At Night All Blood Is Black: A Novel

Content Warning: The source material contains graphic depictions of rape and violence, including murder and torture.

Alfa makes it to the Rear with his severed hands by hiding them inside his trunk and guarding it with a red leather totem depicting a severed hand. His fellow soldiers are too afraid of witchcraft to search the trunk. In the Rear, Alfa smiles at everyone while secretly laughing about his exploits. He is watched over by Doctor François and many white-clad nurses, including Mademoiselle François, whom he believes is attracted to him.

He compares the way Mademoiselle François looks at him to the way Fary Thiam, a young woman in his home village of Gandiol, did. Fary led him to the woods and had sex with him the night before he left for the war.

Alfa asserts that he does not need to know French to know that Mademoiselle François wants him because people have always reacted strongly to his good looks, beautiful smile, white teeth, and broad, wrestler’s shoulders. Alfa reexamines his childhood dynamics with Mademba who, by contrast, had foul teeth and a scrawny chest. Mademba’s love for Alfa was always mixed with envy for his looks and strength. This envy and a desire to prove himself to Alfa helped inspire Mademba’s death.