frequent “violence”, “abuse” and “conflict” that are ever present in Joyce Carol Oates’s writing, coupled with Oates’s morbid appearance and her uncanny resemblance to actress Shelly Duvall from Stephen King’s “The Shining”, might imply that Oates’s past/childhood held proverbial abusive events from family, lover or a stranger. But as one delves deep into the abundant biographies about Oates’s, surprisingly, the grim nature of Oates’s literary prose is not analogous to her past….only fragments of her
question that lingers in most critics mind is the identity of Arnold Friend. Subjected to multiple interpretations, Arnold Friends existence is central to the realistic hermeneutics. Connie asks with her eyes: “who is this guy”? Critics of the story have also indulged in this question and responded with varieties of interpretations. And for most of the critics, the answer monotonously is that Arnold friend is undoubtedly an enigma; his mysterious demeanor has given rise to much unrealistic speculation
cold-blooded murder and Homer falls victim to her horrendous crime. “She fitted up a studio in one of the downstairs rooms, where the daughters and granddaughters of Colonel Sartoris' contemporaries were sent to her with the same regularity and in the same spirit that they were sent to church on Sundays with a twenty-five-cent piece for the collection plate. Meanwhile, her taxes had been remitted” ( Faulkner 39). This goes to shows that Emily ia an intelligent person. She is an educated woman and she has