Travis Bickle

Travis Bickle was disturbed, anyway who ain't, we too join little armies in our deep little minds on daily basis. Travis wants to do 'something', rather anything whatever come his way. Travis was out spoken, which we all want to be, to some extent. Travis was lonely which we are all tending towards.

Travis is a universal character, a character which is so real that it hurts you. We embody him daily, we hate him, we love him, but we cannot afford to be indifferent. Can you be indifferent to yourself. Actually some people can even manage that. Travis also tried that.

While talking to all-know 'Wizard', Travis try to seek some advice and Wizard begins with 'A man takes a job, and that becomes what he is' and the crap about our existential reality. Travis replies back "I dunno, that's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard." Many of us have thought of saying it after similar ramblings but have just pressed our lips.

Travis is trying to do 'something' to 'utilize' himself. Their is no other driving force other than to find one. We too help ourselves in our 'victimization'. And we do it better than Travis, and there is nothing wrong in it. We have evolved to get purified by victimization, it really doesn't matter who do it.

In the pursuit to attach some 'meaning' to his life Travis do strange things like trying to 'assassinate' the presidential candidate and try to save a little girl from pimp. He becomes a hero because he succeeds in the latter case not the former. He did both the things with equal effort. His becoming a hero was a matter of chance not a matter of intentions. How true !

Travis is an interesting character to read because of the his spiral nature. Spiral is twisted in quite orderly way, and it may seem almost straight if you don't see deep within. Who knows Travis would have done another effort to be a 'savior' if the second one would have failed, repeating himself like a spiral. and we could have argued "what an uninteresting, repetitive character".