How I Learned to drive Study Guide
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How I Learned to Drive Table of Contents
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How I Learned to Drive Synopsis
How I Learned to Drive Synopsis
How I Learned to Drive begins with Li’l Bit speaking to the audience as an adult. She
introduces us to the opening scene which takes place in a parked car on a summer night in
Maryland. In the front seat of the car Li’l Bit, age seventeen, sits with an older, married man
nick-named Peck. As they sit together, Peck makes advances on Li’l Bit and asks to be rewarded
for not drinking that week. She allows him to remove her bra before driving them home. Li’l Bit
then moves back into the position of narrator as she explains the nickname given to her by her
family and Peck is revealed to be her uncle.
The play continues, going back and forth in time. In the next scene Li’l Bit returns to her
seventeen year old self and sits down to a family dinner with her mother, her grandfather, her
grandmother, Aunt Mary, and Uncle Peck. During dinner she is antagonized by her grandfather
as she expresses her desire to be judged by her intellect rather than her body. Frustrated, Li’l Bit
storms off and Uncle Peck is sent after her. He gives her the keys to his car when she expresses a
desire to drive and cool off. A grateful Li’l Bit promises Peck that they will have another chance
to be alone together later that night. In their conversation, we find out that Peck is not a blood
relative to Li’l Bit, but an in-law.
The scene shifts back a year to Peck and Li’l Bit enjoying dinner together at a restaurant.
Peck encourages Li’l Bit to drink, but rather than take advantage of her, Peck takes her back to
the car and explains that he is willing to wait until she is ready. We are then brought back to an
earlier conversation in which Li’l Bit, her mother, and her grandmother discuss men, women and
sex. The two older women attempt to educate Li’l Bit on how to deal with sex and love, but the
two have very opposing opinions on the matter. In another driving lesson with her uncle, Li’l Bit
seems to be much more flirtatious as Peck attempts to get her to focus on the rules of the road.
In the next few scenes we get a glimpse of Li’l Bit’s social experiences at school. The
other students alienate and poke fun at her due to her body type. This leads into a photo-shoot
with Peck and Li’l Bit. As he photographs her, Peck attempts to express to Li’l Bit the
appreciation he has for her body. Then, in a scene from the previous Christmas, Li’l Bit makes a
deal with Peck in which she agrees to spend more time with him if he stops drinking.
During Li’l Bit’s first year of college she receives a great deal of letters from Peck, all
counting down to her eighteenth birthday. She does not reply, but eventually meets with him to
tell him that she is no longer interested in pursuing any kind of relationship with him. An adult
Li’l Bit tells us that he later drank himself to death, then she finally takes
