Family in "How I Learned to Drive"

Family plays a critical role in Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive. I think that the way Lil’Bit’s family – grandpa, grandma, mom, and aunt – acts explains the reason for her relationship with Uncle Peck. It is a family bound by obsolete philosophies, by drinking, by sexual mistakes, and by anger and resentment. Specifically, her family defines itself, both directly and indirectly, with sex. At the dinner table, they discuss the roles of women in the household and in bed. They speak about past promiscuity and bad sexual experiences. Even the nicknames of the family members root themselves in sexual reference. Lil’ Bit and Uncle Peck, however, don’t seem to blend in with the views of the rest of the family and because of this, we get a strong impression as to how and why these two got together in the first place.