How Characterisation Drives the Plot Forward?

How Characterisation Drives the Plot in A Taxi Driver

It starts in a tunnel.

The taxi driver is a man trying to get by. He emerges into a city that doesn’t care about him, singing a song about love slipping away with time. The car he drives is small, like him. But he is amiable, in his own way. He grumbles about everything: the protestors in the streets, the cost of repairs, the struggle to pay rent. Yet his grumbling never hardens into cruelty.

When a protestor fleeing riot police crashes into his rear-view mirror, he’s furious. But he lets it go. When a couple rushes into his taxi on their way to the hospital for childbirth, they admit they can’t pay. He’s angry, but he drives them anyway, wishing them luck before leaving without a fare. At home, he notices his daughter’s shoes are too small and sees her walk on their flattened heels. He tells her to bear with life, but he applies cream to her bruises with a gentleness that says more than his words ever could.

He didn’t mean to get involved. The trip to Gwangju was just a way to make money, a lot of money—enough to ease his debts and maybe buy his daughter something better. He isn’t political. He’s practical. He takes the job by pretending to be someone else. When soldiers at a roadblock question them, he uses broken English and quick thinking to talk their way through. At first, he seems almost untouched by what’s happening around him, joking with his passenger, keeping things light.

But Gwangju changes that.

The soldiers call the protestors a “mob,” but what he sees is different. He sees people, scared and desperate, just trying to survive—like him. He helps because there is no choice. The world around him demands it. The journey becomes something more, pulling him into the heart of a protest movement that no one seems to have entered by choice, yet no one can leave. His understanding shifts. He was only ever trying to do his job, but the lines between the personal and the political blur.

The camera frames his journey with precision. On the highway, long shots show his car as a speck against vast, empty roads, a small man in a large and indifferent world. But close-ups—his hands on the wheel, his face as he watches the chaos—pull us into his inner life, his choices, his will. He begins to act, not out of profit or duty, but because he has seen too much to turn away.

By the end, the gruff, amiable man who only wanted to make some money and go home has changed. He’s still small, but now he understands that everyone around him—protestors, bystanders, victims—feels just as small, caught in forces too big to control. Yet they act, and so does he, driven not by ideology but by the will to keep going, to survive, and to do what is right.

In A Taxi Driver, characterisation drives the plot because the driver’s choices are the story. His grumbles, his kindness, his will to keep moving—they carry him through a world that forces him to care. In his small car, he becomes part of something larger, not because he chooses to, but because he must. And in his smallness, he becomes unforgettable.

Follow-Up Exercise: Exploring Word Choice

1. Examining Word Choices for Characterisation

Look at the following sentences from the passage and answer the questions below:

• "The taxi driver is a man trying to get by. He emerges into a city that doesn’t care about him, singing a song about love slipping away with time."

Question:
How do the phrases “trying to get by” and “a city that doesn’t care about him” highlight the driver’s situation and emotional state?

• "The car he drives is small, like him."

Question:
What does the word “small” suggest about both the driver’s physical and metaphorical presence in the story?

2. Exploring Shifts in Tone Through Word Choice

Look at this sentence:

• "The soldiers call the protestors a ‘mob,’ but what he sees is different."

Refined Question:
The soldiers use the word “mob” to describe the protestors, while the driver sees them as “people.” How does the contrast between these two words reflect the driver’s evolving understanding of the situation in Gwangju?

3. Analysing Descriptive Phrases

Consider this sentence:

• "At home, he notices his daughter’s shoes are too small and sees her walk on their flattened heels."

Question:
What do the words “too small” and “flattened heels” reveal about the driver’s circumstances and relationship with his daughter?

4. Understanding Symbolism in Word Choice

Look at this phrase:

• "On the highway, long shots show his car as a speck against vast, empty roads."

Question:
What does the word “speck” symbolise in relation to the driver’s role in the larger world of the story?

5. Reflection on Character Growth Through Word Choice

Consider this sentence:

• "By the end, the gruff, amiable man who only wanted to make some money and go home has changed."

Question:
How do the words “gruff” and “amiable” work together to show the complexity of the driver’s character?

6. Creative Word Choice Activity

Imagine you’re describing the taxi driver at the start of the film and at the end. Choose three words or phrases for each point in his journey to reflect his development.

• At the start: __________, __________, __________

• At the end: __________, __________, __________

Question:
Explain how your chosen words capture his transformation.

Almost there, aren’t you? That feeling when the answer is right there, but you just need a wee nudge—a small missing piece to complete the puzzle. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Click here to find exactly what you’re looking for.