Analysis

The first event of Louie’s ocean “purgatory” is deprivation at the hands of someone who should have been his ally. Mac’s greedy, panicked consumption of all the nutritional chocolate is a betrayal of the highest order, yet there’s nothing to be done about it. Louie can only suffer the loss and hope for rescue.

The second event of Louie’s “purgatory” while in the Pacific is the appearance of not one, but two potential saviors in the sky. Twice Louie and the others spot American warplanes overhead, one so close that Louie thinks he recognizes the insignia on the plane’s tail. But neither plane spots the three men; Louie, Phil, and Mac are left to drift.