Analysis - Grade: B PDF

Preview

Summary

Analysis...

Description

Gabrielle Jones English 102 18th April 2018 Literary Analysis In the book, A Wall of Fire Rising by Edwidge Danticat, she uses symbolism to develop the meaning of a wall of fire rising. The story is about a family who lives in Haiti. The family, mainly the father, dreams of freedom and wants a new life. Throughout the story, the symbols are pronounce. The symbols that Danticat uses are the lines of the play, a hot air balloon, and fire. In the story, Little Guy, the son of Guy and Lili, recites lines from a play, in which he plays Boukman. Boukman is one of the heroes who helped gain Haiti’s freedom from France. According to The Kingdom of the World, it states, “Boukman was a Jamaican slave and hougan… he organized a meeting of slaves in the mountains of the north plain of Haiti.” In the beginning of the the story, Little Guy recites: A wall of fire rising and in the ashes, I see the bones of my people. Not only those people whose dark hollow faces I see daily in the fields, but all those souls who have gone ahead to haunt my dreams. At night I relive once more the last caresses from the hand of a loving father, a valiant love, and a beloved friend.” (127). As the story progresses, the meaning changes from the beginning to the end. The lines in the story become more significant. At the end of the story, Boukman’s words are developing the meaning that the people of Haiti need to stand up and face the dark hollow faces of pain. A person who wants freedom will only be free unless the die from

their own hands and from their own terms. Guy tries to gain freedom on his own. Unfortunately, he dies trying. Guy tries to to gain freedom alone rather than having a group of people to fight for freedom with. There is a better chance of gaining freedom as a group and to fight hard, rather than stand alone. Another meaning of lines of Boukman is Lili’s, Guy’s wife, hope of Little Guy growing up to be similar to Boukman. Lili encourages her son to continue reciting the lines. In the story, it reads, “However, the speech made Lili and Guy stand on the tips of their toes from great pride.” (127). Lili wants Little Guy to become a strong leader and have a better life than his father. As Little Guy continues to recite his lines, Guy develops the idea of freedom and what he is willing to lose in order to achieve it. “How do you think a man is judged after he’s gone?” (132). When Guy asks Lili, he questions what other people and his son will think of him if he leaves his family for freedom. In the story, a recurring symbol is the hot air balloon. It represents a means of escape. It will allow them to leave their situation, find a better place to live, and have a better life. The hot air balloon represents Guy’s need of freedom. He wants to be free from living in poverty and feeling like a slave. He wants to have the ability to free of his chains that captivate him to live the life that he cannot escape. He realizes that his wife does not have the momentum to “fly” away with him and break free from their chains. Guy sees the balloon and dreams about a life the he will never have a chance to live. The hot air balloon is his way out. In the story, it reads, “He gave us reasons to fly. He gave us the air, the birds… I can do other things too.” (131). Flying allows people to feel like like they can do anything as long as they put their heart and mind into it. It allows people to feel free of their worries. According to Thomas Foster, he says, “Freedom not

only from specific circumstances but from more general burdens that ties us down.” (Foster 70). Guy wants to be able to escape and find a better life for himself. Since Lili and Guy do not have the same mind set about freedom. Guy is willing to leave everything that he has to gain something new. He wants the ability to feel free and have a chance at a better life. After Haiti’s freedom from France, Guy feels like that kind of freedom is not enough for him to be happy. He wants a breath of fresh air and being able to breathe in relaxation. Guy does not care what others will think of him, as long as he is free, he is happy. He wants to make something new of himself. The hot air balloon was his breath of fresh air. Due to the lack of freedom, Guy feels that he had no choice but to kill himself in order to be free. The the symbol that stands out the most is the fire. The symbol of fire is recurring throughout the story. Fire connects to the lines of the play and the hot air balloon. Like Foster says, “...in general a symbol can’t be reduced to standing for only one thing.” (Foster 98). In order for the hot air balloon to float into the air is by fire. The fire gives oxygen that allows the balloon to inflate and leave the ground. Fire has the ability to give Guy the freedom that he desires. It has the ability to set him free. In the lines of Boukman, fire represents the burning passion inside of people, “A wall of fire rising and in the ashes...” (127). This means that people have fire within them that keep them going instead of dying and giving up. What is “the wall of fire rising”? For interpretation, the wall of fire rising is the downfall, having feeling, having emotions, or conflicts pile up inside a person to the point of breaking. It represents the burning desire to obtain something that they want. When Little Guy recites the lines of Boukman after seeing his father fall to his death, he

says them because his father dares to dream and tries to fly and finds an escape. In a way, Guy did find his escape. The wall of fire, his burning passion for freedom, lead him to jump out of the hot air balloon and fall to his death. Guy was having internal conflict with leaving everything that he had in order to gain something that he really wanted. Danticat uses the rhetorical triangle in this story in order to connect to the audience. She uses pathos by making the audience sympathize with the father and the family. The reader is able to care for the situation that they were accustomed to live in. The reader is able to understand the reason why Guy kills himself because that is his way of being free by dying on his own terms. In addition, Danticat uses ethos by knowing the history of Haiti and the revolution. She researched the lines of Boukman and what he has done for Haiti’s freedom. Danticat has experience to relate to the story because she was born in Haiti and that is where her family and culture is from.

Works Cited Danticat, Edwidge.Krik? Krak!Soho Press, 2015.

Foster, Thomas C.How to Read Literature like a Professor: a Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading between the Lines. Harper, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2017.

The Kingdom of This World, msu.edu/~williss2/carpentier/about.html....