Piper Chapman

**Piper Elizabeth Chapman** is a character on Netflix's *Orange Is the New Black*. She first appears in the first episode of the first season. She is portrayed by starring cast member Taylor Schilling.

## History

### Early Life

As a child, Piper is pressured to take part in an end of semester tradition where school kids jump from the back of the school bus when it slows down. Piper's friend urges her to participate but ultimately she declines, telling the bus driver (who is aware of the tradition) that her dad wants her to have strength of character, not be a lemming. At a later point, Piper and her friend get an older boy to buy R-rated movie tickets for them. As they're about to enter the cinema, Piper sees her father out and about with a woman who is not her mother. She is visibly upset as he drives away. When Piper tells her mother, she ignores it and changes the subject. Piper discusses the incident with her grandmother, who tells her sometimes it's better to keep certain information to yourself.

### Meeting Alex

Piper at a bar looking for a job. Alex is at a table with friends. Alex checks her out and approaches her. Alex goes over the lies on Piper’s resume. Piper asks what Alex does for a living. She says she works for a drug cartel and Piper laughs, showing that she thinks she's joking.

Alex throws a party at her apartment when she and Piper began dating. Alex excuses herself for business with Fahri and Polly complains to Piper that Alex called her by the wrong name. Piper thinks Polly is angry that she’s dating a woman, but Polly believes Alex can't be trusted. Piper dismisses her concerns, saying that she really likes Alex and is happy.

Piper is pretending to be traveling with Polly Harper but is actually with Alex and Kubra Balik. She calls her father for his birthday and tells him everything he wants to hear.

### Smuggling Money

Piper dances seductively, while Alex sits on her bed and reads. Alex calls her over, and she starts to strip. Piper asks her if she's going to miss her while she's away on her next business trip. She tells her yes, and suddenly invites her to come with her, offering to buy her plane ticket. Alex informs her that she will have to quit her job as a waitress, and she complies. Piper asks her if she will get in trouble, and Alex tells her all she will have to do is keep her company. As the two kiss, she accepts Alex's offer. Sometime later, the two prepare for the trip. Alex covers Piper's neck tattoo of a fish with make-up, a part of her disguise. Piper worries that she might get in trouble, but Alex reassures her that she is just a nice blonde lady, picking up her luggage in the baggage claim before heading off to her hotel. She tells her that is everything is fine, and that she will meet her in Brussels. At the Brussels airport, Piper tells a baggage handler that she can't find her bag. He tells her that they are sometimes put on the wrong flight and that she should wait for the next one to arrive. After waiting for sometime, her bag shows up and she finds Alex. Alex explains that she was starting to worry, and is amazed to find out that Piper accidentally skipped going through customs. Piper tells her she was so worried when the bag didn't show up that she almost bailed. Alex says it is a good thing she didn't, as the bag has over 50,000 dollars in it. The ring would have had Piper killed.

Alex and Piper talking at their home. Alex says she will take Piper out. Alex then says she would like her to go to Istanbul. Piper says she doesn’t want to be treated as a drug mule and Piper ends the relationship. Later, Alex is crying as Piper is looking for her passport everywhere in the room frantically. Piper angrily asks Alex where it is when Alex says that her mom died. Piper sits down beside her and comforts her but says she can’t go to the funeral, that the relationship is still over. Alex tells her that her passport is under her clothes in the dresser. Piper grabs her stuff and leaves Alex in tears.

### Meeting Larry

Piper helps Polly with her wedding dress. She says she wants both warmth, and passion. Polly tells her that she should only want warmth. Piper watches TV as Piper walks in. Larry is house-sitting. He explains who he is. Piper introduces herself. She shows her dog bite and takes off her pants for it to be treated. Larry gets her iodine for her knee. Larry says she should bathe to clean the wound. He asks if she would like him to get food. She says yes.

### Truth

Approximately ten years later, Larry holds Piper's arrest paperwork, and yells at her for not telling him of her past. She explains that it was a phase and that she was embarrassed of it. He says that he can't believe she did this, and questions if he really knows who she is. Piper starts to sob. He tries to comfort her, but she tells him that he should break up with her, as he didn't sign up for this. He tells her that it's okay. She looks at her papers and reads, "Witness states, Piper Chapman carried drug money. Piper Chapman was part of the ring." Larry asks her if she was, and she replies that she was 22 and was in love. She continues, saying that it eventually got scary and she ran away. Larry says that they'll figure it out and that he will call his father, a lawyer. Piper explains the crime she committed to her family. Her mother brings up the topic of her being a lesbian, and she tells them that she was one at the time. Her brother Cal asks her if she still is, and their grandmother, Celeste, tells him of a gay experience she once had, although it wasn't for her. Piper's father asks Larry if he knew about Piper's past. He explains that she failed to mention her lesbian lover who ran an international drug smuggling ring. Celeste asks Piper what she did with the money, and scolds her when she learns that it wasn't about the money at all.

