The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: Voice Offstage Summary & Analysis

Bauby recalls the late January morning when he first awoke from his coma. He awoke to find an ophthalmologist leaning over him, sewing his right eyelid shut. Bauby felt a terror that the man would sew his left one shut, too, but luckily the doctor stopped, packed away his tools, and declared that the right eye would need to rest for six months. Bauby peered at the man through his good eye, but the arrogant doctor did not notice his patient’s attempt to communicate. Bauby has, in the months since, stoked a loathing for this inattentive doctor, whose visits he both hates and relishes because they allow him to feel such strong emotions. 

Bauby often feels he is in a kind of pressure cooker in the hospital—so much so that “The Pressure Cooker” is what he wants to title the play he is planning on writing based on his experiences in the hospital. Bauby envisions a “voice offstage” providing the inner monologue of the main character. In the play, Bauby envisions the main character, “Mr. L,” realizing in the final scene that his entire ordeal has been nothing but a dream.