In “A Wall of Fire Rising” Guy longs to escape his impoverished life and plummets to his death in the process. Guy’s actions are a symbol for the country of Haiti, where his desire for freedom emulates the desire once held by the controlled Haitians. Guy’s son shows the remnants of an old European way, and the social divide that is still prevalent, while Lili is the mother left to pick up all the pieces; just as the Haitian people had to continue with their difficult lives. His brief story summarizes a thirteen-year struggle by the Haitian revolutionaries, and portrays the downfall that can come when freedom is finally gained. As Haiti fell, so too did Guy, a fall from freedom back to the unforgiving earth.
If Guy is Haiti as the country, then little guy is the window through which the lingering European ideals show. Little Guy gets the role of Boukman, the father of the Haitian revolution, in his upcoming play. Guy and Lili are astronomically proud of little Guy, and after reciting his speech, “It left them feeling much more love than they ever knew they could add to their feeling for their son.” (Danticat 229) However, their admiration could only go so far because “It was obvious that this was a speech written by a European man, who gave to the revolutionary Boukman the kind of European phrasing that might have sent the real Boukman turning in his grave.” (Danticat 228) Although Little Guy is representing a Haitian hero, all the words he speaks are European, which illustrates the full extent of French influences that still linger heavily over Haiti.
These European Influences are the cause of Guy’s displeasure and thirst for more. The hard two-caste system divides Haiti so definitively that it leaves no room for the poor to...
... middle of paper ...
...est source of comfort.
Guy’s story and his family’s influence paint a picture of the revolution of Haiti. Little guy makes the French presence evident with his role as Boukman in the play, and the European words put into the mouth of the once great revolutionary. Guy attempts to attain freedom from his reality by way of balloon, only to realize he can’t truly be free. He jumps out of his lofty escape and comes crashing back down towards his people, destined to live and die in the fields around his slum. Lili is left there, standing over the lifeless body of her husband. Her son is frantically yelling the lines of the revolution, and she has to continue life even worse off. Lily’s life will get harder, and Little Guy will have to make great strides to rise above his obstacles, but Guy is free of it all, forever saring up into his salvation in the sky.
Why are these background informations useful? Because these informations provide us some important basic knowledges of Haiti. As a country mainly composed of ex-slaves, Haiti is mainly composed of people of African origin. However, why is Haiti so poor compared to its other black majority neighbors such as Saint Kitts and Neves and Barbados? Because Haiti did not attain its independence through peaceful means. Haitian revolt against the French, and they indeed won, against Napoleon Bonaparte[2].
The novel deals with the pain and pleasure of the past and present and how that effects the identity construction of an individual. The ethnic/racial identity of an individual can be influences by the complexities of a post-colonial society filled with social clashes, inferiority, and the othering of individuals. The novel focuses on the Haitians who have migrated to the Dominican Republic to escape poverty but are still alienated and devalued because of their poor economical conditions. By migrating to the Dominican Republic and crossing the boundary between the two countries they are symbolically being marked as ‘other’ and seen as ‘inferior’ by
The little Guy is in the play and his role is Boukman, who was the leader of Haiti revolution in late 1700’s. Celucien Joseph describes:
Brooks’ hypotheses fit best with the modernization theoretical perspective. Like the perspective, Brooks attempts to find social variables that are impeding on Haiti’s economic success, and provides his solution. His first hypothesis, however, is the one that diverges the most from the theory. He states we do not know how to direct aid and there is no one consistent policy leading to economic growth. Modernization theory on the other hand is more determined to look at the internal factors of a country for the source of the problems with aid management and attempt to change the effectiveness of the government or the elements of a cultural that are keeping it in a “traditional” stage (Rostow 1960). Brooks does later hypothesize however, that Haitian cultural is one of the elements keeping it from escaping poverty.
