In the Driver's Seat

Without a car, Hoke wouldn't be driving Miss Daisy. She has a variety of cars throughout the movie, each one shiny and new. They barely go over 35 mph.

In one memorable scene, Daisy walks to Piggly Wiggly, and Hoke follows her in her car. The giant hood of the 1949 Hudson Commodore pursues her like a shark from Jaws, but more for comic effect than for suspense.

Over the course of the movie, we spend a lot of time inside those cars. It's the setting for their relationship. Daisy looks at the back of Hoke's head, or sees him through the rearview mirror. She's always in the backseat, emphasizing the difference and distance in their roles. She'd never sit in the passenger seat as an equal.

Hoke takes care of the cars as if they are own… because they eventually are his own. He purchases each one, with his own money, when Boolie upgrades the car. And when Daisy starts to lose her memory, the first thing she asks him is, "Do you still have that Hudson?" It's a fond memory for her; we see her thinking about it in the film's final scene, driving away from us. For her, the car seems to represent her relationship with her good friend.

Hoke's not driving her at this point—in fact, he's too old to drive at all and depends on family to drive him. At the end of their lives, that's the great equalizer.