Short Fiction · Chapter
Allez! explained
This chapter recounts the harrowing childhood and young adulthood of Melle Nora, a circus performer.
What happens
This chapter recounts the harrowing childhood and young adulthood of Melle Nora, a circus performer. From her earliest memory, the command 'Allez!' is associated with the cold, the whip, and the terror of performing. It traces her rise as a young acrobat, a fall that injured her hand, and her subsequent abusive relationship with the celebrity clown Menotti, who exploits and eventually discards her. The chapter culminates in a violent confrontation with Menotti's new lover, after which Nora, in a moment of despair, prepares to leap from a window, crying out 'Allez!' one last time.
Themes in this chapter
Cruelty and Suffering
The chapter is saturated with physical and emotional cruelty: the whip, the forced performances after injury, Menotti's abuse, and Nora's internalized submission.
Identity and Self-Loss
Nora's identity is entirely subsumed by the circus and by Menotti; she obeys the command 'Allez!' without question, losing her own will and sense of self.
Fate and Absurdity
The repeated, almost mechanical cry of 'Allez!' underscores the absurd, fate-like compulsion that drives Nora's actions, from childhood training to her final desperate leap.
Characters to notice
- Melle Nora
The protagonist, a young circus performer whose life is defined by the cruel command 'Allez!' from her earliest childhood through her abusive relationship with Menotti.
- Menotti
A world-famous clown and trainer who becomes Nora's lover and abuser, treating her with cruelty and eventually discarding her for another performer.
Key passages
“Allez! This jerky, exclamatory order was Melle Nora's earliest memory from the dark monotony of her erring childhood.”
The command 'Allez!' is Nora's first and most haunting memory, representing the bleakness of her childhood.
Establishes the central motif of the chapter.
“She bore all this with the humility of an old, clever and devoted dog who accepts the blows of his master.”
Nora endured Menotti's abuse with the meek obedience of a loyal, beaten animal.
Highlights Nora's complete submission and dehumanization.
“Then, closing her eyes and breathing heavily, she raised her hands above her head and, fighting down, as usual, her old weakness, she cried out, as if in the circus: 'Allez! …'”
Nora, on the window ledge, overcomes her fear and shouts 'Allez!' as she always did before a dangerous circus stunt.
Climactic moment where Nora's circus training and despair merge.