There is no response due this week on "The Story of a Scar." Instead, your homework is to read two critical articles on Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been." You may want to re-read the story before you read the two articles. Both of these articles are available through the MLA International Bibliography, one of the library's databases. After you've read the articles, post a SHORT response below (about one paragraph for each article, for two paragraphs total). This post is not due until Monday, to give you some extra time to complete the assignment.
"The Shadow of a Satyr in Joyce Carol Oates's 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" by Joan Easterly
"Joyce Carol Oates's 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?' As Pure Realism" by A.R. Coulthard
Naomi Alphonso
ReplyDeleteArticle response
Mr. Bolster
April 9th 2012
"The Shadow of a Satyr in Joyce Carol Oates's 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" by Joan Easterly
Article 1: Arnold Friend is a satire for the devil. In common Christian belief, the devil is able to reincarnate himself into different forms. Similarly, Arnold Friend is portraying himself as something he is not. He uses music to entice Connie. As mentioned in the article, Connie seems to find music in the background every time she’s with Arnold Friend. She describes it as being "sweet, gentle, the way it was . . . promised in songs" (39) Here again, this is a fake Illusion that music creates. Friend uses these techniques to entice and almost hypnotize Connie. “Friend” is not really a friend. His features are describes as being fake. Connie describes him as being someone that is almost not living. He is described as resting on the door knob like he needed it to help him stand up straight (38). Arnold Friend is a satire for the devil.
"Joyce Carol Oates's 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?' As Pure Realism" by A.R. Coulthard
Article 2: Arnold Friend is compared to the rapists and murders Schmid and John Saunders. Saunders and his friend raped and murdered Aleen Rowe beating her to death. Aleen and Connie were the same age (15). They were both home alone and were in a similar predicament. It’s interesting how Oates duplicates this murder of Aleen to the story of Connie. Arnold is said to be a complex character. His character is admired by Coulthard. This is unusual. Most people look down on him and refer to him as creepy as opposed to admiring the complexities of him character.
In "The Shadow of a Satyr in Joyce Carol Oates's 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been," Joan Easterly argues that Arnold Friend is a satyr rather than the Devil. The idea that he represents either of the mythical beings seems very far-fetched and artificial, but some of the author’s arguments are not unconvincing. If one must choose between the two beasts, Friend seems certainly closer to being a satyr. However, many of the author’s notions are difficult to take seriously; for example, the discussion of what is easier to conceal in Friend’s tight jeans, “a satyr's hairy tail” or “a devil's long, forked appendage,” seems to serve the sole purpose of entertaining the reader.
ReplyDeleteA.R. Coulthard, in "Joyce Carol Oates's 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?' As Pure Realism," asserts the opposite point of view, denouncing the idea that anything about Arnold Friend is supernatural. He shows that Oates’s story is heavily based on a newspaper murder report published in 1965. Coulthard convincingly argues that attempts to explain Friend away as a supernatural being or as a mere element of a dream take away from the story’s “elemental power.”
Nick Coutant
ReplyDeleteProfessor Chappell
ENG 106W
9 March 2012
Article # 1
In Joan Easterly’s article, she see’s Arnold Friend as a depiction of a satyr. He possesses most qualities that point directly to one. From what he was wearing to what he was saying shows us that he is indeed the devil. After first reading the story this concept did not come to mind, I just saw Arnold Friend as a violent pedophile, but Easterly does make very good points that say otherwise. The article did not completely convince me but she presented a great idea.
Article # 2
In the second article the author seems to disagree with the theory that Arnold Friend is a depiction of the devil. He see’s Arnold Friend as the murderer Charles Schmid, who killed young girls much like Connie. This theory is what I believed since we talked about it in class. So many details in the story point to Joyce Oates using the murder as her basis for the story. So many of the characteristics of both Arnold and Connie fit.
Chynna Burroughs
ReplyDeleteIn “The Shadow of a Satyr” article, Joan Easterly presents an argument that depicts the character of Arnold Friend as the mythical creature known as a satyr. It is clear the author of Joyce Carol Oates, the author of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” means for Arnold Friend to be some kind of magical being in the way she presents him in the story. Easterly argues that Arnold Friend is not meant to represent the devil, as some other writers have said, but he is more closely resembles that of an ancient satyr. This is a very sound argument to make. As Easterly points out, Friend is described as having satyr like qualities with his feet not fitting in his boots because they are actually hooves to his personality which is “aggressive” and displays a motive of “lechery”. Easterly also brings up music, another big theme in the story. Where satyrs use music to lure women, Friend does the same with Connie.
