Walking Contradiction Analysis

The scene where Travis is with Betsy at the coffee shop lays the foundation for a major theme of the movie. Betsy says to Travis “that he reminds her of the Kris Kristofferson song ‘Walking Contradiction’ ‘he’s a prophet, he’s a pusher, partly truth, partly fiction’.” Travis being a walking contradiction is fitting, he’s an alienated Vietnam vet, uneducated, possibly psychotic, yet he has a keen sense of awareness and insight that one would not expect. He’s returned home from war to a country that is vastly different than when he left, and he does not possess the necessary emotional and social skills that are required for him to transition into this New America. Travis is a lonely creature, that develops from the culmination of his vietnam

Iris asks Travis “didn’t you ever hear of women’s lib?” Travis response is “what do you mean women’s lib,” which signifies how much the country has changed while he was away at war, the intellectual movement, bra burners, women’s suffrage, and the women’s liberation movement. Travis again is showing a contradiction, that he has concern and empathy towards Iris, yet he is the dislocated subject who cannot seem to ever effectively connect on a personal/social level. Iris calls Travis square, and he responds “you’re the one who is square, You walk out with those fuckin' creeps and lowlifes and degenerates out on the street and you sell your, sell your little pussy for nothin' man. For some lowlife pimp - stands in a hall. I'm, I'm square? You're the one that's square, man. I don't go screw and fuck with a bunch of killers and junkies the way you do. You call that bein' hip? What world are you from?” In Travis’s mind, Sport represents the lowest kind of trash in the world, pure scum, and Travis has decided that he will be Iris’s savior, killing Sport and his mob affiliates will free Iris from her sexually enslavement, and will also serve to free him from himself. Travis tells Iris, that he has money and will pay for her to

You talking to me? Then who the else are you talking… You talking to me? Well I’m the only one here” Travis says to his reflection in the mirror. This scene captures Travis’s psychotic disassociation from himself, he has undergone a complete split where his thoughts now become reality, a normal person of sound mind is able to separate their thoughts from reality. Travis’s violent thoughts, paranoia, alienation, isolation combine in a tremendous force that sends Travis over the edge. Travis’s apartment with the metal bars and shredded telephone wires symbolizes and represents a metaphor that Travis is in a sense the creator of his own alienation and disconnectedness from himself and