A Wall of Fire Rising

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A Wall of Fire Rising
Edwidge Danticat narrates a story of freedom and hope for the future and how it is different to each person. A Wall of Fire Rising focuses on a particular family consisting of Guy, his wife Lili, and their son called Little Guy. All want the same thing, freedom, but each has their different interpretation. Guy wants freedom from poverty while their son understands it from the few lines he has to memorize in a play.
“How a man is remembered after he’s gone?I know the answer now. I know because I remember my father, who was a very poor struggling man all his life. I remember him as a man that I would never want to be”. (Danticat 63).
Lili on the other side wishes that her husband would get freedom from the hot air balloon he is obsessed with as stated in the following excerpt:
Lili walked on a slowly with her son. For the past few weeks, she had felt as though Guy was lost to her each time he reached this point, twelve feet away from the balloon. As Guy pushed past the barbered wire, she could tell from the look on his face that he was thinking of sitting inside the square basket while the smooth rainbow surface of the balloon itself floated above his head. During the day, when the fields were open, Guy would walk up to the basket, staring at it with the same longing that most men display when they admire beautiful girls. (Danticat 51)
The story is full of sadness, and one can easily relate to it. Danticat artistically portrays the devastating results of what longing can do to a righteous person.

Guy is your average husband and father trying to make ends meet but with a hidden desire for freedom. He is apprehensive about not being able to provide for his family and fears ending up like his father (Danticat 63). Guys’ reaction to the hot air balloon is a familiar response to anyone who feels trapped by situations that are beyond their control. Danticat immortalizes the desperation of escape in this story. Every time he talks of the hot air balloon, his tone changes to that of a longing person. The story makes the reader mad at Guy for choosing his freedom over his family, but is also sympathetic with his plight because many times in our lives we focus on “what might be” more than “what is”? Under the same circumstances, most people would have probably taken the very first chance to get into that hot air balloon.
Perhaps we are not experiencing actual financial problems, and possibly our desires are not to ride a hot air balloon and away from our own lives but longing for freedom or escape from our daily lives is a common thing. The most important thing is to ask ourselves if when faced with all the challenges we would be able to handle them.

Works Cited.
Danticat, Edwidge. “A Wall of Fire Rising.”.” Krik? Krak (1996): 45-67.