Something a little different to add...
33 19 17 can be numerologically written as: Genesis, the first book of the bible... where it states: "As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, 'Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!'" This is refering to the parable of Lot, when he's fleeing the distruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. His wife does look back though, and she's turned to salt.
One could assume that this is refering to when Connie looks back at Arnold in the dinner before she leaves.
Another representation of 33 19 17 is the word Consumed, as Lot's wife was, and as Connie would be by Arnold Friend.
The numbers are also the ages of the victims that the criminal raped and murdered that Oates based Friend off of: 33, 19 and then 17.
Some more interesting numbers in the novel:
Connie Arnold Friend = 6 6 6
June is the sixth month of the year.
Connie Mother Father: 6 6 6
and then of course:
A N OLD FIEND which is what you get when you take out the letter 18, R, from Arnold's name, which coincidently is 6+6+6
And then Friend's age, which he says is 18.
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