Iris Steensma is a girl who lacks control over her own fate. At the age of twelve, she ran away from her unhappy working-class home life in Pittsburgh and made her way to the bright lights of New York City, hoping to be discovered. She was discovered, in fact, by a pimp named Matthew, known as Sport, and soon her life is under his control. He introduced her to love, to drugs, and to the tricks of the trade, and Iris proved an apt pupil under the alias Easy. Then, one night while very stoned, the urge to take control by running away overcame her again, and she tried to desert Sport. He chased her down and grabbed her, just as she had dived into a taxicab which she hoped would be her salvation.In a way, that was to be so, although she did not escape Sport that night. Later, the taxi driver, one Travis Bickle, sought her out and made a date with her through Sport. He wasn't interested in sex, though, he just wanted to talk. Iris agreed to see him again, and made him take her out for toast and jam. She told Travis of her hope to escape one day and live in a commune in Vermont, and Travis talked about what she should do to Sport and his employers in the Mafia when she left. She found she liked him, even though he scared her a little.That night, Travis showed up at Iris's apartment, while she was servicing one of the Mafia bagmen that collected from Sport. Now he seized control of Iris's destiny by blowing away all the men who kept her locked into her life as a prostitute, Sport, the Mafioso, the landlord, everyone. He may have thought he was freeing her to go to the commune, but in fact he simply made it possible for the police to return her to the trap she first ran away from. Her parents. They were very grateful. Iris never had a chance. Show less «