Driving Miss Daisy

Driving Miss Daisy

For Black History Month, I recently watched the 1989 film adaption of Driving Miss Daisy. Starring Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy, it won a number of Academy Awards and Golden Globes as well as recieving positive reviews from film critics. The plot of the film is a relatively simple one, but becomes more complex as the film progresses. Daisy Werthan (Tandy) is a 72 year-old wealthy, white, Jewish, widowed, and a retired school teacher. When Miss Daisy wrecks her car, her son Boolie hires Hoke Colburn (Freeman). He's a black chauffeur who drove for a local judge until he recently died. At first, Miss Daisy refuses the idea of a chauffeur, and acts stubborn around Hoke, opting to take the town trolley or walking to her destinations. Hoke keeps trying to explain to Miss Daisy that he feels bad that Boolie is paying him to sit around her home and not do anything. Gradually, Miss Daisy accepts Hoke as her driver, though she is strict with rules at the beginning.

When she finds out that Hoke is illiterate, she teaches him how to read, using her knowledge from her time as a teacher. 15 years after Hoke arrives, Miss Daisy's maid Idella dies in 1963. Ratrher than hire a new maid, she decides to care for her own home and cook her own meals. Hoke assists with the cooking and the two also plant a vegetable garden. The flim explores racism against blacks, which affects Hoke in that time period. It also touches on anti-semitism in the South. After hr synagogue is bombed, Miss Daisy realizes she is also a victim of