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.”