Woven in Joyce Carol Oates' twisted short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" » rises a figure of demonic proportions; a man whose mere presence turns into an unsettling fear, bringing with it a thickness of anxiety and a strange feeling of untimely death. While her parents are away one Sunday afternoon, Connie is approached by a strange man named Arnold Friend who is determined to seduce and rob her. Rather than resorting to force, Arnold Friend insinuates himself into Connie's mind and subdues her vulnerable and emerging sexuality. Ultimately, Oates indicates that he is leading her to her death, whether spiritual or physical, and that her love is empty, but she is powerless against him. Within this short story is a battle of wits between a young girl and a demonic man who is a metaphorical illusion of a destiny – the destiny of isolation and death. The feeling of dread is explored through the largely symbolic use of a third person, from the past tense. narration. The omniscient writing style reflects irrevocable catastrophe and Connie, the protagonist, facing her inevitable fate. This fate is the starting point from which Oates begins to unfold her insidious story of a young girl too naive to fully understand the dangers that lurk in this world. Connie is shown to be immature and vain from the start. She has a “habit of laughing quickly and nervously” while craning her neck to look in mirrors and checking the faces of others to see if her own face is okay (Oates 584). She is shown as having a two-sided personality. She smiles and laughs "in a cynical, drawling laugh" at home, but is high-pitched and nervous everywhere else, and speaks in a "high, breathless, amused voice" that has made people doubt her ever since... .. middle of paper......4.1 (1987): 62. Academic research completed. Web.November 3, 2013. Kennedy, XJ and Dana Gioia. “Daily use.” An introduction to fiction. 11th ed. Boston: Longman, 2010. 584 – 95. Print. Korb, Rena. “A Glimpse of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” » ». Short stories for students. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Information Resource Center. Internet. November 3, 2013. Urbanski, Marie Mitchell Olesen. "Existential Allegory: Joyce Carol Oates 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'." Studies in Short Fiction (Spring 1978): 200-203. Rep. in contemporary literary criticism. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Flight. 11. Detroit: GaleResearch, 1979. Information Resource Center. Internet. November 3, 2013. Wagner-Martin, Linda. “Where are you going, where have you been?: overview.” Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Ed. Noelle Watson. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Literary Resource Center. Internet. November 3. 2013.