Fire Rising Symbolism

There is symbolism in every piece of literature, from the letters that it is written into the deeper meanings that the author is trying to convey. The symbolism in “A Wall of Fire Rising” by Edwidge Danticat is important to understand the reasoning behind the story. how the hot air balloon symbolizes the poverty, and how it helped Guy view himself as a better man because he flew it. The symbolic meaning of the hot air balloon allows you to understand the struggle of the impoverished people of Haiti, and the personal struggle of Guy.
“A Wall of Fire Rising” is a story full of symbols, from the hot air balloon to the lines that his son practices from his play. You can tell that Guy longs to fly the balloon, “Guy would walk up to the basket, staring at it with the same kind of longing that most men display when they admire very pretty girls” (Danticat 230). The reason he wants to fly the hot air balloon is to escape his life of poverty. He views himself as a failure and he just wants to leave or do
His struggle to find work and the work he does find is not great. The best work he had gotten was cleaning latrines at the factory. This was the final straw for Guy, he was done living the life of a poor man and his wife knew it. That night his son came home and told Guy good news about his play, but Guy seemed uninterested. Guys son asked his wife what was wrong with his father, and she replied: “His heart hurts” (Danticat 236). At this point in the story, Guy was going to leave and no one would stop him. He wanted to take his family with him and wanted was a fresh start, “Sometimes, I just want to take that big balloon and ride it up into the air. I’d like to sail off somewhere and keep floating until I got to a really nice place” (Danticat 236). His heart was pure in wanting to leave, and get his son a chance to have a good life, but he could simply not see how that was