 The character Choubert's obsession with theatre, and a particular memory where he holds his mother's hand as he walks along the Rue Blomet after the bombing, suggest that he represents Ionesco.The extended dialogue with the detective as a father figure echoes Ionesco's constant fighting with his own father, and the scene wherein Madeline attempts to poison herself is referenced directly in Ionesco's journal "Present Past Past Present" as an incident that occurred in his childhood when his own mother attempted to poison herself to spite his father.Additionally, the character Nicolas d'Eu, who writes poems, exclaims he is "not a writer, and proud of it!"