#drive 2005

- Driver was used by his father for crime until he got too big at 12 and was labeled useless, was emotionally (and maybe physically) abused/neglected by his mother, watched his mother kill his father and didn’t bat an eye, tried to take care of his mother afterwards so he wouldn’t get taken by the state, gets taken by the state regardless, and lives in foster care until “a few days shy” of turning sixteen, wherein he steals the family car and runs away. He lives out of the car, scared and paranoid, until he takes up with Shannon. Baby had it ROUGH

- Driver is implied to likely be YOUNGER THAN 20 when he meets Irene (Irina in the book). He stays with Shannon for four months when he’s sixteen/seventeen, starts squirreling back money, and when he moves into his apartment and meets Irene, he tells her that he’d “Been [in L.A.] a few months. Staying with a friend till now.” Later, when Benicio asks how old Driver is, Driver says 20 and follows up in his mind with “He wasn’t, but that’s what he was telling the world.” His best friend in the book also calls him “kid” and “boy” a lot, even making a pointed remark how Driver’s still basically a child towards the end of the book

- Unlike only having Shannon in the movies, book!Driver actually has a scarce few number of friends — two from childhood, three in adulthood (excluding whatever he, Irene, and Standard have going on). He genuinely makes an effort many, many times to be a good/protective friend (he “very carefully broke [a bully’s] thumb” for being a dick about his friend in middle school), and as an adult, he reaches out both to and for comfort, especially when either his friends or he might die (see below)

- In the movie, you briefly see a doctor character cleaning Driver’s arm post-botched robbery. In the book, Doc is there several times and actually has his own POV chapter, and Driver visits him when he’s dying, trying to comfort him and call Doc’s daughter even knowing she won’t answer. He’s 1/3 people Driver outright calls a friend

- In the book, a screenwriter and former novelist named Manny Gilden is Driver’s main, most constant companion/best friend throughout the entire story. More than Standard and Irene! Manny is the first person Driver genuinely introduces to us in chapter 2, and is also the last person Driver talks to before going to meet Bernie Rose because Driver, feeling very existential, says he wanted “the company of a friend, I think”

- In chapter 2, it’s established that Driver doesn’t read very much unless he’s very bored on set, and if he doesn’t know a word, he usually puts the book down to go call Manny for a definition. Driver does this with the word ‘Desuetude’ AND LITERALLY WALKS TWO BLOCKS TO A PAYPHONE AT A DENNY’S TO ASK LMAO

- Driver doesn’t have a cellphone (book was published in 2005), so he has to find a pay phone EVERY TIME he wants to call Manny about a word. Manny picks up every time Driver calls him

- Driver, well, drives Manny a lot of places, including across the country when he’s not doing stunts, and they usually hang out together and drink wine. Driver knows a decent bit about wine because that’s literally the one thing Manny spends his Hollywood wealth on

- Manny is also the one person we know for a fact Driver keeps in touch with post-story

- Movie!Shannon is a combination of book!Shannon and Manny as far as his role goes. He’s also Scots-Irish in the book (the audiobook even gives him an accent). Young Driver trails after Shannon a lot, and eventually asks to buy Shannon a drink. Shannon clocks he’s homeless very fast and buys Driver food instead because he basically wants to see what’s up with this kid LMAO after Driver shows off his stunt skills, he passes out drunk with Shannon, wakes up at his house, and lives on Shannon’s couch for four months

really adept with describing people - can locate you based on accent (figuring out where blanche was from based on accent despite her saying otherwise.)

Hand stims?

Really adept sense of hearing (especially during an adrenaline rush) - trained to listen to sirens probably

Reasons driver could be mixed

Like the food: horchata (chap. 2), burrito (chap 2) - ‘something with taste, mexican movies and a salvadoran restaurant (chap. 7) more mexican restaurant and food (chap. 8)

There is more… but i forgot to uh… write it down 🙂‍↕️

Arizonian - tuscan(-ish area), which is a place with high hispanic population

Book reader (on and off - ‘reading again? Are we’ & also reads books movies are based off from (same) - chap. 2

Thift shop/secondhand stores

chronic coffee drinker 

6’2”

Though was a small child who helped his father with buglary’s (until he grew)

Why does he keep his father’s razor? He felt bad for him later on in the book. Is it his way to mourn his father? 

