How I Learned to Drive

Why are Li’l Bit’s flashbacks presented in unchronological order, and what is the effect? Why does Vogel wait until the end of the play to show Peck molesting Li’l Bit for the first time?  

Playwright Paula Vogel said in an interview with Playbill that the Peck and Li’l Bit’s relationship is too complicated to be defined simply as pedophilia. Explore the complexities of Li’l Bit and Peck’s relationship. What do they gain from each other? 

Discuss the issue of consent as presented in How I Learned to Drive. Does Li’l Bit consent to Peck’s advances or not? Does she consent in some places and not in others? Does the play seem to suggest she can consent at all? 

How, according to How I Learned to Drive, are women taught from a young age that they are sexually objectified? 

Why does Li’l Bit see Peck’s spirit in the backseat as she floors the gas in the last scene of the play? What does this suggest about their relationship, her growth, and the ultimate message(s) of the play? 

Discuss the dynamic between Grandmother and Mother as well as between Grandmother and Grandfather. How do these relationships illustrate the mores of the time? How do they illustrate the dysfunction in the family? How does observing these relationships affect Li’l Bit? 

Discuss the role of trauma in the play. How has it affected Peck, and how do those around him deal with his trauma? How does Li’l Bit’s own trauma affect her, and how does her handling of her trauma differ from Peck’s handling of his? 

How do women and girls in How I Learned to Drive buy into their own sexual objectification? Where do they demonstrate that this objectification is ingrained in them, as well as in both men and boys?