How I Learned to Drive Analysis Essay

In Paula Vogels How I Learned to Drive, we follow our protagonist nicknamed Lil smirch on a gut wrenching, and downright disturbing journey through her adolescence, told as a series of narrations, monologues, and flashbacks with the occasional interjection of a PSA corresponding voice over. The swindle recounts the physical and emotional pervert Lil snack encountered from the ages of eleven to eighteen at the hands of her uncle apprehend, while he teaches her to drive.The main flaw I saw in Lil Bit was that she is too smart for her own neat. You see this characteristic throughout the dictation as she manipulates Peck. For example, it was most obvious for me when their roles of adult and child are reversed, and Peck is explaining to Lil Bit what a in force(p) boy he has been for not drinking.Knowing how much Peck lusts after her she offers him a reward for his good behavior in the form of undoing her bra. Another great example is when prior to her and peck qualifying on a r oad trip and Lil Bits mother indicates that she has a sense of what Peck has on his mind, she responds by saying I can take gondola care of myself. And I can for certain handle uncle Peck.At this point in the story she is only eleven. Its hard to imagine a child of that age so grown up emotionally. Overall, most of the characters had likeable qualities, with the exception of the grandmother. I didnt really like the way she meddled in the Parenting of Lil Bit. I liked Big Papa the best. Hes a crabby old durationr who speaks anything that comes into his head with reckless abandon. It brought me some levity in an otherwise melancholic play.The climax of the play occurs on Lil Bits eighteenth birthday. She and Peck are in a hotel room, and shes been ignoring peck for some time leading up to this meeting as hes been sending her cards counting down to her birthday. Lil Bit is obviously conflicted about their kind now that she has gotten older, entirely Peck is looking forward to a t ime when its not illegal for them to be together. This is creepy enough on its own, but when Peck drops the marriage bomb, the creep factor skyrockets. I was honestly revolt at the idea of a man leaving his wife to be with his niece whom hehas known since birth, gillyflower related or not.Prior to the climax, one major event occurs and that is in the monologue that Aunt bloody shame delivers indicating that she knows whats going on between Peck and Lil bit. The haggling used during this monologue, indicate to me a partner off of key points about this character. First of all she is very intelligent. Her thoughts are well put together and the words she uses indicates to me that she has some sort of education.She is also very intuitive, she picks up on the subtle, non-verbal signals that peck gives off when hes got something on his mind and presumably when hes around Lil Bit. Also, the words used by Lil Bit in her different flashbacks have a direct correlation to her age. Its obvi ous as you engage them, that during the later ones she is forming more complex thoughts and emotions, which is indicative of growth.For the music in this play, Paula Vogel suggested period correct music spanning dickens generations. She mentions Motown several times, as well as Roy Orbison and the Beach Boys. Most of this music is romantic and happy with elflike hints of sexuality and sometimes-pedophilic references. For some weird reason the voice of the announcer in my head was played by the Moviephone guy.The car in the play was described as a Buick Riviera, but in my mind it was more like a Camaro or GTO. The main reason for this is the obvious relationship between Peck and his car. The way he describes the way the aggressive way men are taught to drive and the feeling of a cars response to your touch, on the dot makes me think of those fast nimble sports cars. Taking place in the 1960s, the costumes in my mind were bell-bottoms and blossom shirts, polyester leisure suits, and fringes all over the place. This was your typical 1960s attire.I believe the overall theme of this play is about the effect of time on relationships. The relationship between Peck and Lil Bit starts out strong, for her and delicate for him. She has a strong male figure giving her attention while he is nurturing a relationship that he knows is illegal andimmoral. As time progresses, the roles ultimately reverse leaving Peck with much dominance in the relationship while Lil Bit comes to realize the truth about it which leads to its demise. It just goes to show that time will always change relationships, jus not always in the way you imagined.