someone who is at least a "bad boy" and at worst something more sinister.  Connie clearly wants to break free of her parental bonds, and Arnold represents just the type of escape she is looking for.  However, her naivte (and the fact that, like Holden Caulfiled, she is teetering on the brink of childhood and adulthood) about the adult world blinds her from seeing just how dangerous a threat Arnold is. 

On a deeper level, the story is a commentary on the dull, uninspiring life of suburban America.  Connie is lost among cookie-cutter houses, boring afternoon barbeques, and redundant trips to the mall.  Like many American teenagers, the movies and the mall are about the only places for teens to hang out, and here comes Arnold Fiend (er, Friend, if you get my meaning) like a character out of a James Dean movie: leather jacket, souped-up car, slick hair, and a bad attitude.  He is the "danger" that is missing from her life.  Her failure to avoid his charms is ultimately the testament to her vulnerability.

I think that there has to be some level of caution in ensuring that Connie does not receive the blame for being victimized by Arnold.  I think that Oates is fairly complex enough to make the situations nuanced enough whereby Connie can be seen as an unfortunate pawn of circumstances.  Additionally, the fate that Connie endures as well as the transformation that she undergoes at the end is something where I don't see that Connie can be blamed in too harsh of a way.  On one hand, I think that Arnold is able to seize upon how Connie sees herself through the eyes of others.  Connie is driven to appeal to the social standard of beauty.  While she asserts individuality and freedom, as a young person of the 1960s, she is chained to the idea of how a girl is supposed to look and within this, the social standard of beauty that she aspires to is something whereby beauty must be socially acknowledged.  Arnold does just that when he first sees her and when she flirtatiously looks at him.  Arnold recognizes that Connie is also defined by popular culture.  Arnold's style of fashion, the car, and the songs that Ellie is listening to are all aspects of the pop setting that Connie is a part of, enabling Arnold to possess an "in" with his conversation.  Had Connie been like June, someone "plain" and more traditional, Arnold's tactics would not have been successful.  It is because Connie is so driven by popular culture and the standards it espouses that she seeks to be the way she is, and Arnold's luring of her takes place within this context.