Character Analysis: How I Learned To Drive

Li’l Bit “How I Learned to Drive” takes you down the road of Li’l Bit’s life and her struggles she faces with her uncle, Peck. Being faced with multiple inner issues of whether or not she loves her uncle the same way he loves her, drives the plot of the play to her final choices. With sexual influence being apart of her life at a young age already, Li’l Bit becomes even more confused of her feelings because of the large affect from her family. Even her name, Li’l Bit, derives from her having a small amount private part at birth. Also, due to the fact that her Uncle Peck is seen as an Atticus Fitch-like character, the reader is to believe he is a nice character at the start. It is not until you realize what they do in his car, you notice Peck’s …show more content…
Although we do not know how she loved prior to the rape incidents, but from what we can conclude, it seems tough for Li’l Bit to love. Not just love as in a relationship and men, but love as in being passionate about someone or something. Love as in finding others, like friends, to love and to love you back. Uncle Peck uses his tactic of manipulation to control Li’l Bit and make her seem like she is more alone than she already is, so he can have her all to himself. Li’l Bit believes in all of this because it is exactly how the mind of a rape victim would work. Also, the psychology of it all explains that especially because Uncle Peck is a family member and he truly does care for and respect Li’l Bit, it makes her think she 's more attracted to her uncle. The most important factor in Li’l Bit finding love, is that her Uncle Peck teachers her how to drive. This is such an important memory to Li’l Bit because that is where most of their sexual occurrences take place. This also relates further into the battling question, is it real love? or is it all in Li’l Bit’s mind? It is difficult for not only Li’l Bit to decide, but the reader as well because of how much of a loving relationship they actually have. Besides Uncle Peck teaching Li’l Bit how to drive, Uncle Peck also stops drinking because Li’l Bit tells him too. They also go on dates with each other and celebrate holidays with each other as well. All …show more content…
Yet, it is not until later on that you pick up on the inner conflicting problems Li’l Bit has and how hard it is for her to actually decide what she wants in her life. You really find the challenges she faces and how strong her fight between finding love from herself and other becomes. Also, her process of self discovery and finally noticing that she is better than what she thinks she is. Li’l Bit’s inner realizations help her to really understand what she wants from Uncle Peck and makes the deciding factor of their relationship. It all had to start with Li’l Bit finding what she wanted in life and beginning her journey with