Piper is taking a pregnancy test, saying she thinks she might want to keep the baby. Larry says they don’t even know if there is a baby yet and even if there was, Piper is going to prison in 3 months and it's not an option. He says he is supportive of her decision but she should consider abortion. He wants to have a family with her but doesn’t seem to be ready for it, saying he was scared for Polly and Pete when they told him they were expecting. Piper looks at the test and says she feels sad, suggesting she was not pregnant.

Piper and Larry spend time at the beach. He records her while she shows him her "Lance Armstrong rock," a rock shaped like a penis with one ball. He jokingly tells her to lick it tenderly, and she asks him to shut off the camera. She sits on a nearby towel and tells Larry that while in prison she is going to get ripped, read everything on her Amazon wishlist, and maybe even learn a craft. Larry rummages through his bag and pulls out a plastic bag with an engagement ring in it. She asks him why he would want to marry her, and he tells her that he loves her, knows he will never be bored with her, and can't believe how lucky he was to have met her in the first place. He says that he has to seal their relationship before she leaves for prison, and tells her that they can get married whenever they want, before or after she serves her sentence. She replies that she will be "so ripped," implying she wants to get married after she goes to prison. She tries on the ring, and he tells her it belonged to his great-aunt Marcia. He asks her if it is a yes, and she says it is. Larry asks her to say it one more time, but this time into the camera, revealing he had recorded the whole proposal on his phone.

The day before going to prison, Piper and her fiancé Larry, along with their best friends, married couple Polly and Pete, are commemorating Piper’s last day of freedom with a BBQ. Larry and Pete prepare a whole dead pig while Polly and Piper lament her leaving and missing Polly’s baby shower. Later that night, Piper and Larry decide to have sex one last time before Piper leaves. As they start, Piper excuses herself to go to the bathroom, where she starts crying. When she returns, Larry notices she's still sobbing, but she brushes it off. The next morning, Larry and Piper drive to the Litchfield Correctional Institution. As they arrive, a guard notifies them that there is no visitation today, to which Piper replies, “I’m here to surrender.” The guard drives off and Piper worries that he looked surprised and that the other prisoners will notice she has been crying. She removes her engagement ring and gives it to Larry, who, after a small disagreement, tells her that he will put it in his wallet, and then in her jewelry box when he gets home. Inside the prison waiting area, a female C.O. tells them to take a seat while she does Piper’s paperwork. Larry gives Piper a homemade lunch. She mentions her mother has told her friends that Piper is doing volunteer work in Africa. Larry remarks they're probably appalled she is going somewhere so filthy and dangerous. Two hours later, the C.O. tells Piper she cannot use her phone in the building and that Larry has to take it out. While Larry is outside, another guard shows up to take Piper into the prison. She asks the guard to wait for Larry til he gets back. As the guard, Wanda Bell, goes through Piper’s personal items, Larry returns and Bell informs them that Larry must send her commissary money to Iowa to be processed first, meaning Piper will not have any money for the first few weeks of prison life. Bell announces it's time for them to say their goodbyes. The two embrace and say they love each other.

### Prison

Piper is given prison sneakers, an orange jumpsuit, and bedding. She's then asked to strip. Bell makes her open her mouth and stick out her tongue, lift up her arms, and to squat, spread her cheeks, and cough. Piper reluctantly obliges. Piper is brought to a transport vehicle, where she meets the driver, Lorna Morello, and Janae Watson, another new inmate. Piper is shocked to find out Morello is also an inmate. Morello tells her that everyone goes by last names here, so Piper will be known to most as Chapman. They also discuss how much time they're doing and Morello asks Piper to help her pick a dress for her upcoming wedding. Watson questions whether Morello’s fiancé will still be there for her after she gets out. The final inmate arrives, and they drive to the prison. As they walk to the door, numerous women glare at Piper, Watson, and the third new inmate, Dayanara Diaz. Morello opens the door, and an elderly inmate, Miss Claudette steps outside. Morello warns the three new women to stay on Claudette’s good side. She sends them off to get processed. While Piper is getting her ID made, the guards have trouble with the camera. The younger of the two, Bennett, attempts to fix it. Piper notices an unplugged cord and asks if it needs to be plugged in. The other guard, Mendez, rudely tells her to shut up and stand still, despite the fact that she was correct. He takes her picture without warning, resulting in an awful picture for her ID. Next, she gets a health screening. The nurse compliments her veins and asks if she has any tattoos. Piper shows him a tattoo of a fish on her neck. Piper meets her counselor, Sam Healy. He asks her about PoPi, Piper and Polly’s company. They discuss her crime, criminal conspiracy, and how the prison system works. He explains to her that no one is going to mess with her unless she lets them, and advises her to stay away from the lesbians that reside in Litchfield. She tells him about Larry and he informs her that he will be able to visit this weekend. Healy assures Piper that she will be fine.

