Topic > The Struggles Against Poverty in "A Wall of Fire Rising" by Edwidge Danticat

In the story "Wall of Fire Rising", Edwidge Danticat tells the story of the struggles a poor family living in Haiti faces to make ends meet lunar. Because the story is told in the third person, the reader has an outside view of each character's life. The father, Guy, struggles to find stable work to provide for his wife, Lili, and son, Little Guy. When he finally gets a job at the sugar mill, his pre-established fascination with flying in the sugar mill's hot air balloon increases. Towards the end of the story, he finally realizes his dream of flying the hot air balloon, even taking his own life. Through the actions and dialogue between the characters, the author prefigures Guy's death, which the reader can interpret as an act of freedom for himself or an act of abandonment towards his family. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In the story, although in the third person, the audience gets to see Lili's perspective on Guy's situation. Since she focuses most of her time with her son, Lili and Guy don't get to spend much time alone, which could be attributed to Guy's feelings of abandonment. This is exemplified when Lili says, “I wish I had paid more attention when you came with the news” (152). This is a sign of how guilty she feels for neglecting her husband. Danticat uses the literary device of foreshadowing in the story by sharing Lili's superstitions that are common in Haitian culture. For example, he states, “She almost didn't marry him because it was said that people with spiky hairlines often have very troubled lives” (152). Thanks to the technique of foreshadowing, he is able to hint at Guy's troubled life. Lili may not have wanted to believe this superstition at first, but ultimately she wouldn't have been able to predict how upset he really was. The moment she noticed Guy's problems was when he was acting distant on the way to the sugar mill: " For the past few weeks, she had felt as if Guy was lost to her every time he reached this point, twelve feet away from the ball." ” (151). She notices his interest in the balloon and feels like she is losing it. She knows that the balloon attracts him but only later will she discover why. At the end of the story, she didn't seem as shocked as her son when Guy jumped out of the balloon. He may have predicted this through his actions and dialogue. Danticat uses the literary tool of foreshadowing by describing how Guy's actions relate to his interest in hot air ballooning. Guy's fascination with the ball is introduced early in the story: "During the day, when the court was open, Guy would approach the basket, staring at it with the same kind of longing that most men show when they admire very pretty girls” (151). This quote initially shows that he has some interest in the trash can. He sees it with an alternative motive in mind that the reader wants to discover. He even neglects his own family whenever he is there at the sugar mill. This neglect can be exemplified through the quote: "As they approached the fence surrounding the field where the large wicker basket and the deflated balloon lay on the ground, Guy let go the hands of both his wife and the boy" (151). Guy displays this act of disengagement with his own family because of this strange fascination he has for the balloon. The reader might interpret this as his greater interest in the opportunities that the balloon symbolically brings than in his own,.