Mother described as having a quiet fury

Tuscan Arizona - foster parents (was in foster care for about 4 years, and mrs. Smith bible class for 2 years)

Described as a wren - small songbird with a powerful voice, symbolizes that great power can come in small packages. The bird represents hidden mastery, cleverness, and the courage to make your presence known - in the house

Stole the car and left at 16 - left a note apologizing and thanking them

‘I fucking knew he’d be better at explaining how he felt by writing more than speaking’ - grey. I agree with this

Driver being a jazz guy (he and seb r meeting. Def)

His ‘i just drive’ demands is a principle to him - it’s something he follows that keeps him safe, keeps him sane, he does not have a soul full of malicious intent, he stole a car from people who housed him out of necessity ‘im sorry but i need wheels’. However he does have the ability to bite back when threatened. 

Willing to turn down jobs if they don’t follow his principle - moral over money

More rabbit motif (in the movie he has a rabbits foot on his keys) - rabbit is typically seen as the prey.. and yet.

‘People were so goddamn stupid. Who with any mind of pride, any sense of self, is gonna go along with that? What kind of fool would even put up with it’ - standards created from watching mother put up with father (myb)?

He learns from watching, and implicates his skills that way. (This will come up later)

Also learns a lot from the movies he works on

Hella pessimistic but in a realistic view - he’s seen the bad side of the world and doesn’t expect to see any good, especially if that good is directed towards him. 

Noticed routines of others and catalogs it 

Skeptical of someone for knocking on his door

Mainly does jobs for robberies 

‘Ford galaxie. Right off the line this thing had more power than made any kind of sense-‘ is such a real ass line. 

Gets his own car - buys - knows where most people screw up and avoids it

Likes older buicks (…and jazz… anyone catching my drift? …ima have to make a whole post abt this)

Really in tune with a car from just driving and works at many garages

‘Good enough’ ‘not for me’ hella hard on himself and expects the best, especially if it’s driving

‘Life sends us messages all the time - then sits around laughing over how we’re not gonna be able to figure them out’ 

Knows where sped traps are and knows how to use them - shows (some) knowledge on how patrol cops operate 

More watching and staying quiet, and watching the cars as well (autism🤔?)

Admired shannon before he even knew him fully, watched before approaching 

Shannon being able to speak ‘perfect idiomatic spanish’

Shannon being proud of driver

Driver being a quick thinker (will come up again later)

Checks all exits in parking lot and in the room

Chucking a piece of glass and hitting the target accurately - he would be good at knife throwing.

Hella good hand eye coordination but shit with balance (6’2” everybody… he is so awesome)

Possible nerve damage from the arm injury 

Talks about how he meet shannon when asked about himself

‘Im 20’ ‘old’ benicio you are beloved

Jokes fly over his head - autism 

His relationship with irina, benicio and standard <3 (sigh… ik where this is going)

Going to visit his mother, and being devastated by her passing, even if he didn’t realize. 

Alexithymia (inability to be aware of and explicitly identify his emotions - thank you worm)

Done three successful runs with Standard

Slashed cop vans tires - quick thinker

‘Floored it, shot out across the parking lot… …neither of them standard.’ 

‘you get that nostalgic vibe to it when it’s written choppy, like the memories are coming and going as he’s in the motel’ - grey (you are a fucking genius)

Closed book (shocker)

‘…and i dont fly’ ‘fly. You barely crawl’ - gets more looser with words and humorous the drunker he gets

During the stunt scene it turned to a real chase in his head ‘driver was on the run’ ‘pursuer’ ‘cops’ all sort of things and words to emphasize he might be in danger (might be hard to get out of that mindset without the set call around him)

Takes more getaway jobs rather than stunting jobs (even when he has talent in the stunt (he took one job with speaking lines))

He’s an extension of the car ‘that ‘56 chevy, with driver inside, was the real star’ he doesn’t shine because of the car, the car shines because of him

‘Sipping scotch from the only glass he kept’ - autism 

Is willing to crash head on with a car.. self preservation where? Self preservation who?

most definitely some sort of adrenaline junkie

9-10 years old and already knows to 1) always agree and 2) watch closely

‘…a survivor. Get the job done, whatever the job was. Like him.’ - ouch. 

