“A Wall of Fire Rising” Response
In the story, “A Wall of Fire Rising”, a family living in a shanty town in Haiti is just
barely making it along and putting food on the table. Guy, the father of the family, is the one
who works for the family and is their main source of income. Lili is the wife and the caretaker
of the family’s only child, Little Guy. Guy comes home one day with some important news to
tell Lili. Just as he is about to tell her, Little Guy comes in and interrupts Guy to tell his mother
that he got a part in a play at his school. Throughout the story, Guy keeps being interrupted by
Little Guy who keeps reciting his play lines in order to get them just right. Meanwhile, Guy has
been looking at the hot air balloon at the sugar mill where he works. Guy has been fantasizing of
taking the balloon perhaps to escape from his life of poverty and start new somewhere.
Eventually, Guy gets to tell Lili his important news, which is that he got a job at the sugar mill.
This is important because it means that he will have a steady income. One night, Guy decides to
steal the balloon and fly off. Little did anyone know that he would end up jumping from the
balloon to his death shortly after a crowd had gathered to watch the balloon.
After reading this story, one may be thinking to themselves, “How do Lili and Little Guy
feel about Guy committing suicide?” I myself was wondering the same thing since, at the end of
the story it does not go on to tell how they ended up living their lives. I personally think that
they would be extremely upset about the suicide because they lost a husband and a father. You
may think the same way, but there are many different ways to interpret how the end goes.
At the very end of the story, the fore man says, “Do you want me to close his eyes?” and
Lili replies, “No, leave them open, my husband, he likes to look at the sky.” (157) Lili is, of
course, talking about when she and her husband would go off by themselves and look at the sky
and talk about their life of poverty while the rest of the town was watching news on the
community TV that was in a cage to protect it. This would most likely be a time that someone
would enjoy with their loved one. With this being an important memory that Lili and Guy had
together, she might want to have his eyes open so she can always remember when they would lay
together and watch the sky and so she can always think that her husband is doing something that
he liked to do when he was living. Also at the end, Little Guy recites some of his lines from his
play over his father’s dead body. He could be doing this because he always remembered trying
to recite them to his father. In his lines, Little Guy says, “…we may either life freely or we
should die.” (157). This could also be talking about how Guy thought he was not living, so he
decided to take his life. All of these things show that Lili and Little Guy might, in some way feel
proud of Guy for taking his life so he could escape from poverty. However, there are many other
ways that the feelings of Lili and Little Guy feel about the suicide.
I believe the end of this story is meant to be thought provoking and leave the reader
thinking about how they would feel in that situation. One way that I interpreted it is that Lili
might be somewhat proud of Guy for finally escaping from his life of poverty. She may think
that he killed himself because was trying to get to a better place. Another way that this could be
interpreted is that she wants her husband to be at peace because she can’t be. Lili and Little Guy
would obviously be upset that they lost a husband and a father, so they would at least want
someone in their family to be at peace.
My personal opinion is that Lili and Little Guy are very upset because now they have to
fend for themselves and find a source of income so they can put food on the table every night. I
do not think that Guy was a good father for killing himself because he left his family alone in a
shanty town with no money. He also left Little Guy to grow up without a father which can be
especially hard for an only child. Little Guy now has no one to look up to as a father figure for
the rest of his life. Guy’s action could also be called cowardly. One may think this because he
could be trying to escape from his bad life by just killing himself instead of taking his troubles
head on. When Little Guy was reciting his lines over his father’s body, he might have just been
saying that without noticing the relation to the situation. I don’t think that Guy was living nonfreely. He had just gotten a new job so he could better support his family. This is why I believe
that Guy gave up on his family and too the coward’s way out from his life of poverty.
In conclusion, the reaction of Little Guy and Lili could be interpreted many ways. One is
that they were glad that he had escaped his bad life of poverty and struggle. They could even be
proud of him in a way that he found a way to escape poverty. However, the way I think they feel
is that they are very upset about it, because who wouldn’t be upset about losing a father and a
husband. Also, Guy left Little Guy to have no father figure for the rest of his life. This could be
very traumatic for a young, single child. Additionally, Guy left his family with no income to
support themselves. This is bad because they have no way of putting food on the table now.
Finally, Guy had just gotten a new job with a higher, steadier pay, so he had no excuse to run
away from his troubles.