Anna Sand-Lambert

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Driving Miss Daisy

Driving Miss Daisy, based on Alfred Uhry’s play, Driving Miss Daisy, takes place in

1948 Georgia. This story reached incredible success, both the play and film winning numerous

awards. It follows the unconventional friendship of an elderly African American man named

Hoke Colburn and an elderly Jewish woman named Daisy Werthan. Despite this plot line not

being very common or “popular,” I found that it was able to relate the film with current topics.

There were topics such as prejudice against black people and anti-Semitism, but the overlying

theme was their friendship.

Daisy Werthan is very independent and strong minded. In the film, she starts off by

resisting her son’s hiring of a chauffeur, as she is no longer allowed to drive. She doesn’t want to

appear to be flaunting her wealth, for she grew up very poor. Other tactics of resistance include

taking the trolly, walking, accusations of stealing and even controlling navigation once she does

give in to having a chauffeur. Hoke Colburn is hired by Daisy’s son, Boolie, and he has a calmer,

more friendly nature. The two characters are very much the opposite, making it initially difficult

to see how their relationship will end up.

Following the course of the movie, the audience sees a clear development of their

relationship evolving into a strong friendship. The two characters share a common activity, being

in a car together, driving around. In the car and around the house, Daisy becomes more open to

shared dialogue with Hoke. Because she didn’t want him there in the beginning, she was very

closed off and didn’t want him speaking to Idella, her housekeeper. Daisy would also avoid

interactions with Hoke as much as she could. A notable turning point in their relationship was

when Daisy thought that Hoke was stealing from her. Daisy started to trust Hoke when he
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admitted he ate a can of salmon but that he brought her another can to replace it. This trust was

able to grow, becoming stronger and stronger as the years passed.

As the trust between the two increased, so did their support for one another. Hoke told

Daisy of his inability to read and Daisy, who was formerly a teacher, taught him how to read. I

think this demonstrated a moment of personal vulnerability for Hoke and an outreach of support

from Daisy. Later on in the movie, Hoke shows even more support for Daisy, past being her

chauffer. He aids Daisy with her garden and with cooking, after Idella passes away. Hoke even

drives through a snowstorm to be with Daisy, clearly showing how their relationship has

morphed into one with them supporting each other.

While this movie is milder when it comes to topics such as race and prejudice, it does

play a factor into Daisy and Hoke’s relationship. Being a black man in the south in 1948 does

indicate to the audience what type of issues Hoke faced. In one scene he was stopped by two

policemen who were racist towards him; this can be paralleled to current events. According to

studies done by The Stanford Open Policing Project, “The data show[s] that officers generally

stop black drivers at higher rates than white drivers,” (2020). This brings up the question of if

Hoke were white, would he have been stopped by the police? I don’t believe he would have.

After the officers stopped him, they did an excessive look over of his papers. The Stanford Open

Policing Project also found that “stopped black and Hispanic drivers are searched more often

than white drivers,” (2020) indicating that there is still distrust and prejudice today.

One of the predominant characteristics about Daisy was that she is Jewish. The film

addressed antisemitism when the temple that Daisy attended was bombed. This event is like

tragedies that still happen today. In just the month of March, there have been 10 incidents of

antisemitism (Anti-Defamation League, 2020). When Hoke informed Daisy about the temple, he
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also compared the situation to the lynching of his childhood friend’s father. At first, Daisy was

unable to connect the two acts of hate. Later she would accept that their shared experience of

prejudice linked the two of them together.

The words that Daisy says to Hoke as she holds his hand, that he is her “best friend,” is

the peak moment of their friendship, in my opinion. Before this point they acted like friends but

there was never verbal confirmation. In the scene that led up to this exchange, Daisy was

exhibiting signs of Dementia and Hoke was trying to calm her down and be supportive. In the

final scene, Hoke visited Daisy in her nursing home, despite the geographic distance making

their time together much less than it used to be. At first, I was scared that she wouldn’t remember

Hoke. However, that clearly was not the case, for she sent Boolie away and wanted to just visit

with Hoke. The movie ended with Hoke feeding Daisy, a woman who at one time refused to

even be driven by him, a slice of pie. Thus, demonstrating their shared trust, acceptance, and

support of one another.

I believe that Driving Miss Daisy was a great movie that depicted the development of a

strong friendship. It showed the development of the relationship from start to end, and it included

a solid middle. It covered the elements that made a friendship, such as the shared experiences,

trust, acceptance and the support required on both ends. I thought it also did a good job at

demonstrating how issues that were and are still occurring, are able to be empathized with and

can bring us together.

https://www.adl.org/education-and-resources/resource-knowledge-base/adl-tracker-of-

anti-semitic-incidents

The Stanford Open Policing Project. (2020). Findings. Retrieved from

https://openpolicing.stanford.edu/findings/