In “Pure Realism” article, A.R. Coulthard argues that Arnold Friend is not any type of supernatural being at all. Coulthard says that Oates uses details of a murder case and injects it into her story and that all of the elements of the story can be explained logical. Coulthard states that naturalism is very present in the story. Easterly also argues that Friends knowledge that could be interpreted as supernatural is just observation and improvising on his part. While Coulthard makes a good argument that Friend is just a good manipulative killer, the “realism” that is supposedly can explain away all the strange elements of the story is just not there. The supernatural elements add another, more interesting layer to the story, whether intentional or not.
Ryan McDonald
ReplyDeleteProfessor Bolster
ENG 106W
4/9/12
In "The Shadow of a Satyr in Joyce Carol Oates's 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been," Joan Easterly claims that the masked Arnold Friend is not in fact the devil but portraying the role of a satyr being. Friend is portrayed as taking on the role of a mythical being that lures the susceptible Connie with his music, and other enticing mechanisms such as his car, and language style. Arnold Friend is not really a friend rather a manipulating character who works for the devil and is described as having beastly characteristics which agrees Easterly’s argument.
In the A.R. Coulthard, "Joyce Carol Oates's 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?' Coulthard argues that Friend takes on the role of the devil and is compared to the murderer Charles Schmid, who killed many young girls around Connie’s age. Although Coulthard uses murder as the basis of the story I strongly believe that ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,’ uses Connie as the model character in warning young naïve teenager girls of the dangers of wanting to grow up too quickly to fit in, and taking a second to think about your next steps thoughtfully to avoid such alarming situations in the future. That is the true realism of the story.
In the article "The Shadow of Satyr" by Joan Easterly, the writer explores the varying ways in which Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" is all about the symbol of satyr. The writer explains that from a woman's point of view. She says that Connie becomes a "stereotypical passive, submissive, emotional, ignorant female..". Bur from more of a psychological point of view, Easterly has determined that Friend "represents the unconscious are substantiated by the half-beast satyr's symbolism of the animal, uncontrolled, irrational side of human nature". I would have to agree with Easterly when she says that Friend is the "personification of the adolescent Connie's unconscious erotic feelings."
ReplyDeleteIn the article "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been As Pure Realism" by A.R. Coulthard, Coulthard in my opinion, argues the point of the previous article ,"The Shadow of Satyr". In Coulthard's article, he writes to support his point that the characters in "Where Are You Going Where Have You Been" are real, and not pigments of an imagination. Coulthard supports this point by saying,"Absolutely nothing occurs that can't be explained in purely literal terms or that isn't best explained so." He explains throughout his article that Oates' story "resonates in the mind, but its style is realistic, not allegorical". Oates' story expresses only true realism and the characters in the story are anything but a construction of the conscious mind.
Kile Coty
ReplyDeleteMr. Bolster
English 106
4/9/12
"The Shadow of a Satyr in Joyce Carol Oates's 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" by Joan Easterly
Joan Easterly shows a plethora of in depth analysis in her article about “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”. After reading Joyce Carol Oates’s story I would have never made the connection between Friend and the Satyr from Greek mythology, but when Easterly portrays the similarities, I almost full heartedly believed they were one in the same. Initially I didn’t think the motif of music within the story was relevant until Easterly connected Friends involvement with music to the pipe playing of Satyrs. As interesting these connections Easterly projected between Friend and a Satyr may be, I believe the story by Oates represents an innate depravity that some men have in this world to be predators of women and the innate depravity of some women to be malleable victims to temptation and mystery. We all have the ability to be Friend or Connie depending on the circumstance.
"Joyce Carol Oates's 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?' As Pure Realism" by A.R. Coulthard
The article by A.R. Coulthard is a much more realistic and relatable dissection of Oates’s story. Coulthard demystifies the eerie connection between Arnold Friend and the Devil by simply explaining just how human each of his actions were. Coulthard is so convincing its almost scary, because he states that any person can be such a predator and I tend to agree with his notions. The statement “The only "demonic" power Arnold Friend possesses is the ability to use fear to ravage his victim's humanity, but such power is within the province of any heartless killer.” sums up the whole point of Coulthard’s article, he even backs this notion with the case of Chase Schmid and how he raped and murdered young girls.
