Preview

A Wall Of Fire Rising Redo

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
375 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A Wall Of Fire Rising Redo
Zeanna Buchanan
Professor Hall
English 1102
3 March 2014 “A Wall of Fire Rising”-Reading Response

Edwidge Danticat illustrated freedom throughout her short story, “A Wall of Fire Rising”. Freedom has a different meaning for everyone and can be attained many ways. Two ways were portrayed by the characters: Guy, Lili, and Lil Guy. They are a Haitian family in the 1990’s.
Lili, the mother and wife, saw that freedom from their shantytown lifestyle could be gained for Lil Guy if he worked hard to attain a decent education. Lil Guy must have agreed with his mother’s perception because he did just that and got a part in the play of Boukman, a Haitian revolutionary.
Guy, the father and husband, always felt the need to break free but when Lil Guy recited a part of Boukman’s speech Guy began to open up about his desire to operate the hot air balloon that the Asaad family owns. Guy wanted to feel free and when he stole that hot air balloon, he did but he also wanted to keep that feeling. The words of his son’s lines rang in his head, “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,154) So in return he jumped which gave him his last physical feeling of freedom, the moments before his death is when he lived the most. In this circumstance being completely free means to have nothing.
Lili’s reaction to Guy’s death was not how a typical wife would react when witnessing her husband’s death. She did not run towards her husband’s body but instead slowly walked towards him and just examined the body in deep thought. Lili lacked shock as if she understood why he did it or was even expecting it Guy’s actions. Her last words when asked if she wanted Guy’s eyes closed she replied “No, leave them open. My husband, he likes to look at the sky” (Danticat,157). Lili realized that Guy had finally found his freedom and that living did not mean he was alive.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Edwidge Danticat, in “A Wall of Fire Rising”, writes a story of a family living in poverty in Haiti. The family has three members, the father Guy, his wife Lili, and their son, Little Guy. The story begins with Guy coming home with news to his family. Little Guy is excited to tell his father about the lines he has in the school play as the Boukman and recites them to his parents. After dinner, the family goes to the sugar mill in their town. At the sugar mill, there is a hot air balloon, which is fascinating to Guy. Guy believes that he can make the balloon fly. After playing and admiring the balloon, Guy and his family head back to their house. At that night, after approximately six months of unemployment, Guy tells his wife that he has to work the next day, scrubbing latrines at the sugar mill. In the sugar mill, there is a permanent hire list where Guy wants to add Little Guy, so that he can work when he grows up, but Lili does not agree. Lili and Guy, hear a loud scream coming from where their son sleeps. Little Guy forgot his lines. Lili tries to help him remember and when…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After reading “Killings” by Andre Dubus, it is very clear that the main character, Matt Fowler shares many similarities and differences with Abner Snopes of “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner. Both Abner and Matt are father figures who seek revenge in order to feel at ease, but their thoughtless actions affect both their families and themselves.…

    • 837 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Gates of Fire

    • 280 Words
    • 1 Page

    This story is told as a narration by a dying Xeones to the Persian king Xerxes. The loan surviving greek is kept alive after sustaining battle wounds by a surgeon to tell his account of the battle of Thermopylae and the events before it. His narration jumps back and forth between time to explain certain events. Xeones and his cousin, Diomache, are orphaned at a young age and hide in the hills with a slave. Diomache is taken as a maid after being gang raped as punishment for stealing and Xeones continues to Sparta where he becomes a battle squire under Dienekes. He explains in horrid detail the gruesome training of the Spartan children to become citizens or 'peers'. Xeones takes the married life and has a child. Persia threatens to invade Sparta and, under the leadership of King Leonitas, the Spartans go to fight the incomming forces. Defending the main passage of a narrow path through the mountains, the Spartans, accompanied by only a few thousand greeks, face the better part of 2 million Persian troops. As the first day of battle draws to an end, many Persians lie dead, yet only a few Spartans lay in their wake. Xerxes learns of a path leading behind the Spartans and sends a force to entrap them. After 7 days of gruesome battle, the Xerxes and his troups finally overpower the troups, and Leonitas is beheaded. After his story is finished, Xeones passes due to his wounds. The scribe writing his story accounts for the rest of the war after his passing including the Persians losing the war to the Greek army.…

    • 280 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The metaphor for freedom, stating “the lights are going out” gives an interesting overview to the issue. The author uses a contrasting phrase in the third paragraph “arose into the brad light of day”, allowing the audience to reasonably…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Forgotten Fire

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages

    How would a 12 year old boy who watched his family die around him be able to escape the extermination of his kind? Forgotten Fire, a compelling historical novel by Adam Bagdasarian, follows the journey of Vahan Kenderian as he tries to survive the Armenian genocide. Vahan watches the world he knew collapse around him as those he cared about leave him due to the horrific circumstances placed on them. During his time the young boy meets many people who help Vahan on his journey to safety. Vahan develops his character through the people he meets during his journey, ultimately becoming the son his parents had envisioned.…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Deepak Chopra once said, “The masculine energy was about survival. The male was the hunter who risked his life and had to be in the fight-flight mode.” When pertaining to survival, the main character in “To Build a Fire” by Jack London failed to follow three main steps in Laurence Gonzales’ nonfiction trade book, “Deep Survival.” The main character failed to stay calm, to think, analyze, and plan, and to never give up during his trek through the pure, untrampled white snow.…