Some time later, Morello continues to show the new trio around. She introduces them to Yoga Jones, the inmate who teaches yoga and asks about Piper’s counselor. Daya asks when they will get outfits like everyone else. As Morello answers, another inmate walks up to Daya, slaps her across the face, and walks away. Piper and Watson are shocked. She reveals it was her mother. Morello shows Daya and Piper to the room they'll stay in while they wait to be assigned to dorms. She asks inmate Anita DeMarco to help Piper, and Gloria Mendoza to help Daya. Gloria scolds Daya for not knowing how to speak Spanish. Before she leaves, Morello gives Piper some tissues and a toothbrush. When Piper thanks her, she tells her that they have to look out for their own. She assures her that it’s tribal, not racist. DeMarco introduces Piper to the other women staying in the room. There’s Miss Rosa, an older woman with cancer and Nicky, a woman around Piper’s age who just got out of solitary confinement the week before. DeMarco tells Piper that when she first got to Litchfield she had a massive heart attack, and now needs a machine to sleep at night. She tells Piper how to make a phone call, and offers to make her bed, as she knows how to get it to pass inspection. A guard announces that it is count time. The guards mess up the first time and have to redo it. Nicky questions Piper about her crime but Piper refuses to answer.

At dinner, Piper doesn’t know where to sit. A woman on kitchen staff, Gina Murphy, instructs her to sit with Yoga Jones. At the table, Jones comforts Piper by telling her to remember that her time at Litchfield is all temporary. Another inmate, Sister Ingalls, comes to sit at the table. Jones explains that Ingalls chained herself to a flagpole at a nuclear test site, and Piper tells them she chained herself to a drug dealer. Nicky arrives and asks Piper about her sexuality, telling her that she has been sensing sapphic vibes from her. Red, the head of the kitchen, comes to the table and gives Nicky, Jones and Ingalls free yogurt. An inmate from another table, Big Boo, comes over and asks if she can have one. Red tells her she can’t have any treats until she gets her a wooden board for her bed. She leaves, and Red asks who Piper is. Nicky introduces her, and Red gives her a yogurt as a gift. Not knowing that Red runs the kitchen, she thanks her and says the food here is disgusting. She quickly apologizes and Red says that if she doesn't like the food, it’s no problem, but the other inmates are visibly scared for Piper now. Piper, as advised to by DeMarco, goes to Joe Caputo’s office to score a free phone call by crying. She tells him that she doesn’t have a PAC number, and then starts to cry. She asks if he will let her call Larry. He allows her two minutes on the phone. When she calls Larry’s phone, his mother Amy picks up. Larry and his father advise her to let him speak, but she continuously asks Piper questions about prison. After a few seconds, he manages to get the phone away from her. Piper and Larry talk about a multitude of things that happened on her first day, such as Yoga Jones, DeMarco’s heart attack, and how they are supposed to sleep only on the top of their beds. She tells him that he can visit on Friday, and he says he will be there. They say their goodbyes and Caputo hangs up the phone. He tells her to try to get some rest and that orientation is the next morning at nine. He gives her shampoo and asks her to close the door on the way out. When she leaves, he immediately starts to masturbate.

The next morning, DeMarco wakes up Piper so she can shower before breakfast. Not having any flip-flops, she makes her own out of maxi pads. She hears a woman speaking Spanish in the bathroom stall, and is startled when she opens the door, looking completely disheveled, and exclaims, “Boo!”. Piper jumps and walks away, only to see Nicky and Morello having oral sex in one of the showers. While in line for food, Piper is approached by Sophia Burset, one of the hairdresser inmates at Litchfield. She compliments her hair and tells her to come see her if she ever needs it done. Gina gives Piper a meal Red made especially for her. She sits down with Nicky, DeMarco, and Morello and opens up her meal. She discovers a bloody tampon in a sandwich. The inmates laugh at her and tell her she has to make it right with Red or this will keep happening. Overwhelmed, Piper runs from the cafeteria and goes outside. As she panics, Alex Vause, her ex-girlfriend and the woman she carried drug money for, walks up to her. Alex says, “Maybe this is a bad time to say hi, huh?” and Piper screams.

