86 pages • 2 hours read
Allies
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Chapter 51-Author’s NoteChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 51 Summary: “I Will Wait”
This chapter begins a new section called “Operation Bathing Suit, June 6, 1944, Night, Omaha Beach” and introduces a new character, Monique Marchand. She is a 13-year-old French girl who lives nearby and has been hiding in a hut on Omaha Beach since going there early in the morning to retrieve a bathing suit she left in the hut the day before. Afraid of the chaos she has heard around her all day, Monique timidly comes out of the hut as the battle is dying down and goes over to a wounded soldier who is calling for a medic.
Chapters 52-53 Summary: “Bonjour” and “Busted”
Monique, who has become interested in medicine after helping an injured classmate, puts a tourniquet on the wounded soldier. She is startled by someone else speaking to her, and she turns to find an American female reporter dressed as a medic. The woman introduces herself as Dorothy Powell, and she and Monique get the soldier onto a stretcher. Dorothy snuck onto a transport ship and dressed as a medic to get closer to the action of the battlefield. After watching Monique help bandage up the soldiers, Dorothy tells Monique she should be a doctor. She and Monique help get wounded soldiers to the medical tents for hours until Dorothy’s helmet falls off in the medical tent, revealing that she’s a woman.
Chapter 54 Summary: “The Prettiest Toilet You Ever Saw”
The commander of the medical tent angrily confronts Monique and Dorothy, ordering them to stop helping just because they’re not men and throwing them out of the tent. Dorothy suggests that she and Monique catch a ride to Bayeux so that Monique can observe the military hospital there.
Chapter 55 Summary: “Warning: Mines”
Monique and Dorothy hitch a ride toward Bayeux in a truck full of wounded soldiers. On the way, they see the unconscious Dee lying where he was shot, and they get out of the truck when the driver refuses to stop. A sign in German warns of mines in the area, but because she’s a local, Monique knows that the sign is false and just meant to deter people from using the area. The two get to Dee safely and start treating his wounds.
Chapter 56 Summary: “So Far to Go”
Dee awakens in a truck with Monique and Dorothy, taking him to Bayeux. As the truck reaches the city, Dee, Monique, and Dorothy witness Henry being turned away from a restaurant that only wants to serve white soldiers. The truck is unloaded in the main square of the town and Dee’s wounds are triaged. Monique and Dorothy leave him to investigate the hospital. Samira and her mother, now reunited, go through the square giving the wounded Ally soldiers lilies in thanks for reclaiming France from the Nazis. Dee is surprised when Sid finds him and seems to be friendly.
Chapter 57 Summary: “Allies”
Sid tells Dee what happened when they parted ways in Chapter 50. Sid couldn’t bring himself to execute the Nazis, and gunshots that Dee heard as he was leaving the village were from fresh American troops coming into the village and picking off German snipers. One of the snipers was the one that shot Dee, not Sid.
A doctor comes to Dee and tells him that he’s too wounded to fight anymore and will be sent home to recuperate. Despite only serving in the war for one day, Dee is proud of his efforts and feels connected to the entire Ally cause.
Author’s Note
In the nonfictional author’s note, Gratz describes the various operations of D-Day and explains the differences between real-life historical events and the ones he portrays in Allies.
Chapter 51-Author’s Note Analysis
Gratz integrates his characters’ storylines into one as they all converge on the city of Bayeux in this section of the book. Despite having performed different tasks to support the Ally efforts, from Samira helping sabotage the German train to Henry and Monique treating wounded soldiers, and various personal stakes in the outcome of the battle, the characters’ common destination and their interactions in Bayeux unifies them. This emphasizes the book’s theme of solidarity in World War II as the Allies strive to overcome the Nazis. Though their characters, conflicts, and roles are diverse, all of the main characters serve the cause of freeing France and Europe from the Germans’ intolerance and oppression.
Gratz’s descriptions of Bayeux emphasize the many coming together, clarity, and wholeness: “There were so many soldiers coming and going that the tanks and supply trucks pushing for the front could barely navigate the streets” (294-295). The streetlights in the city are all turned on (294), reinforcing the clarity that is achieved when the Allies come together. It also mirrors the newfound clarity that Dee and James achieve about their purpose in the war. And Dee observes that the city is remarkably intact despite the occupation: “The city was, amazingly, still in one piece […] It looked as though there hadn’t been any fighting here today. Its cobblestone streets and white-brick houses, its cathedrals and canals, its flower-lined avenues and little cafes, they were all preserved” (294). This reflects the fact that all the characters (except for Bill) emerge from the D-Day conflict intact, despite the hazards around them. Gratz thus adds symbolic meaning to the setting of Bayeux as well as congregating his characters there.
The Author’s Note section reveals that many of Gratz’s events are based in history, from the overall trajectory and facts about D-Day to Monique’s forgotten bathing suit (320-321). Without some of these clarifying details, readers might be tempted to think that Gratz took creative license with historical events, when in fact he generally follows them closely. The Author’s Note also serves as the springboard for readers to research and read further about topics that may interest them, such as the “If Day” simulation in Winnipeg or the racism and sexism that Gratz’s characters face.
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By Alan Gratz
