much creepier then the movie “Smooth Talk”.

The main theme of the film “Smooth Talk” seemed to vary from the theme of “Where are you going, where have you been”.   The overall message I received from the movie was that you have to watch out for people like Arnold Friend, who was a pedophile.   Like at the end of the movie when Connie returns home and dances with her sister, she convinces herself that she never went on the ride with Arnold.   The movie seemed to focus around the discussion between Connie and Arnold, where as the story seemed to have a deeper meaning.   If you read into all the details Oates included in the story, it seems Arnold Friend can represent the devil.   Whenever the devil is brought into a piece of literature or movie, he is what causes people to do bad things by persuading them into making bad decisions.   If you look at the movie, Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, the image of the devil is used in a similar way. “You guys, having some satanic guitar pick isn't gonna make your rock any better... because Satan's not in a guitar pick, he's inside all of us. In...