Diving Bell #5

1. Read The Ladies of Hong Kong. Think of a place you know by smell. Can you adequately describe it? Which situation is more horrific? Bauby's or Jean-Paul K. Please explain your answer.
I know my grandparents' house in Pensylvania partly by the smells that fill it. Downstairs it smells lightly of liquor and cigarettes, but a good cozy smell, not overpowering or disgusting. Upstairs it smells vaguely of mothballs and something else you can't describe; it just smells like my grandparents. And yes, I could describe a million things about their house, but it is partly the memories that have been made there and my infatuation with objects and such when I was a young girl that make these things stand out so clearly in my mind. The way their house used to be (they recently renevated it), you would walk in a small office and down through a little hallway with a fridge and a beer/wine cooler along the sides. Then you enter their kitchen, dining area, and living room, big open spaces that look very distinguished, not unlike my grandparents themselves. Outside is a whole other story that would take a while to fully describe, but I definitely have specific memories of that place.
I would say Bauby's situation is more horrific because at least Jean-Paul K. got OUT of his situation, but Bauby's is permanent. He cannot speak, or walk, or more, or even express himself more than slowlyyyy with words, and he will never get much better than that.

2. After reading Wax Museum, why do you think Bauby is "fond of all these torturers"?
He is fond of all his nurses and orderlies because even though some are rough with him or indifferent or whatever, he realizes that they are all just trying "to ease our burden a little when our crosses bruised our shoulders too painfully." I think seeing these people every day, all the different types with the different personalities and different roles, is very interesting for Bauby. He notices a lot about people and their habits and ways, and studying all his "torturers" gives him something to do all day. Plus, they are something of familiarity for him, he sees them everyday, and they are the ones taking care of him, doing things for him, and helping him - even if maybe not to the extent or in the way that he would most greatly appreciate.

3. Read The Mythmaker and explain why you think Bauby has admiration for Olivier. What is the connection between memory and emotion?
Bauby had an admiration for Olivier because he had a talent for making up incredulous stories, having lots of fun doing it, and letting himself go from real-life boring life, and then defending them so adamantly, unashamed of his imaginative stories. Bauby wishes so bad he could do that with his little "butterfly", stuck inside his diving bell day after day.
Current emotion can effect the way we remember things, for instance if we are really nervous or distressed, we can not remember events as clearly or accurately as when we are calm and collected. Or if we angry, our memory of a frustrating day can be exaggerated and seem much worse. Memory can also affect our emotions, for example if I am feeling very happy and then I see a spot where I remember having a very bad experience, my mood can be turned around and I will feel very sad.

4. Why do you think Bauby likes the song A Day in the Life? Why do humans always wait for life's crescendo? Why do you think he places this chapter towards the end of the book?
I think he likes the song because not only is it interesting to listen to because it is very calming and then very exhilarating in its crescendo, but it relates to his life in that his life came to a big crescendo when he had his stroke, and then crashed down, just like the instruments in the song, so in a way it's like telling the story of his stroke.
I do not think humans wait for "life's crescendo" because I don't really think life has one crescendo or that people view life that way, but I do think they (we) wait for better times, that we keep hoping that things will get better and more exciting than they are and that opportunities will arise for us if we wait for them. We always wait for the best parts of our lives because we enjoy the natural high we get when we feel like things are going well, and when we experience anything less than that we keep hoping for more. It's what keeps us alive, or I'm sure we all would have given up the will to live by now.
Bauby said he kept putting off this part of his story; he probably had a really hard time accepting what had happened to him and that it had led to his current, permanent stage of horror, so he was not really sure enough or emotionally stable enough to remember all that had happened to him, especially right after he had just gotten out of a coma and his mind was all foggy. I also think he would not want to put it in words, his falling into a barely-human state because of a horrendous sudden stroke, because then it would seem so much more like reality, no longer like a dream he might wake up from. But he must have decided it was important, to clarify for the reader (and for himself) what had really happened that fateful day and to let out his memory, probably one that had been plagueing him since he woke up out of his coma. If he had placed this chapter near the beginning, I think the reader would have been less intrigued, and not have gotten to experience the sense of confusion and disorder that was going on in Bauby's mind once awakened from his deep sleep.

5. Read Season of Renewal. Why is he savoring the last week of August? Is there something we can learn from him beause of his reaction to the end of vacation?
He is savoring the last week of August because "for the first time in a long while, [he doesn't] have that awful sense of a countdown" - the countdown till fall. I think he was so eager for fall to come because he hated knowing it was summer and everyone else was out there freed from work and school and having fun DOING things, and he was still stuck in his bed unable to move. I think this teaches us that he is only human, not liking the feeling of being left out while everyone else is on vacation and he is just bored, all alone... Now he won't feel quite so alienated and different than everyone else in the world.