Travis isn’t an easy going guy; rather, he is an archetype through which dialogue conveys an intention that doesn’t escape the film or the world it has created. Robert De Niro channels his usual physical self with gestures, postures, clothes, and even shades and a hairstyle that define him. Like a carcass that has found its body, that is what Travis Bickle is: a man with a mission.
At first numbed by the world that envelops him, Travis starts assimilating into this skewed world, and instead of making himself another puppet of sorts from this filth, he rises into a call to action and starts finding redemption and clarity in his role through the nature of a young Jodie Foster.
Through her eyes, he realizes there can be no more excuses. He starts dismembering all possessive schemes of society to make an uprising and change the fate of the world he sees, yet not the world it is. This is a decisive choice that enables him to pass as a mere taxi driver, when the source of his bravado later shaped films like “Drive” (2011) or “Cop Car” (2015).