Joyce Carol Oates writes "Where are you going, Where have you been" in a very symbolic way. The first time people read her story, they come away wondering what the story you have just read was really about. In the story, Connie, a fifteen year old girl is confronted with the real world through a mysterious stranger named Arnold Friend who teaches her a lesson in life. Oates uses Arnold and Connie in the story to symbolize pop culture and evil, the way pop culture affects people in their adolescence negatively, and how we should constantly be aware of where people are going as individuals.
Throughout the story Oates uses symbolism to show how Arnold and Connie were pictures of pop culture and evil. Arnold Friend is much older than Connie, yet he is still able to lure Connie in by manipulating her with pop culture. As Arnold and Connie talk, he speaks down to her and as a person of authority. He pretends to listens to her and guides the conversation the way he wants. Arnold shows up dressed like a teenager half his age: "Connie liked the way he was dressed, which was the way they all dressed" (315). He dressed this way to make his appearance seen young and more appealing to Connie. The narrator constantly refers to him as "Arnold Friend" while she could have easily used pronouns. By using pronouns, she points out the overwhelming presence of Arnold Friend; he is evil, scary, and all around you, much like pop culture. In the story Arnold tells her he is not going to come in the house, she has to let him in. Pop culture does not run into peoples houses and say "Hello I"m here". It is let into people's homes through music, clothes and television.
Arnold symbolizes pop culture, but he also symbolizes the evil that can come along with it. From rock and roll music to the way teenagers dress, many people associate pop culture with evil and the constant rebelling of adolescents. It is obvious Connie is rebelling.
