Between Connie and Arnold Friend in the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” the main character would have to be Connie. A case could be made for Arnold friend as well, but the way I see it Connie is the main character. This is a story about coming of age and in a sense “growing up”. This is a story about how Connie starts off as a carefree young girl who argues with her mother quite a bit. By the end of the story you get the sense that she is a changed person and may have “grown up”

Connie’s house may be a metaphor for her comfort zone or the place where she would like to stay. Whenever she leaves the house it could be her leaving her comfort zone. Leaving the house could also represent going from adolescence to adulthood. Her uneasiness to do it could represent anxiety of going from adolescence to adulthood. She doesn’t want to leave the house because leaving would leave to an uncomfortable situation. The house could mean many different things and they could all probably be right. The house could ultimately represent her old adolescent lifestyle that she needs to leave behind.

There are many theories to what the numbers on Arnold Friend’s car means. Many people said that they are a biblical reference to Judges chapter 19 verse 17 which reads “And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?”. Other theories I read about were that Christ was thirty-three when he was crucified and the missing number between seventeen and nineteen is eighteen. R is the eighteenth letter in the alphabet and taking the R’s out of Arnold Friend’s name gives you An Old Fiend. I think that Oates was referring to the biblical verse which basically says the title of the story.

This story has many important images including Arnold Friend. When describing him he seems like a shady character that may be sly or sneaky. As previously stated the house could be an image of her comfort zone. This forms the story to be a coming of age story where Connie has to decide what she is going to do .