Kristina Kruse
ReplyDeleteProfessor Chappell
ENG 106W
9 April 2012
The Shadow of satyr
This critical essay was extremely well written. I found it very intriguing. I am still so curious as to how people are able to develop these hypotheses from simply reading a short fiction. However, Easterly's thesis makes perfect sense. Her arguments are very well stated and sufficiently backed up with supporting evidence. I agree with this assesment of Arnold Friend, I just wish I had noticed it on my own.
As Pure Realism
Again, very interesting. What is most interesting is the ability of these critical thinkers to find the connections to the ideas and realities in this short story. It is quite possible that Coulthard is correct in stating that Oates depicted this story from an actual murder. What I have noticed in reading both of these critical essays, is that it seems these "thinkers" are trying to determine what Oates' point was in writing the story; something that we were explicitly told not to do in the begining of the semester, but that could just be my interpretation. I do agree that both of these essays are well formated and convincing. I hope that in writing my final paper, I will have as much conviction as these authors.
Jennifer Linke
ReplyDeleteProfessor Chappell
Eng 106W
April 9, 2012
Article #1
In "The Shadow of a Satyr in Joyce Carol Oates's 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been," Joan Easterly makes her argument that Arnold Friend is not the devil, but in fact is a satyr. It is said in many religious beliefs that the devil can take the form of a human, or many other different forms that can walk the earth among humans. Easterly makes an interesting connection between Arnold and the devil. Before reading the article Arnold Friend was presented in the story, as a cruel and despicable man who kills innocent people and has no remorse. After reading the article it makes more sense that the author may have meant for him to be represented as the devil in the story. Arnold’s aggressive personality relates to that of the devil, which presents and interesting theory for the story and depiction of the character.
Article #2
In "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been As Pure Realism" by A.R. Coulthard, the author presents and entire opposite opinion of the character and states that Arnold Friend is not any kind of devil or mythical creature. Friend is purely human and his actions are entirely his own. He is the only one responsible for the death of the family and the other people he has killed. He is not a supernatural being; Coulthard supports the idea that he is simply a murderer on the run. This article gave a direct insight into the humanistic view of the characters, because it is not justified by any mythical creatures, but rather the fact that Arnold Friend is human and he was the only one responsible not the devil. When first reading the story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You been” Arnold Friend does not seem like a mythical creature, but more like a deeply disturbed and horrible man who has no conscious and kills innocent people. Coulthard supports this idea in his article, because he says that Arnold is in fact not the devil.
Cassie Ferraro
ReplyDeleteProfessor Chappell
English 106W
9 April 2012
"The Shadow of a Satyr in Joyce Carol Oates's 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been'"
In this article, Easterly makes the assumption that Arnold Friend was being depicted as a satyr rather than the Devil. Comparing Friend to a satyr in the context of the story is a far more accurate conjecture than comparing him to the Devil. According to Greek mythology, satyrs roam to music and are charming in their roguish behavior. This ties into the way that his voice is described in nearly musical terms. True enough, Arnold Friend managed to lure in the protagonist purely by charm and this alluring sense of mystery he holds about him.
"'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been As Pure Realism'"
In this artcile, Coulthard argues that there is no mystical or magical power that Arnold Friend possesses. I ardently disagree due to the diction that Oates uses throughout the story. Friend can literally stand for the pediphile that he almost certainly is or he can represent the evils of society. In the prior article, he was compared to the mythological satyr or, in religious terms, the Devil. To say that this story is strictly realistic is absurd.
Article #1
ReplyDeleteReading this article opened mind up to a new possibility of Arnold Friend's true character. After reading the story, I was under the impression that Arnold Friend has satanic characteristics and is tryng to seduce Connie into sinning in the form of sexual activites. This article, however, makes very valid points about how his character is more like that of a satyr. Satyrs are apparently known for luring women in an aggressive matter, using music as a weapon. The constant references to music and Arnold Friend's agressive way of telling Connie that he is her lover complies with the characteristics of a satyr and less of a devil. The idea of the story being related to Greek mythology as oppose to Christianity is not one that I initially considered, but I am now leaning towards.
