Fire Rising Symbolism

305 Words2 Pages
Not everyone in life has the best job, best house, or even the best family relationship. In the short story “A Wall of Fire Rising”, Edwidge Danticat shows the readers a family of three that lives In Haiti and are trying to survive with little to no money. In this story, Danticat uses a quite bit of symbolism. Three main symbols in this story are the hot air balloon, worklist, and “Wall of Fire”. Firstly, Danticat introduces a hot air balloon. In the story, Guy really falls in love with the hot air balloon and believes that he can use it as an escape. Danticat uses the balloon as a symbol of freedom or a clean slate. For example, Guy says, “I’d like to sail off somewhere and keep floating until I got to a really nice place with a nice plot