Female Greek Chorus Character Analysis in How I Learned to Drive

The female Greek chorus plays multiple voices from Li’l Bit’s past. The most prominent of these is Li’l Bit’s mother, who offers Li’l Bit misguided advice on sexuality and drinking alcohol “like a man.” Through these moments, the audience learns that Li’l Bit’s mother fell pregnant at an early age and had a bad relationship with Li’l Bit’s father. She blames this on her own mother, Li’l Bit’s grandmother, for not teaching her about the “facts of life.” The female chorus also plays Uncle Peck’s wife, Aunt Mary, who praises her husband’s virtuous character and places all the blame on his incestuous relationship with Li’l Bit on Li’l Bit herself. Other than these two characters, the female chorus also takes on the voice of Li’l Bit’s high school friends, all of whom reinforce the sexual status quo, telling Li’l Bit that she should be grateful for boys’ sexual advances. The cumulative effect of these voices is to show the weary world in which Li’l Bit grows up—a place where how things are is simply how things have to be.

Female Greek Chorus Quotes in How I Learned to Drive

The How I Learned to Drive quotes below are all either spoken by Female Greek Chorus or refer to Female Greek Chorus. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

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FEMALE GREEK CHORUS. (As mother). And of course, we were so excited to have a baby girl that when the nurse brought you in and said, “It’s a girl! It’s a baby girl!” I just had to see for myself. So we whipped your diapers down and parted your chubby little legs — and right between your legs there was—(Peck has come over during the above and chimes along:)
PECK. GREEK CHORUS.
Just a little bit. Just a little bit.

FEMALE GREEK CHORUS. (As mother). And when you were born, you were so tiny that you fit in Uncle Peck’s outstretched hand. (Peck stretches his hand out.)

Related Characters: Uncle Peck (speaker), Female Greek Chorus (speaker), Li’l Bit’s Mother (speaker), Li’l Bit

Page Number and Citation: 12-13

Explanation and Analysis:

FEMALE GREEK CHORUS. You know, you should take it as a compliment that the guys want to watch you jiggle. They’re guys. That’s what they’re supposed to do.

LI’L BIT. I guess you’re right. But sometimes I feel like these alien life forces, these two mounds of flesh have grafted the selves onto my chest, and they’re using me until they can “propagate” and take over the world and they’ll just keep growing, with a mind of their own until I collapse under their weight and they suck all the nourishment out of my body and I finally just waste away while they get bigger and bigger and — (Li’l Bit’s classmates are just staring at her in disbelief.)

FEMALE GREEK CHORUS. — You are the strangest girl I have ever met. (Li’l Bit’s trying to joke but feels on the verge of tears.)

LI’L BIT. Or maybe someone’s implanted radio transmitters in my chest at a frequency I can’t hear, that girls can’t detect, but they’re sending out these signals to men who get mesmerized, like sirens, calling them to dash themselves on these “rocks” —

Related Characters: Li’l Bit (speaker), Female Greek Chorus (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 38

Explanation and Analysis:

FEMALE GREEK CHORUS. (As Mother.) I am not letting an eleven-year-old girl spend seven hours alone in the car with a man... I don’t like the way your uncle looks at you.

LI’L BIT. For god’s sake, mother! Just because you’ve gone through a bad time with my father — you think every man is evil!

FEMALE GREEK CHORUS. (As Mother.) Oh no, Li’l Bit not all men... We... we just haven’t been very lucky with the men in our family.

LI’L BIT. Just because you lost your husband — I still deserve a chance at having a father! Someone! A man who will look out for me! Don’t I get a chance?

FEMALE GREEK CHORUS. (As Mother.) I will feel terrible if something happens.

LI’L BIT. Mother! It’s in your head! Nothing will happen! I can take care of myself. And I can certainly handle Uncle Peck.

FEMALE GREEK CHORUS. (As Mother.) All right. But I’m warning you — if anything happens, I hold you responsible.

Related Characters: Li’l Bit (speaker), Female Greek Chorus (speaker), Li’l Bit’s Mother (speaker), Uncle Peck

Related Symbols: Driving/Cars

Page Number and Citation: 55-56

Explanation and Analysis: