Arnold Friend, the antagonist of "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" he is an older man who hides his true identity and mixes with younger teenagers to harm Connie, the protagonist. He attempts to take on the role of a young, happy-go-lucky type of man to more easily convince Connie that he is trustworthy and is just trying to show her a good time. As Connie and Arnold interact, she notices all the things he's wearing and the painting of his car, recognizing the style and reporting that it's all similar to other guys she's been with. However, after a few minutes of conversation with Arnold Friend, Connie quickly realizes that he isn't really who he says he is. “Then he could see that it wasn't a little boy, it was much older…” (Oates, 832). After his facade is seen, he quickly becomes more demanding of Connie and develops a more threatening tone. His friendly attitude becomes almost non-existent when he begins to threaten Connie directly and state that he wishes to become her lover, an idea Connie has most likely never faced before. Arnold's false personality most likely disappeared after she took Connie away from her home, and her truer, more vicious identity emerged and was ultimately the cause of Connie's personality changing permanently through violent actions.