Original artwork, not a still
The days go on and on... they don't end. All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention, I believe that one should become a person like other people.
— Taxi Driver ‧ 1976
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
This is where Travis states what he thinks he needs: purpose, a destination, a normal life. It sounds almost wholesome, and that is the chill, because the film then shows how far his idea of being 'like other people' drifts. Fans quote it for the loneliness of night work and for how ordinary Travis sounds before the story turns dark.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Taxi DriverShow the scene
This is Travis Bickle's voice-over in Taxi Driver (1976), read from the diary he keeps as a night-shift cab driver in New York. It comes early in the film, after another twelve-hour shift when he still cannot sleep, and after a stop at a candy counter where he buys jujubes and a cola. The diary entry is spoken over his rootless routine. Directly after it, he describes first seeing Betsy, a campaign worker for Senator Palantine, in a white dress, which sets the film's main plot in motion.
Sources (2)
- Taxi Driver transcript (Springfield! Springfield!)voice-over after the candy-counter sceneReference checked
- Wikipedia: Taxi DriverPlot and infoboxReference checked
Context reviewed