Has lived a life of crime, and has never once been caught

Driver taunting them with pizza coupons and ‘free delivery’ (i live for his pettiness)

Turning the tv on which is smth he and standard used to do when benicio and irina was asleep

The dream he had for a year straight ‘the bear grabbed a tulip or iris, and eat it, then go after him again and then would offer driver a tulip or iris’ and then driver would wake up. 

Tulip - perfect, deep love and rebirth. Because they are among the first flowers to bloom in the spring, they are also widely associated with fresh starts, new beginnings, and charity

Iris - faith, hope, wisdom, and valor, it is universally recognized as a bridge of communication and a sign of promise

The bear is trying to hurt him, and eats any chance of rebirth or communication. But the bear also offers that line of communication, which probably ends up being a trap since driver wakes up when he reaches for it. 

…this probably makes no sense, im shit at wording things. MOOTS. HELP. 

‘First and last fight’ - he doesn’t fight unless he has to, and the fight started because someone insulted his friend

Race track mention :)

Also bible school mention as well

Him being family to jorge’s family

Another mention to driver picking up stuff by watching - from jorge’s family knacks (guns, knives and martial arts) to things he’s learned from movies

‘What’d we talk about’ ‘things that matter. Like how once a man makes a deal he keeps it’ 

Anddddd driver is back taunting them with pizza. Love how petty he is. 

…fuck. The letter to his old foster parents. 

The remorse he still feels over the car. The fact he feels equals with the cat (thank you grey) and the fact that he is grateful to them for raking him in and he felt secure there ‘she deserves to spend the last years of her life in security’

‘Ive made your life more complicated.. not what i hope for.. things got tangled up’ like in the spiders web his mother was obsessed with. The spider she called by a name, when she didn’t even address him by his name

he was at some sort of peace after worrying about being on the streets - dissociation issues + giving up

‘Back when we first met, and i was just a kid’ ‘have you looked in the mirror, you’re still just a kid’

The story of borges and don quixote - borges first name being Jorge (which is the name of one of Driver’s friends from arizona) and Borge’s viewing don quixote as a philosophical puzzle about the nature of reality and fiction… and driver not even a page before trying to discern if something he remembers his mother saying was a memory or imagination 

Scotch and beer

‘True at the time. Times change’ ‘even id we dont’ - scorpion and the frog? Anyone?

Scorpion and the frog is a story about a scorpion and a frog trying to get across the river, the frog can get over easy because it can swim, but the scorpion can’t. So the scorpion ask the frog to carry it over. The frog doesn’t want to be stung so it declines, but the scorpion assures the frog that it won’t sting the frog because it needs the frogs help. So the frog accepts and starts taking the scorpion across the river on its back. Halfway across the scorpion stings the frog and when the frog ask why, the scorpion replies with ‘it’s in my nature’, essentially dooming them both to drown and die in the river, the river who’s current will not stop even though they are in it. 

Which is ironic since a scorpion is a docile creature, only stinging those that might do it harm. 

Also… i was trying to connect the river to time… and all that, im not good at explaining shit. 

Scorpion ‘ it’s in its nature’ - mixed with the fact driver has known crime all his life, whether he has been involved or watched it, and he thinks that is the only thing he can do, he can have no good inside of him becoming he thinks he is not good. 

Driver had the keys bunched in his hand, one braced and protruding between second and third fingers. Stepping directly forward, he punched his fist at alpha dog's windpipe, feeling the key tear through layers of flesh, looking down as he lay gasping for air.

