Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been Theory Essay

592 Words3 Pages
The theory about the story “Where Are You Going,, Where Have You Been?” that I agree most with is the one by Joyce M. Wegs: “Arnold is clearly a symbolic Satan.” Upon further examination of Wegs’ explanation to her theory, as well as the knowledge that I have of the story from reading it and the type of character that Arnold is, I find Wegs’ theory the most intriguing. She gives valid points that support her theory accordingly and that I find easiest to agree with. In her explanation of her theory, Wegs gives some very good supporting details from the story. She says that Satan is usually disguised as a normal human, but “the distortions in his appearance and behavior suggest not only that his identity is faked but also hint at his real self…” She is comparing Arnold’s character to Satan by saying that Arnold comes across at times as a harmless man with good intentions, but the way he behaves distorts the idea of him actually being a harmless man with good intentions. One may argue that throughout the story, Arnold did not raise his voice to Connie or overreact about anything; however, he still had bad intentions of doing things to Connie that were highly inappropriate and harmful to Connie. Joyce Wegs also points out something about Arnold’s name “Arnold Friend”. She says in her explanation that when he introduces himself his name hints at his identity. She notices that Arnold’s last name, “friend” is uncomfortably close to “fiend”. Wegs says that his initials could well stand for Arch Fiend. This foreshadows that later in the story; Arnold will create a problem that will inevitably lead to the climax of the story. Wegs also mentions that Connie sees Arnold as “only half real.” She makes that example from the story, where it says, “he had driven up the driveway all right but had come from nowhere before that and belonged nowhere.” This suggests that
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