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Good and Evil in "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"
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Good vs. Evil in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”
JJ Dewey says in his writings that the basic difference between good and evil is this: Good is that which takes us forward on the path of spiritual evolution toward greater freedom, livingness, intelligence, light and love. Evil is that which takes us back into the past to lesser freedom, lesser livingness, lesser intelligence, light and love. Joyce Carol Oate’s short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a religious allegory of good and evil; she presents readers with religious symbols throughout the text, symbols which portray Arnold Friend, Ellie, and Connie as Satan, God, and an innocent victim of evil. Arnold Friend shows relations to Satan in his deceiving appearance, speech, and the use of Oate’s underlying symbols. While many assume Ellie plays the role of Arnold’s evil sidekick the text never uses evil connotations when describing him; Ellie and Arnold’s shared company could in fact be representing the choice of free-will everyone possesses when choosing between good and evil. Connie, an innocent victim of evil shares a very similar story to the biblical Eve as both fall prey to the deceiving figure known as Satan. The first and possibly most important symbol of Arnold representing Satan is in his name itself, if each r is removed from Arnold Friend his name becomes, An old Fiend, which from Old English means devil or demon. Arnold arrives at Connie’s house on a Sunday afternoon to...
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