When Larry comes for a visit, he compliments Piper on her cheekbones but that’s because she hasn’t eaten in days due to insulting the food in front of Red. She tries to get food from the vending machines with Larry’s change, but Red, anticipating that Piper might try that, made the machines appear out of order. Alex tries to help Piper out by sneaking her a cube of cornbread, but she would rather starve than accept help from the woman she blames for landing her in prison in the first place. And the staff notices and stops feeding Alex as well. While Red and the kitchen staff try to deal with a broken freezer, nicknamed Betty, Piper confronts Red. She’s willing to take a punch from Red if that’s what it’ll take for Red to forgive her. Instead, Red yells at Piper. She tells Piper that her punishment is not temporary and that she’ll be leaving prison as a skeleton. Piper isn’t going to give up, however. As part of her plan to win Red over, she obtains cocoa butter from Sophia Burset – the resident hairdresser, it seems – by giving Taystee – who’s getting worked on by Burset – a piece of her blonde hair. Piper also obtains hot peppers from Crazy Eyes, a particularly weird inmate. After being given hot peppers, Piper has been crunching on them. Pornstache - the creepy prison guard – remarks on her tears, thinking she’s crying because she’s upset about something. In reality, she’s using the hot peppers to make a paste. She uses the paste, along with the cocoa butter, to make a lotion for Red’s sore back. The day after Piper gives the paste to Red, Morello gives Piper a tray of food, appearing that all is forgiven. Later on, everyone is watching a movie and Crazy Eyes sits down next to Piper, offering to share her earphones. And to Piper's surprise, Crazy Eyes caresses Piper's thigh.

Pornstache looks at Piper as he walks by. Nicky tells Piper that she will be moved, and she discusses the roommate assignment procedure. She says she will probably be with other white girls. Piper waits to use the toilet and she runs into Sophia. Sophia shows off her duct tape shoes, gives Piper some advice. She says she will fix Piper’s hair that she cut a lock out of the other day. As Piper goes and sits on the toilet, she sees Crazy Eyes looking at her through the reflection in the washroom mirror. Later, Alex gives Piper her new shoes. Alex asks if her feet got bigger when she went to men. Piper swears at her. Piper runs the yard track. Crazy Eyes catches up to her and says how much she loves her. A guard says they are shutting down the track due to budget cuts. Alex sits across from Piper as she eats. Piper talks about how Alex stole her life. Crazy Eyes sits down beside Piper. Piper says that Alex is bothering her. Crazy Eyes threatens Alex and says she will cut her. Later, Piper talks to Larry on the phone. She hears Larry with groceries. She wants to know every detail. Larry’s description gets seductive. Larry says something sexual. Piper says she cannot have phone sex with guards listening and a woman crying next to her. Piper’s friend Polly and her mom come to visit. Her mom goes on about how it is getting late in life for her have a baby. As her mom leaves, Piper talks to Polly about her prison wife Crazy Eyes. Polly and Piper’s mom talk about having to move on with their lives while Piper is in prison. After, Sam tells Piper that hanky-panky is forbidden. He says Crazy Eyes wants to bunk with her. Piper says she doesn’t want to bunk with her. Sam says he would like to separate the tomboys from the population if he had his way and warns Piper about lesbians. Piper gives Sophia some powder foundation. She gives her roommates some things as part of her commissary. Crazy Eyes and Piper talk outside the cell. Piper says she cannot be her wife. Crazy Eyes says, "I feel you" and walks away. Piper goes to the shower and sees Alex. Piper says that Alex named her to get her into legal trouble. Alex says Piper loved the thrill of the danger. Piper says she has never lied to Alex, that she never named her in her testimony. Piper calls Larry and wants to know if Alex named her in her testimony. He says he will look into it. A guard tells Piper that she is being moved. The guard escorts her to a black populated area. She is assigned to dorm with Claudette. Claudette reads Piper the riot act. She says she likes the place clean. She says she witnessed the outburst by Crazy Eyes and didn’t like it. Crazy Eyes watches Piper sleep. As Piper wakes, she sees Crazy Eyes taking a pee on the floor of her cubicle dorm room.

Piper cleans up urine in her dorm from when Crazy Eyes peed on her floor. Miss Claudette is angry about the mess that was made. Later, In the electric shop, the maintenance man, Mr. Luschek, asks for everyone to gather. He explains how they keep track of missing tools by using numbered chits. Piper says she would make a good teacher, but doesn’t know the material. Poussey says she isn’t going to do slave labor. Luschek puts her in the tool locker to assign tools to inmates. Nicky and Piper eat lunch in the yard at a picnic table. Piper asks when the suicidal feelings will end. Nicky says she will let Piper know. Back inside, the screwdriver goes missing and Luschek sets off the alarm. All of the inmates get a patdown and Pornstache gropes her. In the yard, Nicky talks to Piper about SHU and how horrible it is. Tricia asks Piper to proofread her appeal letter. Piper put the letter in her pocket, and as she does, freezes then runs away. In the dorm, an inspection is called. Piper shows Claudette the screwdriver in her pocket. Claudette throws it in the rice she's cooking. Pornstache searches the room, sniffs the rice, but finds nothing. Claudette says the screwdriver needs to go back to its proper place. Outside, Crazy Eyes on the other side of the fence telling Piper not to be angry with her. Sam approaches. Piper says he wants to thank Sam for being able to learn electrical skills. She makes as much small talk as possible after seeing other inmates getting searched by guards. In her dorm, Piper hides the screwdriver under her bed and then some inmates ask her to look at their appeal letters. Boo sits on Piper’s bed. After some discussion, Claudette kicks everyone out. Piper goes over Tricia’s appeal in bed at night. Another inspection begins. Piper whispers and tells Claudette the screwdriver is still under the bed. Pornstache searches, looking thoroughly under Piper’s bed, and then says, “it’s clean.” Later, Piper can’t figure out why the screwdriver wasn’t found. Claudette is angry with Piper. Piper gives a long speech telling Claudette to cut her some slack. As Piper leaves, Claudette smiles, looking somewhat impressed. Later, Piper and Nicky talk in the hallway. Piper says she thinks she angered Claudette. Nicky tells her not to worry. When she gets back to her bunk, Piper realizes that Claudette is not angry with her about her blow-up, as she sees her books organized for her.

Piper wakes up in the morning. In the cafeteria Piper gets a coffee, no breakfast. A guard tells her she needs breakfast. He tells her he is doing the “four-hour body.” Piper walks in the yard, she seems happy. She sits next to a tree and eats granola and reads a book. A chicken moves beside her. Piper walks into a room where some inmates knit. Piper talks about how nice it was outside. She mentions the chicken. Everyone panics. Morello says she needs to talk to Red. In the kitchen, Piper mentions the chicken. They talk about a chicken avoiding slaughter and living off the land. Red says she saw the chicken in a dream. She says she dreams of real, not processed chicken. She offers Biore strips to whoever gets the chicken. Piper talks to Polly and Larry in the visiting room. Polly reveals different business decisions. Polly says things have changed since Piper went to prison. Piper says she will talk to the business contact to smooth things out. Piper accidentally reveals that Alex is in prison with her. Piper says he shouldn’t be afraid anything will happen. After the chapel collapses, “Pornstache” looks over the chapel’s mess. He gives a speech. An inmate asks why “Pennsatucky” is not in SHU. Piper asks for masks for the mold clean up. “Pennsatucky” says Sophia caused the fall because God doesn’t want her there. “Pornstache” tells “Pennsatucky” she is an idiot. Nicky and Piper talk while cleaning the chapel mess. Nicky says that she and Morello are taking a break. Later, At AA , Alex tells her story about being a heroin importer. She talks about her break-up which caused her to use. Piper, doing her yoga, listens in. Alex talks about being messed over. Outside, The inmates make sounds, looking around for the chicken. Red approaches, says it is Piper’s fault about everyone looking around for the chicken. Piper says she only said that she saw a chicken, nothing else. Piper makes a speech about how Red needs the chickens. Inmates start running. Piper is escorted into Sam’s office. He asks why Piper made up stories about the chicken. He says it’s impossible. He tells her not to make any more “boastful claims.” Piper talks on the phone to Larry as he walks down the street. He talks about the need, to be honest with each other. He talks about the incident with Alex, and the chicken. Larry tells her not to get wrapped up in the prison drama. Larry lies, saying that Alex didn’t name her in the testimony. Piper calls and talks to Polly, about to talk to her key business contact, Weiner. She looks out the window and sees the chicken. The guard tells her to talk on the phone or leave. Piper leaves. Crazy Eyes picks up the hanging receiver and says she has gone to chase the chicken. Piper briskly walks to chase the chicken in the yard. She follows it. Somehow, the chicken makes it through the fence.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Thirsty Bird"
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Lesbian Request Denied"
3. ↑ "WAC Pack"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 "I Wasn't Ready"
5. ↑ "Tall Men with Feelings"
6. ↑ "Bora Bora Bora"
7. ↑ "Moscow Mule"
8. ↑ "Tit Punch"
9. ↑ "Imaginary Enemies"
10. ↑ "The Chickening"