In his rear view mirror he watched the young tough's buddies stand over him flapping hands and lips and trying to decide what the hell to do. It wasn't supposed to go down like this.

Maybe he should turn around. Go back and tell them that's what life was, a long series of things that didn't go down the way you thought they would.

Hell with it. Either they'd figure it out or they wouldn't. Most people never did.

You can get a LOT of characterization just from that in my opinion, just from his own inner monologue about how he views violence and misfortune. And he’s not being actively threatened here, either. Poked fun at, yes, and vaguely intimidated, but they didn’t have any weapons that Driver made note of, didn’t approach him aggressively, didn’t do anything but poke fun at his vehicle at the time.

There are so many times when Driver strikes disproportionately to what’s happening around him — and it makes sense! In his mind, it’s been shown time and time again that being weak is one of the worst things you can be, right beside being useless. So Driver does the only thing he’s learned will keep him safe: he lashes out like a dog hit one too many times.

But in spite of this view, despite violence being the only universal language that Driver consciously speaks, he also uses another one without his input — love.

Immediately after killing the guy above, Driver tells us this:

He existed a step or two to one side of the common world, largely out of sight, a shadow, all but invisible. Whatever he owned, either he could hoist it on his back and lug it along or he could walk away from it.

He tries to tell himself, because he feels “a step or two” away from everybody else and the world they live in, that he doesn’t need to tie himself down with a real life. If he has it, he has it; if he can’t have it, it wasn’t worth keeping anyways. But he proves time and time again that he loves people so, so much.

Whenever he doesn’t understand something, he’ll walk miles to phone his best friend, Manny, and ask for a word’s definition, then ask him out to drinks. Whenever Manny is drunk as hell, Driver tells him to get some sleep and then drives him home, just to make sure he gets there okay and because he cares. He refuses to take Manny’s money (despite Manny being incredibly wealthy), and is willing to drive all the way to the East Coast for free because his best friend doesn’t fly. And when Driver gets scared, both when he first came to California and at the very end of the story, right before he confronts Bernie Rose, he calls Manny so the two of them can go walk down the Santa Monica beach and talk.

Likewise, Doc is the only person we see Driver trust to help him out medically, even if Doc is suffering from alcoholism and seems to have some sort of dissociative disorder. Whenever Doc gets deathly ill from liver failure, Driver bypasses a nurse’s ‘no visitors’ order because “She also told him his friend was dying.” He tries his best to comfort Doc (even if Doc knows he’s dying), telling him he’ll be fine, promising he fed Doc’s cat — the random stray cat he paid enough attention to to know that something had happened to Doc —, asking if there’s anybody he can call for his friend and trying to get ahold of Doc’s daughter, even when she won’t pick up. And Driver wants to come back, even when Doc tells him there’s no need, because Driver is worried.

And he loves his foster parents to some extent, but more than anything, he respects them and feels so incredibly guilty for all that he’s done when it comes to them. Even just existing in their house, “living like a wren” in their attic, was something so deeply touching to him that he carried the guilt of stealing their car up until the very end. He leaves them an apology note, saying he’s sorry but also so thankful, and then later down the line, he brings them the money that he got from Nino so they can live in comfort, just as a thank you for letting him exist in peace. These are people he lived with for maybe only 3-4 years, too.

And even his biological mother, who never once called him his name and was very abusive and neglectful, gets Driver’s love. He dreams of her calling him her son, and seems almost out of it whenever he tries to go see her and is told she died not long ago. Even when he views her with some level of disdain, he still loves her, and even pities her.

Ultimately, Driver is someone who loves people as much as he’s scared of them. All he’s ever done is been hurt or used (even by his friends), and yet he loves them. It doesn’t mean he isn’t violent, because he kills, stalks, and hunts down anybody getting in his way, and he also kills people who were just existing. But that’s what makes him so interesting as a character — he lashes out because what else is he supposed to do, and he tries to leave things behind, but at the end of the day he just wants to exist. Yes, he IS a violent dog, he knows EXACTLY why he bites, but he loves the people who were willing to throw him a bone and give him a chance.