Danticat Short Story Wall of Fire Essay

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Wall of Fire Rising" is a tragic story by Haitian author Edwidge Danticat. The title of the tale comes from a line in a play about Dutty Boukman, a slave rebel turned revolutionary hero in Haiti. Boukman's story symbolizes release from bondage and oppression, and the ongoing struggle of the Haitian people evident in the complicated daily lives of ordinary families like that of Guy, Lili, and their son. Although the story does end tragically, "A Wall of Fire Rising" contains a kernel of hope. that dreaming of a better future, and being committed to doing the hard work to attain that goal, will eventually bring about liberation. The line in the play reads, "a wall of fire is rising and in the ashes, I see the bones of my people," (Danticat 234). Little Guy recites these lines as they perfectly parallel the suicide of his father, who jumped out of a rising hot air balloon, a type of "wall of fire." The boy perceives his father's "bones" and recognizes that his father's martyrdom is akin to that of Boukman, the hero of the play he will perform at school. In "A Wall of Fire Rising," Danticat introduces readers to the complexities of Haitian culture and consciousness, including issues related to gender, power, and politics. Themes of hope and freedom prevail in Danticat's story, which illustrates that death is far less important than liberation from oppression.

The family is a tightly-knit one, comprised of a loving father and mother who both want their only son to surpass his social status and somehow rise above the oppression that plagues their people. Considering their living conditions and the perpetuation of poverty on the island, it is somewhat miraculous that Lili and Guy can instill in their son the value of dreaming of a better life. Little Guy idolizes his father, evident in the way the boy "dropped his composition notebook as he leaped to his father, nearly stepping into the corn mush and herring that his mother had set out in a trio of half gourds on the clay floor," (Danticat 232). Even the father recognizes that aspiring to greatness is more important than the mundane fulfilment of bodily hunger, as he allows his son to distract him from his dinner so that the boy can memorize the lines for the play. The affectionate relationship among all family members provides the underlying hopeful message that permeates what would otherwise be a dark tale of disillusionment and despair. By continually reminding readers of the potency of parental love, Danticat offers insight into the resiliency of the Haitian spirit. Similarly, Danticat periodically illustrates that resilient and resourceful spirit by detailing the makeshift furniture in the family's hovel and the means by which their fellow shantytown dwellers make the most of what they have.

It is ironic that the Boukman play was written by a European man, who "gave to the slave revolutionary ... the kind of European phasing that might have sent the real Boukman turning in his grave," (Danticat 234). The playwright's ethnicity matters less than the message of the play. Similarly, the owners of the sugar mill are Arabs, who possess wealth and political clout but who are not demonized in the story. Danticat reveals the community's commitment to peace as they struggle to find ways of achieving social justice. Unfortunately, the father knows he is unlikely to witness any meaningful political or economic transformation in his lifetime. He remembers his father, who worked in the sugar mil, "as a man that I would never want to be," (Danticat 242). One of the reasons Guy kills himself is because he wants his son to remember him as someone who pursued his dreams at whatever cost. The father's choice both reflects his sense of masculine pride and also resonates with the revolutionary spirt of Boukman, the symbolic hero of Danticat's short story. A line in the Boukman play states the imperative to "call on everyone ... that we may either live freely or we should die" (Danticat 240). Given the entire village and not just Lili and their son witnessed the balloon ride, Guy lived up to Boukman's revolutionary example in the best and only way he could.

Little Guy aspires to be like his father, which is why Guy decided to martyr himself in the way all revolutionaries, "all those souls who have gone ahead," had done before him (Danticat 244). Guy might not have been officially part of a political movement, and was not rebelling directly against the Assad family when he leapt from the balloon, but he nevertheless served as the only male role model and leader that mattered to his son. Guy felt that he needed to sacrifice himself to become the proverbial "bones of my people," and he achieved that lofty goal when the people of the village cheered his ascent (Danticat 244). It is important to note that Lili does not wail when she beholds her husband, and even little Guy is mature enough to perceive the connection between the Boukman play and his father as he recites his lines over his father's dead body.

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Likewise, Lili refuses to close her husband's eyes because "he likes to look at the sky," (Danticat 244). Lili understands why her husband decided to kill himself; he needed to dream and to show his son that dreaming is the only ticket out of poverty and oppression.

In the same way, Lili refuses to allow Guy to put her son on the waiting list for work at the sugar mill. At first, Guy argues. He relents only after recalling his own life trajectory, and how even working for factory wages would not achieve the more meaningful goal of self-liberation. Regular factory work would have provided little more for the family; as Lili points out, their son had always had food to eat. Even the most dedicated factory worker remains poor in Haiti, evidenced by the father's recollection of his own dad who had steady work and still remained poor. The factory foreman and others in the shantytown were not wealthy like the Assads, because they are not the owners of the means of production. Danticat's story provides pertinent political commentary about the dark side of capitalism, particularly in a post-colonial society like that of Haiti.

Danticat makes it clear that the family is different from their neighbors. Whereas most people in the village crowd around the public television at the sugar mill to watch the news every evening, the family instead hangs around the fence where the balloon lies. They opt out of the television ritual partly because the social gathering symbolizes the sheep mentality of the enslaved masses, whose labor is being exploited by the capitalist system. They are no longer slaves, but they are conscripted to work at the mill or else seek a pittance for work at the local market. Guy and Lili establish themselves as outliers and dreamers, who recognize that there is a better way for their son. By encouraging their son to perform well in the school play, the parents know that it is possible their son might be the next Boukman -- or the next great Haitian playwright who might be able to transcend the limitations of poverty and social status. Lili and Guy want meaningful change for their son and for their people; they do not want their son so merely earn a few extra gourds at the factory. The Haitian currency itself is called the gourd, and Danticat opens the story with a powerful image of the mother placing her dinner in hollowed-out half gourds. Money is empty and meaningless without freedom, just as life itself is empty and meaningless without freedom.

The father martyrs himself also because it represents his ideal of masculine power. When he and Lili muse about dreams and the future, Guy notes that he wants to "feel like a man," something that Lili does understand (Danticat 241). Feeling like a man means taking control of his life and destiny and refusing to succumb to the mentality of oppression, hopelessness, and despair. Had Guy chosen to resist taking the balloon, he would have failed to prove himself capable of manning the machine. As it was, even Assad was impressed that Guy could fly the balloon on his own. Assad claims that he needs a whole staff of people to make the balloon fly. Guy, on the other hand, understands the principles upon which hot air balloons work. He is as intelligent and capable as he claimed to be when speaking with Lili, and both Lili and his son believed in him and supported him. Guy therefore proves his masculinity by martyring himself.

The hot air balloon provides a perfect symbol for Danticat's story. On the one hand, the balloon represents frivolous spending of wealth and the "hot air" blown by corrupt politicians. It may also symbolize the ability of the wealthy and powerful to look down on….....

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