en later on in the story. Along with this there is a second message for the readers, when she points out the misfits on the loose headed towards Florida; she gives this reason not to go to there "I wouldn't take my children

rform an unsavory task, Arnold lapses into a tirade of old fashioned and out of date sayings which highlights the fact that he is not exactly a hip teenager. He makes an effort to reproduce the current look "the tight jeans that showed his thighs and buttocks and the greasy leather boots and the tight shirt..."(370), which Connie acknowledges. His "homework" while good was not complete. There is no known aspect of Connie's life that Arnold Friend does not seem to know, he can rattle off her friend's names, can tell what she was doing last night and with whom but he is not quite omniscient; he has his flaws. When telling Connie what her family is doing at the same moment he describes her mother "helping some fat woman with the corn...'What fat woman?' Connie cried. 'How do I know what fat woman...' Arnold Friend laughed". He can stalk a girl but he cannot know everything. Serial killers and stalkers feel very possessive, "I know my Connie"(368) toward their prey and go to great lengt!

4. Oates, Joyce Carol "Where are you going, where have you been"

Selected Early Stories. Princeton NJ: Ontario Reviews Press;

The Mercury Reader Ed. Janice Neuleib et al

O'Connor Flannery Vol. 3 Detroit, Gayle 1973

hs to learn all that they can "I know your name and all about you, lots of things..."(368) which shows their control. They are only human and have human limitations. There are plausible explanations for his knowledge. If he had been stalking Connie, following the family to a party would not be out of the question. It would probably be the norm. Arnold probably marked Connie for death from the moment he saw her. His sign of an X in front of her seems to hint at a crossing out or finish of Connie. Conversations with Ellie prove telling, "Ellie keep to yourself, this ain't your date-right?"(375), he thinks Connie is his date. The fact that Ellie knows what to do regarding the phones implies that they are not new to this sort of thing. Speculations could also be made that the numbers on his car refer to other victims. While all of this is supremely chilling it is not otherworldly. Arnold Friend is a creep, a stalker, a maniac but not supernatural.

in any direction with a criminal like that a loose in it." At this point the writer introduces us to the characters, most probably the children and their mother, the writer doesn't give the mother's name, but she does comment about the children. "John Wesley, a stocky child with glasses" and "the little girl, June Star" The children start quarrelling with their grandmother on the topic of the misfits and try their best that she wouldn't go with them on the trip. She wouldn't stay at home for a million bucks, afraid she'd miss something. She has to go everywhere we go." The next day they all set out for their trip in their car, the writer in a way compares the children's mother and the Grandmother, for the way they are dressed. During the trip John Wesley s!

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2625
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)