Article #2
This article suggests that the meaning of the story is to be interperted in a realistic way, claiming that Connie is actually just a victim of a real life murderer and Arnold Friend does not symbolize anything supernatural. I disagree with this theory due to the language that Oates uses in ther story. The diction and the imagery lead me to see Arnold Friend as something other than human, and his intentions much greater than that of a murderer.
Tami Corsi
ReplyDeleteBolster
106W
In Joan Easterly’s article, “The Shadow of a Satyr”, the character Arnold Friend from Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is depicted a satyr. A satyr is described as a devilish creature with animalistic qualities. He or she has hooves instead of feet and a luring personality. Arnold shares the personality of a satyr by using music and a charisma attractive enough to lure in Connie. Easterly argues that not only does he share qualities with a satyr rather he is one. Arnold Friends boots do not fit him because of his hooves and he walks awkwardly because he has haunches.
In A.R. Coulthard’s, “Pure Realism”, Arnold Friend is not a satyr. Coulthard interprets this story as complete realism using logic rather than a mythological interpretation. The article references the 1965 murder of a young girl by Charles Schmid. Coulthard compares Friend to Schmid as a realistic comparison rather than one of a mythological nature. It refers to Arnold as evil, but not supernatural. He shows that Oates’s story is based on the1965 murder instead of a story based on myth.
Mitchel Cleveland
ReplyDelete5-1-12
Professor Chappell
Intro to Fiction Writing 106W
“The Shadow of a Satyr in Joyce Carol Oates’s ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been’” by Joan Easterly
Article 1- The common Christian belief is that the devil can reincarnate himself into any form whether it is human, animal, or an object, we just don’t know. Easterly talks about a character name Arnold Friend who she calls a mythical creature called a satyr. A satyr is something that has to do with the devil but is basically pretending to be something it’s not. Easterly goes on to explain how he uses music to get Connie to be interested. Connie always says how the music is, “sweet and gentle” the music she hears is. Easterly describes Friend as being a fake or we could even say phony. It is said that satyrs use music to lure women in and that is what Friend does with Connie.
“Joyce Carol Oates’s ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’ As Pure Realism” by A.R. Coulthard
Article 2- Coulthard argues the point that the characters are actually real and not fake at all. The only devilish power Friend has is the capability to use fear to intimidate his victim, but this can be done by anyone. Anyone who is heartless can use this ability or even has this ability to instill fear into people. Coulthard talks about how Joyce was wrong and that the characters are real.
Zach Westfall
ReplyDeleteProfessor Chappell
Intro to Fiction
May 6, 2012
In the article "The Shadow of Satyr" by Joan Easterly, the writer explores the varying ways in which Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” Joan Easterly’s argument that Arnold Friend is not the devil but a satyr from Greek mythology. . According to Greek mythology, satyrs roam to music and are charming in their roguish behavior. They are known for luring women in an aggressive matter, using music as a weapon. The constant reference to music seems to make Joan Easterly’s argument plausible. The similarities between Arnold Friend are closer to a satyr than the devil and make a believable point.
Article 2
In “Pure Realism” article, A.R. Coulthard argues that Arnold Friend isn’t anything other than a murderer. Coulthard argues that Oates uses details of a murder case and applies them to her story and that everything can be explained through logic. Arnold Friend is purely human and his actions are what is responsible for the death of the family and the other people he has killed. Anyone can do something as heartless as what he did though in doing so they lose some of what makes them human. Doing cruel things takes someone heart because of that it is possible that Arnold Friend is just a human with the heartlessness of the devil.
William Arndt
ReplyDeleteProfessor Bolster
Intro to Fiction
May 7th, 2012
Article #1-After reading "Where are you going, where have you been" by Joyce Carol Oates I got an unbiased perspective from the story and took it very literal. After reading it a second time around, after reading "The shadow of a Satyr," by Joan Easterly, I have a completely different view on the story. Easterly has very valid points that Arnold Friend is in deed a satyr. According to Greek mythology, Satyrs are very cunning, and often lure women in an aggressive manner, usually through music. Oates would hint towards this in her story, by referencing how Arnold Friend's boots would not fit and the type seduction of Connie that goes on.
Article #2- After reading "Pure Realism" by A.R. Coulthard I viewed the story from an even different perspective. Coulthard argues that Arnold friend is a human but a murderer. Personally, I don't agree with this position because after re-reading the story, Easterly's position makes a lot of sense as Arnold Friend is very much depicted as a satyr.