The proletariat and the bourgeoisie of Haiti are shown in A Wall of Fire Rising, a short tale by Evij Danticat. In addition to motherly love, the fundamental themes of the haunting narrative and the elemental tale are the child’s innocence, the child’s father’s humiliation and remorse, and motherly love. The story focuses on the different struggles a low-income family goes through in a nation where people from lower social classes are subjected to political and economic tyranny. Guy, the story’s main character, feels terrible about not being able to give his family a good life. Because they are unlikely to change the circumstances, he is not only stuck but also in a dire scenario. Even though Guy adores and values his wife and child, their existence and incapacity to have fulfilled lives are constant reminders of his shortcomings.
The narrative is mostly about optimism and sorrow, with Guy, Lily, and Little Guy serving as the story’s representatives of both. Guy, in particular, spends much time griping and bemoaning his generation. He asserts that the best way to sum up his ancestry is as a never-ending cycle of desperation. Guy said to his wife, “I remember him as a person I would never want to be,” in his own words (Danticat 155). On the other hand, the play A Wall of Fire Rising, in which the Little Guy is occupied acting, is where the narrative title, “Dutty Boukman,” originates. This drama portrays Boukman as a well-known Haitian rebel whose heroic actions resulted in Haiti’s independence from France. Danticat used the play as a metaphor for the Little Guy’s optimism. In short, Boukman is a character who, in many ways, reflects the deeply established notions of freedom and optimism that permeate the story’s backdrop.
Guy’s family, the novel’s central characters, hold various ideas on freedom. One of the play’s central ideas or themes is independence for Little Guy. When he enjoys memorization of the play, especially the lines about approaching liberation, he learns about this (Danticat 61). A 7-year-old young, naive boy has little to no understanding of what it means to live a free and happy life. On the other hand, Guy believes that freedom is not conceivable because of the struggles that have formed his life for a very long time. He dwells on his family’s struggle to exist on perfumed water for many days, the high unemployment rate in their cities, and the circumstances that ultimately led to his death.
Lily is hopeful in part because she thinks the Assads are too powerful to defeat them. She is moreover hopeful and grateful for her husband’s efforts since “A boy never goes to bed hungry” (Danticat 74). This historical and cultural drama novel by Danticat is ultimately a portrayal of the struggles the Haitians encountered and their valiant acts of resistance on the way to independence and freedom.
Reflections on personalities, goals, and grief have produced the populace’s time period and emotions. The balloon and the moon are significant narrative motifs that stand in for Guy’s aspirations for a better life. He frequently claims that the moon is traveling toward coastlines with more light. He also says to Lily that he wants to use a balloon to fly away and establish a new beginning. Nevertheless, neither he nor his promise of escape can ever be his, for he does not own the balloon. The balloon is used as a metaphor for the moon after his death since it “floats freely, drifting on its way to brighter shores” (Danticat 65). The balloon also reminds Lily that Guy once enjoyed gazing up at the sky, despite the fact that it now symbolizes a goal he will never realize.
The character of Dutty Boukman, a religious leader in Saint-Domingue and an enslaved Haitian, is a crucial component of the story. On the island of Hispaniola during the time, this location was a French colony. Dutti, at one point, instigated a revolution against the French colonists’ enslavement of the locals, which was successful years later when the colony became the Republic of Haiti. He is the inspiration behind the Little liberation Guy cries about as he reads his lines. He is a significant character in Haiti’s history. This principle is still important in contemporary America, as all repressed and disadvantaged groups, including black people, struggle for their rights. Bowman’s story of Dr. King, a preacher who led his people to freedom, is likewise related. These concepts of equality, brotherhood and identification are just as applicable to modern-day America as they are to the world of the eighteenth century.
This character also provides the main character’s family with faith that Little Guy would succeed in life more than his father did. The young man practices his lines nonstop. In the strained baritones of their only child’s rehearsals, Lily and Guy proudly experience the uncommon pleasure of hearing the voice of one of Haiti’s ancestors of freedom. Even Guy breaks down in tears throughout the talks. However, the part is humorous in a way because Boukman’s voice is not used in its original form. Guy points out that the words intended to release the shackles of Haitian slavery are heavy and lengthy since the role was written in formal European English. This significant aspect of the work also applies to modern art when persons with diverse emphases and cultures fill the positions. Ironically, this is unfair to those who are involved in unique creations. This is merely a depressing reality for the story’s heroes, in any case.
In general, A Wall of Fire Rising, captures the issues that plague oppressive mixed societies. From the Jews held as enslaved people by Egypt and Rome to contemporary peoples, the Haitians have gone through what many other peoples have gone through throughout history. In this instance, America is only an ironic mirror of this enduring duality as seen in the workplace. The action of the short tale takes place in a particular time and location, yet it still has relevance for America in the twenty-first century.
After all, those fighting against injustice will always be guided by the ideals of freedom, equality, and peace, and they will always prevail. Faith weaves together the author’s viewpoints, the heroes of the story, the plot, and concepts that were prevalent hundreds of years ago. The Haitian ancestry of the little kid, Guy’s dream, the hot air balloon, and the Wall of Fire signify faith in the future for oppressed people. These are all contemporary stories about heroes who live in the present. Despite chronological spans and periods, this reveals the concepts’ eternal nature.
Work Cited
Danticat, Edwidge. A Wall of Fire Rising (Krik? Krak). 1996.