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner focuses on the impact Abner Snope’s behavior has towards his family and to multiple farm owners. Abner Snopes tries to make a living by crop sharing, and out of the resentment of wealthy farm owners he burns down their barns. As a result, Abner blames society for his actions and feels free to disobey common laws. Abner’s actions indicate him to be a thoughtless force of violence, cold-hearted, and lawless man.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What exactly is freedom? Is it the ability to think for yourself, to speak without the fear of consequences, to be able to vote in federal elections or is it something much more? Ambrose Flask attempts to unravel the true meaning of freedom in his short story “The Strangers That Came to Town.” This story outlines the journey of the Duvitch family as they rise from the depths of oppression to obtain a sense of equality and acceptance from their society. In his short story, “The Strangers that Came to Town”, Ambrose Flack is showing that true freedom is about being accepted. First of all, the Duvitches’ dark, mysterious past helps bring a deeper meaning to their tale and highlights their longtime struggle for freedom. Additionally, their treatment from the townspeople truly exemplifies the meaning and Euphoria granted by freedom. Finally, the character development of other characters in the story shows that freedom is received when it is given. In “The Strangers That Came to Town,” it is proven that the true meaning of freedom is being accepted through the Duvitches’ dark past, the Duvitches’ treatment from the townspeople, and the character development shown from characters in the story.…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the memoir "Things that Went Bump in the Night," by Anna Bella Kaufman shares her story of having to watch her son slowly reach death. With the use of themes and symbols, Kaufman personifies death and the feelings associated with this experience to bring it to live and draw a vivid picture in the readers' minds. Her writing of this tragedy does not only captivate the feelings of the audience but it does a good job of sharing a personal story in an interesting fashion.…

    • 107 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cited: London, Jack. "To Build a Fire." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    causes the rising action and falling action of the story. In addition, the contradictory action…

    • 1117 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Courtship LAURA

    • 399 Words
    • 1 Page

    Oh, my God! That worries me so. Suppose I think I’m in love with a man and I marry him and it turns out I’m not in love with him. What does being in love mean? I wish I didn’t think so much. I wish to heaven I didn’t. Everything bad that happens to a girl I begin to worry it will happen to me. All night I’ve been worrying. Part of the time I’ve been worrying that I’d end an old maid like Aunt Sarah, and part of the time I worry that I’ll fall in love with someone like Syd and defy Papa and run off with him and then realize I made a mistake and part of the time I worry… that what happened to Sibyl Thomas will happen to me and.. .(A pause) Could what happened to Sibyl Thomas ever happen to you? I don’t mean the dying part. I know we all have to die. I mean the other part - having a baby before she was married. How do you think it happened to her? Do you think he loved her? Do you think it was the only time she did? You know… (A pause.) Old, common, Anna Landry said in the girls’ room at school, she did it whenever she wanted to, with whomever she wanted to and nothing ever happened to her. And if it did she would get rid of it. How do women do that? I don’t trust Anna Landry and I don’t know who else to ask. Can you imagine the expression on Mama’s face, or Aunt Lucy’s or Mrs. Cookenboo’s if I asked them something like that? (A pause.) Anyway, even if I knew I would be afraid to do something like that before I got married for fear God would strike me dead. (A pause.) Aunt Sarah said that Sibyl’s baby dying was God’s punishment of her sin. Aunt Lucy said if…

    • 399 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dante's Inferno

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages

    References: Alighieri, D. (2006). The divine comedy: The originals. Hayes Barton Press; Raleigh, N.C.Retrieved September 15, 2011 from http://myeclassonline…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Good Fall

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The word Freedom has a different connotation in every part of the world, to have freedom means to have certain characteristics. These characteristics would be having the Third Eye, self-control, humility, and the ability to be able to overcome problems with a strategized plan. In the short story collection A Good Fall by Ha Jin, each story puts characters in dissimilar positions where they show whether or not they have the characteristics that define freedom. “A Composer and His Parakeet”, “ In The Crossfire”, “The Beauty”, and “Temporary Love” all involve characters that seem to be trapped in a current relationship, but for different reasons. Learned Helplessness is a disease, in which you close your heart and mind to your strong self and settle for your weak self-resulting in shame, several characters are diagnosed with this disease.…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The vulnerabilities of dead men make death seem like a very real physical phenomenon, rather than the journey of one’s spirit to either heaven or hell. Henry, too, is affected by viewing the dead. He sees that the dead do not know more than he does, and that they do not experience anything paranormal. He also realizes that he could just as easily be among them -- that dying is as random and meaningless as war, or anything…

    • 2268 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays