So, basically you want Perl to continue (because a die is an initial continuation - after all, a die can be trapped), after Perl has informed its request for more memory has failed. Note that such a failure typically happens halfway processing a Perl command; the interpreter may be in an inconsistent state (as it's currently in C-land, not Perl-land).

How do you suppose perl has to handle this? It'll be extremely limited in what it can do - it must assume it cannot allocate any more memory; which also means dropping back to Perl land is a nono (because almost anything could result in additional memory requests).

I've read about some emergency memory space that can be built into the perl but that seems to be for small items and static in nature.

I do not think the emergency memory space is so Perl will be able to continue its merry way. It isn't like an additional jerry can. It's memory that will be claimed when the process starts (so, it will run out of memory sooner). But as far as I know (can't say I know from experience), it's memory that can be used so Perl can die instead of exit. And then you may be able to trap that die.