The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

This chapter strikes a sharp contrast to certain other chapters in which a sense of wonder and imagination triumph, such as chapters 5 and 6. In this chapter, Bauby highlights his deep sense of loss and separation. It is telling that he chooses to do so in a chapter that depicts a visit from his children and estranged wife. From this choice, we can extrapolate that he feels the pain of his grief most acutely when in the company of those nearest to his heart. His longing to be able to hold and caress his son, the loving and acute detail with which he depicts his daughter’s agility and energy, and the quiet, intimate moment between himself and Sylvie contain minute details that each attest to the depth of his loss and the acuteness of his longing to be able to fully return to his former life. 

“Through a Glass, Darkly” could refer to 1 Corinthians 13:12, which, in the King James Version of the Bible, states: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then I shall know even as also I am known.” This verse refers to the mortal experience, in which only part of divine knowledge is known. In it, the apostle Paul asserts that in his earthbound life, he has limited knowledge, but when he comes face to face with God, he will come into a fuller knowledge. The phrase of this verse that Bauby chose to use as a chapter title riffs on this idea, casting locked-in syndrome as analogous to the condition of being mortal, and his children cast as divine entities. Through this titling, Bauby shows that his condition has effectively cut him off from fully knowing and experiencing the divine presence of his children. So beloved are they to him that they are like the light of God. The locked-in syndrome, while still allowing a sliver of their light to come into his apprehension, is like a darkened piece of glass that stands as a distorting barrier that definitively separates him from them.