Genre
Autobiography / Memoir; Medical
Setting and Context
France, mid 1990s, after the author has suffered a terrible stroke
Narrator and Point of View
The author is the narrator and all of the events are told from his point of view
Tone and Mood
Sorrowful and optimistic at the same time
Protagonist and Antagonist
Bauby is the protagonist; there is no real human antagonist, but the antagonist could be said to be his stroke which has left him in a pseudo-coma
Major Conflict
There is no real conflict in the book, the only conflict mentioned is an series of little bickering arguments he has with Josephine whilst on a trip to Lourdes but this is of no real significance.
Climax
The author is able to grunt a song about a kangaroo which is demonstrably an improvement.
Foreshadowing
His stroke foreshadows his coma and the resulting pseudo-coma that he finds himself to be locked in.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
The author alludes to the glory days at Elle Magazine where he worked as the editor.
Imagery
The imagery is almost the opposite of the traditional kind of imagery used in writing because everything described is exceptionally small; the author's world has become microscopic and is described so that the reader can visualize how everything looks through one eye when one literally cannot move.
Paradox
The main example of paradox in the book is actually the tone in which it is written. The author is understandably despairing of his situation but he is also hopeful at the same time.
Parallelism
There is a parallel between the author's pseudo-coma in that he is unable to express himself correctly, and the way in which his old colleagues and associates have come to believe his is a "vegetable".
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
"does the cosmos contain keys for opening up my diving bell". At the end of the book the author is wondering if he will ever be able to come out of the pseudo-coma and personifies the cosmos as having intentions and abilities to free him from it.
