Assignment for The Sea Inside: Post 2

Post 2

Compare and contrast The Sea Inside to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. What similarities and differences do you notice? In your opinion, which was more powerful?

There are a few similarities between The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and The Sea Inside. One is quite obvious, both of the stories main characters, Ramon and Bauby, are quadriplegics. Another similarity is that there are many people that love the main characters. For Ramon, it is people like his family, Julia and his lawyers. For Bauby, it is people like his father, children and his numerous friends. A final similarity is that neither Ramon or Bauby particularly enjoy life. They are forced to live, as Ramon put it, without dignity.

There are also differences between The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and The Sea Inside. One of the main ones is that in the movie, The Sea Inside, Ramon has the ability to talk and in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Bauby is unable to talk and is only able to communicate through blinking his left eye. Another difference between the two stories is that Ramon makes it clear that he wants to die and Bauby doesn't really say much at all about him wanting to die. A final difference between the two stories is that they have two completely different plots. Bauby's story is basically about his memories, dreams, and daily routines as a quadriplegic and Ramon's is about him trying to get the right to die.

For me, The Sea Inside seemed to be more powerful. I think it was more powerful because you got to see what Ramon looked like and hear what he sounded like. You got to know what his surroundings truly looked like and to see what the people he interacted looked like. In The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, you never got to truly picture what everything was like and to truly experience what was going on. That is why I found the The Sea Inside to be more powerful because you got to see everything and feel like you were there with Ramon.