“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”
Connie is not very likeable, but what fifteen-year-old is. She is conceited, judgmental, and incredibly rude. There is very little she likes about her family, who she believes to be inferior in every way to the wonder that is Connie; so she spends as much time as she can away from them whether it is shopping and hanging with boys or just staying home when the rest of the family goes on an outing. Maybe Connie brings the trouble that is Arnold Friend upon herself, but one thing is for certain no girl of such naiveté deserves such a punishment.

Don’t befriend anyone who’s last name is “Friend”. It is not meant to be a last name and probably means they are a rapist, pedophile or both. Arnold is based off the serial killer Charles Schmid. During the 60’s Schmid, a young and well off man known to wear makeup and stuff his boots to appear taller, murdered at least three teenage girls. Arnold unlike Charles Schmid is either supernatural or not real. This is pretty obvious due to Arnold’s infinite knowledge of Connie and all of her relations. Some believe that this omniscience is because Arnold is the devil himself. To support this you can look at the fact that “one of his boots was at a strange angle, as if his foot wasn’t in it. It pointed to the left, bent at the ankle”, which can be taken to mean that Arnold has cloven hooves for feet. (118) I find this reasoning to be ridiculous. If I am going to believe that Arnold is the devil I will do so because he is pure evil.

What I find to make the most sense is that Mr. Friend, Ellie, and ugly car are all imaginary. They are created by the twisted mind of a teenager and reflect the many problems of Connie and her age group. Ellie represents the nonstop auditory stimulation needed by teenagers “to drown out the quiet.”(13) The car is a gold convertible, but still not up to the times as Connie quickly notices “up at the front fender was an expression that was familiar – MAN THE FLYING SAUCERS. It was an expression kids used the year before, but didn’t use this year.”(70) “Kids” probably refers to her age group, but when you are young a year is a long time and something that recently out of style is about as bad as it gets.

Arnold frighteningly is quite a bit like Connie and how she may be in the future. Attached to the idea of being young and beautiful, Arnold has become completely fake. He is dressed as if he is a teenager, but that is where his likeliness to one ends. His laugh, (46) eyelashes, (84) hair, (94) and even his height all appear to be false. (124) Just like Connie, Arnold resorts to putting others down to bring himself up, even using the same insults Connie used earlier calling her sister chubby, and their friends dopes. (133/102) The scariest part of Arnold is how he shows the teen desire and fear of growing up, as with this comes sexual desire, which Connie is clearly not prepared for no matter how hip she believes herself to be. To end the confrontation Arnold states any teenager’s greatest fear “The place where you came from ain’t there any more, and where you had in mind to go is cancelled out.” (152) With such a grim outcast put before her, Connie folded. She gave up on her future and herself. (607)