Arnold Friend Character Analysis In Where Are You ... - LitCharts

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Introduction + Context Plot Summary Detailed Summary & Analysis Themes All Themes Appearances and Deception Agency, Control, and Manipulation The Presence of Evil Music and Romantic Fantasy Loss of Innocence Quotes Characters All Characters Connie Arnold Friend Ellie Symbols All Symbols Music Connie’s House Arnold Friend’s Car Literary Devices All Literary Devices Allusions Foil Genre Imagery Metaphors Mood Setting Similes Style Tone Download PDF Download Teacher Edition Sign In Sign up for A+ AI Tools

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Sign In Sign up for A+ Sign up Introduction Intro Plot Summary Plot Summary & Analysis Themes

• All Themes
• Appearances and Deception
• Agency, Control, and Manipulation
• The Presence of Evil
• Music and Romantic Fantasy
• Loss of Innocence

Quotes Characters

• All Characters
• Connie
• Arnold Friend
• Ellie

Symbols

• All Symbols
• Music
• Connie’s House
• Arnold Friend’s Car

Lit Devices

• All Literary Devices
• Allusions
• Foil
• Genre
• Imagery
• Metaphors
• Mood
• Setting
• Similes
• Style
• Tone

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Arnold Friend Character Analysis

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The story’s antagonist, Arnold Friend is a deeply sinister character—a man who pretends to be a teenage boy in his effort to kidnap, rape, and murder Connie. Connie first sees Friend outside a drive-in restaurant, where he immediately tells her, “Gonna get you, baby.” Throughout the story it becomes clear that he is highly manipulative and that his appearance is deceptive. Not only does he use Connie’s love of music to make himself seem like an ideal romantic suitor and speak to her in a lilting, sing-song fashion to distract her from the horror of his words, he also wears makeup and stuffs his boots to make himself appear both younger and taller. These are all parts of his attempt to manipulate Connie into coming out of her house so that he can abduct her and, it is implied, rape and murder her. Over the course of their disjointed conversation, there are references to biblical verses and Friend demonstrates an uncanny knowledge of Connie’s personal life. He also seems to know exactly what her family is doing at that very moment. In this way, it seems possible that Friend is an evil supernatural force, perhaps even the devil himself. Oates has described how she based the character of Arnold Friend on the real life serial killer, Charles Schmid, who also wore makeup and stuffed his boots in order to alter his appearance, and was known for preying on teenage girls—taking three of their lives in Tuscon, Arizona the 1960s.

Arnold Friend Quotes in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

The Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? quotes below are all either spoken by Arnold Friend or refer to Arnold Friend. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one: ).

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Quotes

She was fifteen and she had a quick, nervous, giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right. Her mother, who noticed everything and knew everything and who hadn't much reason any longer to look at her own face, always scolded Connie about it.

Related Characters: Connie, Connie’s Mother, Arnold Friend Related Themes: Page Number and Citation: 118 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis:

She drew her shoulders up and sucked in her breath with the pure pleasure of being alive, and just at that moment she happened to glance at a face just a few feet from hers. It was a boy with shaggy black hair, in a convertible jalopy painted gold. He stared at her and then his lips widened into a grin. Connie slit her eyes at him and turned away, but she couldn't help glancing back and there he was, still watching her. He wagged a finger and laughed and said, “Gonna get you, baby,” and Connie turned away again without Eddie noticing anything.

Related Characters: Connie, Arnold Friend, Eddie Related Symbols: Arnold Friend’s Car Related Themes: Page Number and Citation: 120-121 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis: Unlock with LitCharts A+

Connie sat with her eyes closed in the sun, dreaming and dazed with the warmth about her as if this were a kind of love, the caresses of love, and her mind slipped over onto thoughts of the boy she had been with the night before and how nice he had been, how sweet it always was […] sweet, gentle, the way it was in movies and promised in songs […]

Related Characters: Connie, Arnold Friend, Eddie Related Symbols: Music Related Themes: Related Literary Devices: Page Number and Citation: 122 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis: Unlock with LitCharts A+

“Now, these numbers are a secret code, honey,” Arnold Friend explained. He read off the numbers 33, 19, 17 and raised his eyebrows at her to see what she thought of that, but she didn't think much of it.

Related Characters: Arnold Friend (speaker), Connie Related Symbols: Arnold Friend’s Car Related Themes: Related Literary Devices: Page Number and Citation: 124 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis: Unlock with LitCharts A+

He was standing in a strange way, leaning back against the car as if he were balancing himself. He wasn't tall, only an inch or so taller than she would be if she came down to him. Connie liked the way he was dressed, which was the way all of them dressed: tight faded jeans stuffed into black, scuffed boots a belt that pulled his waist in and showed how lean he was, and a white pull-over shirt that was a little soiled and showed the hard small muscles of his arms and shoulders.

Related Characters: Connie, Arnold Friend Related Themes: Page Number and Citation: 125 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis: Unlock with LitCharts A+

“Yes, I'm your lover. You don't know what that is but you will,” he said. “I know that too. I know all about you […] I'm always nice at first, the first time. I'll hold you so tight you won't think you have to try to get away or pretend anything because you'll know you can't. And I'll come inside you where it's all secret and you'll give in to me and you'll love me—"

Related Characters: Arnold Friend (speaker), Connie Related Themes: Page Number and Citation: 130 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis: Unlock with LitCharts A+

Arnold Friend was saying from the door, “That's a good girl. Put the phone back.” […] She picked it up and put it back. The dial tone stopped. “That's a good girl. Now, you come outside.” […] She thought, I'm not going to see my mother again. She thought, I'm not going to sleep in my bed again.

