How I Learned to Drive

Peck’s driving lessons represent his teaching Li’l Bit about sex and about life. Scene titles, which are announced by an overhead voice, serve to represent headers from a driving manual and life lessons Li’l Bit learns in the scenes.  

The very first scene of the play takes place in Peck’s car. It begins with Peck making sexually-charged comments to Li’l Bit and ends with him fondling her breasts. That the car is traditionally a place for young lovers to meet for sex is not a coincidence, nor is the fact that Peck first molests her, at age 11, as she sits in his lap and drives his car. Peck’s comment to Li’l Bit that he “want[s] [her] to know [her] automobile inside and out” (32) suggests his desire for her to explore her sexuality. His specific instructions on how to position the mirrors and the seat and where to put her limbs eerily mimic the instructions a sexually-experienced person would impart to someone new to sex. His explanation that he calls a car a “she” because he likes to think of it as “someone who responds to your touch—someone who performs just for you and gives you what you ask for” (35) reaffirms the connection between driving and sex.  

Peck’s desire for Li’l Bit to “drive with confidence” (34), to “be the only one to walk away” (35) from an accident, indicates his desire for her to be a strong person and to take care of herself.