Diving-bells and buttered flies

“In my head I churn over every sentence ten times, delete a word, add an adjective, and learn my text by heart, paragraph by paragraph.”

To the unknowing, you would be forgiven for thinking Jean-Dominique Bauby (1997) had a finicky writer for his subject in ‘The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly.’ But this is far from the truth. The subject is confined to a hospital bed, entrapped in their body and alone with their thoughts... the subject is him. The story is told through first person and is filled with emotive words which create a mixed feeling.

In the beginning of the excerpt there is a sense of boredom and inescapable pain. There is a deep feeling of bitterness that overwhelms the reader as the subject speaks of congested lungs and emotions. The smooth transition from dark and twisty to enlightenment is a credit to Bauby’s fluent style of writing. Once the mind of the confined begins to wander from his body the mood shifts to peace and contentment. The strongest point of the story is the use of ‘cocoon’ and ‘butterfly’, a running theme reflecting the emotions of restriction and choice. Cocoon supports the subject’s feeling of oppressed mobility, frustration of their infant-like state and a desire to be like a butterfly, to have no boundaries.

This helpless frustration is emphasized effectively via the images of places the subject’s mind suggests in its butterfly-state. “…visit the woman you love…build castles in Spain, steal the Golden Fleece, discover Atlantis, and realize your childhood dreams and adult ambitions.” These dreams are spontaneous and determined. Having the great want to discover the undiscovered shows the great possibilities people find when they feel their life is ending before they want it to. Bauby’s creative use of symbols to show his conflicted outlook is resonated by the striking idea of their ‘bedridden travel notes’ being saved for an emissary. With an understanding of an emissary being some form of messenger, this appeared to reveal an acceptance of the worse. The idea of waiting to come full circle when referring to the butterfly life cycled theme. It depicted to the reader a preparation for death.


Overall, this excerpt of The Diving-Bell Butterfly leaves the reader wanting more. Bauby’s decision to use metaphors, (in the case of the butterfly concept, an extended metaphor) emotive words and first person was not only effective but inspiring. By having the subject speaking of their hands hurting of numbness, a lack of sensitivity, explains the sense of helplessness and constricted movement. The comparisons to certain stages of the butterfly ensure the reader appreciates the subject’s situation. The piece is accessible and a breeze to read in contrast to the circumstances of life, death, and immobility being brought up. A great excuse to hunt down the complete story.