Related Characters: Arnold Friend (speaker), Connie, Connie’s Mother Related Symbols: Connie’s House Related Themes: Page Number and Citation: 134 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis: Unlock with LitCharts A+

“My sweet little blue-eyed girl,” he said in a half-sung sigh that had nothing to do with her brown eyes but was taken up just the same by the vast sunlit reaches of the land behind him and on all sides of him—so much land that Connie had never seen before and did not recognize except to know that she was going to it.

Related Characters: Arnold Friend (speaker), Connie Related Symbols: Connie’s House Related Themes: Related Literary Devices: Page Number and Citation: 136 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis: Unlock with LitCharts A+ Get the entire Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? LitChart as a printable PDF. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S. Download

Arnold Friend Quotes in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

The Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? quotes below are all either spoken by Arnold Friend or refer to Arnold Friend. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one: ).

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Quotes

She was fifteen and she had a quick, nervous, giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right. Her mother, who noticed everything and knew everything and who hadn't much reason any longer to look at her own face, always scolded Connie about it.

Related Characters: Connie, Connie’s Mother, Arnold Friend Related Themes: Page Number and Citation: 118 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis:

She drew her shoulders up and sucked in her breath with the pure pleasure of being alive, and just at that moment she happened to glance at a face just a few feet from hers. It was a boy with shaggy black hair, in a convertible jalopy painted gold. He stared at her and then his lips widened into a grin. Connie slit her eyes at him and turned away, but she couldn't help glancing back and there he was, still watching her. He wagged a finger and laughed and said, “Gonna get you, baby,” and Connie turned away again without Eddie noticing anything.

Related Characters: Connie, Arnold Friend, Eddie Related Symbols: Arnold Friend’s Car Related Themes: Page Number and Citation: 120-121 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis: Unlock with LitCharts A+

Connie sat with her eyes closed in the sun, dreaming and dazed with the warmth about her as if this were a kind of love, the caresses of love, and her mind slipped over onto thoughts of the boy she had been with the night before and how nice he had been, how sweet it always was […] sweet, gentle, the way it was in movies and promised in songs […]

Related Characters: Connie, Arnold Friend, Eddie Related Symbols: Music Related Themes: Related Literary Devices: Page Number and Citation: 122 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis: Unlock with LitCharts A+

“Now, these numbers are a secret code, honey,” Arnold Friend explained. He read off the numbers 33, 19, 17 and raised his eyebrows at her to see what she thought of that, but she didn't think much of it.

Related Characters: Arnold Friend (speaker), Connie Related Symbols: Arnold Friend’s Car Related Themes: Related Literary Devices: Page Number and Citation: 124 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis: Unlock with LitCharts A+

He was standing in a strange way, leaning back against the car as if he were balancing himself. He wasn't tall, only an inch or so taller than she would be if she came down to him. Connie liked the way he was dressed, which was the way all of them dressed: tight faded jeans stuffed into black, scuffed boots a belt that pulled his waist in and showed how lean he was, and a white pull-over shirt that was a little soiled and showed the hard small muscles of his arms and shoulders.

Related Characters: Connie, Arnold Friend Related Themes: Page Number and Citation: 125 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis: Unlock with LitCharts A+

“Yes, I'm your lover. You don't know what that is but you will,” he said. “I know that too. I know all about you […] I'm always nice at first, the first time. I'll hold you so tight you won't think you have to try to get away or pretend anything because you'll know you can't. And I'll come inside you where it's all secret and you'll give in to me and you'll love me—"

Related Characters: Arnold Friend (speaker), Connie Related Themes: Page Number and Citation: 130 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis: Unlock with LitCharts A+

Arnold Friend was saying from the door, “That's a good girl. Put the phone back.” […] She picked it up and put it back. The dial tone stopped. “That's a good girl. Now, you come outside.” […] She thought, I'm not going to see my mother again. She thought, I'm not going to sleep in my bed again.

Related Characters: Arnold Friend (speaker), Connie, Connie’s Mother Related Symbols: Connie’s House Related Themes: Page Number and Citation: 134 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis: Unlock with LitCharts A+

“My sweet little blue-eyed girl,” he said in a half-sung sigh that had nothing to do with her brown eyes but was taken up just the same by the vast sunlit reaches of the land behind him and on all sides of him—so much land that Connie had never seen before and did not recognize except to know that she was going to it.

Related Characters: Arnold Friend (speaker), Connie Related Symbols: Connie’s House Related Themes: Related Literary Devices: Page Number and Citation: 136 Cite this Quote Explanation and Analysis: Unlock with LitCharts A+ Previous Connie Previous Connie Next Ellie Next Ellie Cite This Page Close Company About Us Our Story Support Help Center Contact Us Connect Facebook Twitter Legal Terms of Service Privacy Policy Privacy Request Home About Contact Help LitCharts, a Learneo, Inc. business Copyright © 2026 All Rights Reserved Terms Privacy Privacy Request Save time. Stress less. Sign up!

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