“Here is a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is someone who stood up”

As Travis speaks to himself looking into a mirror holding a gun we can see how society in the 1970’s affected Travis’s mental stability. Travis’s job as a taxi driver opened his eyes to the filth and dirt on the streets.”Al the animals come out at night,” in the bizarre hours he was working he witnessed prostitution, crime, and garbage that took place while the normal people of the city were asleep, he experienced and was a part of what went on when the freaks came out to play. That was the key to Travis’s frustration that it was the streets he lived on. This irked him greatly. As Travis expresses his feelings about society’s chaos, how people were trash, how there was trash, and the crime, this perspective offered insight on how disturbed Travis’s mind was.

Even though the scene is more towards the end of the movie we can still see how involved the society’s downfalls affected Travis. His troubled mind would not find peace until action to store society took place. This is evident in his non stop plea to take out Betsy as well as his drastic actions to get Iris to leave Sport to go back home to her parents and to live a life a twelve year old should be living. Travis takes on a somewhat paternal role in trying to restore these women back to what he thinks is right for them. It’s not just the women he tries to restore, but the city of New York itself. He believes he is just the man to make the change happen. He buys a number of guns, cuts his hair into a mohawk and begins to talk to himself in a mirror. This is how we see society’s reflection on Travis. He becomes alone, desperate, depressed, and troubled.

A 26 years old ex-marine, insomniac, little education, and a bit odd.  ‘A bit odd’ can be an understatement as we see more of Travis as the movie progresses.  Nonetheless, these are some things we can tell about Travis from the movie.  So how did the 1970s American society define the life options for him?

We know that Travis is not very good at making personal connections with other people.  He does make several attempts, but they all fail miserably.  This is mainly due to how Travis lives.  He works 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Mornings are spent in porno theaters and he constantly takes pills.  Working as a graveyard shift taxi driver, all he sees is street crime and prostitution.  He became more lonely, more disgusted by what he saw.  Travis already went through the Vietnam War(assuming from when he was discharged) which probably was not a pleasant experience.  His life pattern only made everything worse.  He even took Betsy to a porno theater on a date.

There is a scene where Travis tries to get some advice from Wizard.  Wizard says “When a man takes a job, that becomes what he is”.  Although what he says does not speak to Travis’ problem, it speaks some truth about how things are.  At the end of the movie, Travis is labeled as a hero by the media.  But even after all the ‘thank you’ letters and media coverage, he is still a taxi driver.  Travis’ anger against “the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit” made him act out as a vigilante.  But in the end, he is still driving a cab.  Nothing changed.

“Go on, get laid, get drunk. Do anything. You got no choice, anyway. I mean, we’re all fucked. More or less, ya know.”

Loneliness only causes two consequences, a desperate or eager to vent invigorating impulses.

After the defeat in Vietnam, an awkward period of confusion, the disappointment of the American political and spiritual skepticism in the United States is quite common in younger people, while Travis is undoubtedly one of the typical representatives. As experienced all the hardships of WWII, people are actually lost a lot of “integrity personality”. after the war, he returned burdened with psychological fear and reality of the Vietnam War era all the mental stress, he, Travis, and I want effort into this society to go into the middle of New York to find a corner of their own survival, but, but never really integrate into it!

He lives in a completely closed world, in a taxi it is a closed space, and then come back to look at his residence, so dark and narrow, which suggested that he repressed, and depressed mental state. From a woman he met, began to unrequited love and later pursued her, and then she walked away to the “Wizard” series of dialogues with him, to the disappointment of senator, and to persuaded Alice returned home but get reject, Travis can no longer tolerate,Initially he believes that “the rain will wash away all the garbage,” but he realize this is not possible at end, he finally decided to eradicate the junk by himself. It can be said when he raised his gun, the gun is aligned with the whole social system of the United States.

Travis, a man Just come back to the Vietnam War Marines, returned to the United States, returned to New York in 1973 . But what wait for him is  dirty streets, sewer gas kept coming out like smoke , the streets filled with pimps,  violence, guns, drugs, prostitutes. After the war the United States , rising unemployment , inflation, confidence in the political and social unprecedented weak. He wanted to integrate into the society for which he tried hard.  he had tried to chat with presidential candidates, but made presidential candidates felt discomfort ; he tried to date Betsy , but get reject due to much difference with the others and refused to go to porn theaters.

When Candidates accidentally got into his taxi, and said with superior attitude that a taxi driver can be best person to embody the idea of ​​the entire United States. Travis said he was not interested in politics; just want the president to clean up the dirty things. His metaphor for society as a whole hypocrisy corruption phenomenon for candidates has no ability to reply and just say, “I know what you mean, but this requires a huge reorganization.”.

“Rectify “the words emphases in the first half of the movie means arranged the matter in logical order, which is divided between class and class. The candidate said, “We are the people, let the people themselves to rule their own good.” But how can people rule themselves, ‘class’ is the most reasonable. Cross this medium, no one could be recognized.

What you see in a society everyday can change who you are as a person with limited life options. That is just what happened to Travis Bickle in the movie, Taxi Driver. As a taxi driver, Travis witnessed how society was ran with the prostitution, pornography, crime, and garbage on the streets and sidewalks. He became outraged and this turned his life around to a whole new direction. To satisfy his frustration, he buys a number of guns from a gun dealer.

There was one scene that reflected Travis as a character and how he was portrayed in the society in the 1970’s. He looked into a mirror of himself as if he confronted an imaginary person with a gun. He says “You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin’ to? You talkin’ to me? Well I’m the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?” as well as saying this following line “Here is a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is someone who stood up” Society literally changed Travis to a lonely man that he is forced to speak into a reflection of himself. He has no one to make contact with and he is his own enemy. The reflection portrayed what Travis truly was in society; a lonely, violent individual.