A. Friend Indeed

Alot of stories come from a true life experience, whether it involved the writer or not. Sometimes it is portrayed in a different context or the story is changed a little such as new character names or settings. But even with all of that you can still see the similarities in the new story.
Like in this true life event where a man named Charles Schimd killed 3 teenage girls in Tuscon, Arizona and buried them in the desert. Charles Schimd was older then these girls but that did not stop him from luring them in. Now in the story "Where are going, Where have you been?" and the movie "Smooth Talk", there are 3 girls, Connie, Laura, and Jill. In the story, these girls are infatuated with meeting and trying to hook up with guys, and the succeeded to do that to a certain extent. Until one day, Connie is at home by herself when this guy named Arnold Friend drives into her driveway with his friend Ellie. It was easy to see that Arnold friend was a depiction of Charles Schimd because he was an older guy and you could tell that just by looking at him. Also, the girls represented the teenage girls in a way. In the story and the movie they none of them were killed but in the movie Laura ends up getting pregnant and Arnold Friend ends up raping Connie.
The way i see how these stories are played out is, in the true life event and in the stories you have young girls that have to have this urge to have older companionship. These urges end up being very bad choices in the end. So I believe that the message of the story Joyce Oates made is be careful in the choices that you make because you never know what my happen in the end.