where she lives. Arnold then times his appearance at her home to be just after her parents and sister leave for barbecue at an aunt’s house. Connie will be alone for hours that afternoon.

Whether or not “Friend” is Arnold’s real surname does not matter; what matters is how completely contradictory that name is to this character. At first, Arnold acts seemingly friendly to Connie, asking her “You wanta come for a ride?” and “Don'tcha wanta see what's on the car? Don'tcha wanta go for a ride?” Very quickly, however, this veneer of false amiability crumbles to expose underlying aggression when Connie resists him.

“Connie, you ain't telling the truth. This is your day set aside for a ride with me and you know it,” he said, still laughing. The way he straightened and recovered from his fit of laughing showed that it had been all fake.

Initially, she is not an easy prey who follows his orders obediently, much to his growing frustration.

“You're a hard girl to handle. How come?” he said. “Don't you know I'm your friend?”

He quickly reveals that he does not intend to be a friend, though, whispering menacingly,

Now, what you’re going to do is this: you’re going to come out that door. You’re going to sit up front with me … You’re my date. I’m your lover, honey.

He is not a true lover, either, but a rapist, as he notes,

I’m always nice at first, the first time. I’ll hold you so tight you won’t think you have to try to get away or pretend anything because you’ll know you can’t. And I’ll come inside you where it’s all secret and you’ll give in to me and you’ll love me.

Despite not actually physically forcing Connie out of her house, he manipulates her by threatening to hurt her family if she does not leave with him.

The antagonist’s first name, however, is more fitting. Meaning “eagle power,” the name Arnold aptly describes this character—he resembles the large raptor that feeds on smaller prey. While claiming to be eighteen years old, Arnold Friend is probably closer to forty. Although not much taller than fifteen-year-old Connie, he is muscular with a nose that is “long and hawk-like, sniffing as if she were a treat he was going to gobble up.”

Irony is a literary device that uses statements or situations that contradict what is expected to happen or what the statement literally means. There are multiple types of irony. Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something that the characters do not know. Situational irony is an unexpected outcome like a police station being robbed. Verbal irony occurs when the words written or spoken contrast with the literal meaning. Sarcasm, exaggeration, and/or understatement are all fairly typical methods of delivering verbal irony.

In Joyce Carol Oates's great short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?," the antagonist of the story is a man named Arnold Friend. That name should convey to readers and Connie that he is someone that could be trusted. After all, people tend to trust their friends. Of course, Arnold Friend is the antithesis of a friend. He's mean to his own supposed friend, Ellie, and Arnold most certainly does not have good and friendly intentions for Connie. He embodies evil and sometimes even comes across as having supernaturally evil abilities. He simply knows far too much about Connie, her present state of aloneness, and what her family is doing. As readers and Connie get to know Arnold Friend more and more, we clearly see that his last name is an overt usage of verbal irony. If his name truly matched him, his personality, and his intentions, Arnold's name should be something like Arnold Enemy.