Haiti is one of the most unusual countries in Latin America as it is the only French-speaking nation in the Caribbean as well as the first to receive its independence. Haiti’s most unique characteristic, however, is in regard to race. “The population of Haiti on the eve of the French Revolution was made up of over 90% black slaves, with whites numbering only about 40,000 out of a total population of 519,000” . This large disparity can be explained due to the fact that, at one time, Haiti was one of the wealthiest places in the world during French colonization. At the time of the French Revolution in 1789, the sugar production of Saint Dominique exceeded that of all the British West Indies, and on the eve of the revolution the colony accounted for more than one-third of the foreign commerce of France. “Saint-Domi...
The Haitian revolution had tremendous repercussions in the social, political and economic arenas of the world, but especially for the relationship with the neighboring nation of the Dominican Republic. In order to understand the development of the Dominican-Haitian relationship after the Haitian revolution one must examine how the two colonies of Hispanola dealt with each other before it. Throughout history there has been constant stress between the interactions of these nations, yet there is no easy explanation for what has caused it. In effect, it has been an accumulation of events which has allowed for the present relationship to evolve.
Casimir, J, & Claypool, M 2012, ‘Going Backwards Toward the Future: From Haiti to Saint-Domingue,’ The Global South, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 172-192.
In the third story, “A Wall of Fire Rising” Guy, the father, intrigues the reader with his decision making on his life. Beginning when he questions the worth of his life, Guy’s wife, Lili, reassures his thoughts by saying, “A man is judged by his deeds” (Danticat 74) and he always kept his family fed. However, Guy soon came up with his own conclusion as he thought about his poor struggling father, “I remember him as a man that I would never want to be” (Danticat 75). As Guy realizes the
The character that Danticat uses to tell the story is Amabelle. Amabelle is a Haitian housemaid for an
In the short story, “The Wall of Fire Rising,” a poor Haitian family, consisting of Guy, Lili, and their son, Little Guy, lives in poverty. This family lives in a one room shack, gathers their meal from scratch, and seldom has their own lamp light. They get excited when Little Guy gets a role as a revolutionary character in his school play, and when Guy gets extra work cleaning bathrooms in a mill. Meanwhile, Guy starts losing hope and dreams of flying the hot air balloon in the mill he works in. Little Guy practices his lines he has to say in his play. Little Guy’s lines in the play are that “There is so much sadness in the faces of my people. I call on the mighty and the weak. I call on everyone and anyone so that we shall all let out one piercing cry that we may either live freely or we should die”(Danticat 71). Even though these lines were about slave rebellion, Guy became emotional after he heard it and probably related it to the poverty he and his family is living in. He doesn’t see any way out of it, besides the hot air balloon and ending his life. Jumping out of the hot air balloon gives something Little Guy can look up to because his father rather jump out of the balloon than continue to live in poverty and be reminded of himself as a poor, struggling man. This is how Haiti’s political instability
The character I have chosen for study from Edwidge Danticat’s written novel, “A Wall of Fire Rising” is Guy Sr. Guy is the father of a young son, Guy Jr. and husband to a woman named Lili. The relatively poor family lived in a small shack in a shanty town in Haiti near a sugar mill. Guy has a charming personality and genuinely loves his family; however, he does not have the financial means to provide for the family the way he would like. When Guy learned that his son was playing an important role in a play, his face lit up with joy and happiness. There are definitely positive characteristics of Guy’s personality such as; the love he shows for his family and his willingness to seek work at the sugar mill or wherever he could to provide a meal for his family.
Katz, William L. Toussaint L’Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution by William Loren Katz. HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. .
“A Wall of Fire Rising” is a story of poor peasant working man named Guy who is trying all his best to provide a decent living and a sincere meal and also desired the need to escape their native country for the greener meadows in America.
Fatton Jr. , Robbert. Haiti's Predatory republic :The unending transition to demcracy . Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002.
As stated earlier, de Fombelle often sees himself in his stories as a way of rediscovering his childhood. The same is true for this novel. De Fombelle portrays himself through the main character, Vango. This vision of himself in the book contributes to the tone of this book, which is worrisome.