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The social effects of this story take place at the end when Guy commits suicide by jumping out of the hot air balloon. Poverty effects the brain’s awareness, decision making, memory, and focus. Guy might have had a lot of stress over the fact that he didn’t have a steady job or a steady income. He felt as if he wasn’t going to be remembered when he was gone, and if he was remembered, his son was going to remember him like Guy remembered his father, as a “poor struggling man all his life”. Guy also goes on to say, “I remember him as a man I would never want to be. By committing suicide in such a bold way, Guy probably hopes that that is the way his son, Little Guy, will remember him, rather than a man who couldn’t properly provide for his family.

“Broke and Broken? The Psychological Effects of Poverty.” Poverty-Fb, www.bestpsychologydegrees.org/poverty/.

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Important demographics shown in this short story include race, household income, home ownership, and occupation. The small three-person family are of a Haitian race, during this time and still today, social class was greatly based on what race you were, with only eight percent of the population being white. Although not stated what the family’s household income was, the reader can infer it wasn’t much based on quotes found throughout the story. Some telling quotes include Guy asking, “Are we going to have to buy new clothes for this?” when discussing their son being in a play and when Lili must walk a few miles to town to fill empty gasoline containers with water for her family. Another telling sign of their poverty was the way they described their one room home. The author mentions the rusting tin roof, the clay floor, the plywood table resting on two bricks, the mat they used for a bed, running out of kerosene to light up their house, and how they each had their own corner of the room to live in. As mentioned before, both parents had no steady occupation. They would both do odd end jobs to make ends meet, but usually went to bed hungry.

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Class and Power Structures Found in the Text

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Class and Power Structures Found in the Text

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According to Sparknotes, all the stories in Krik? Krak! Took place between the 1960’s and 1990’s, meaning the class and power structures found in “A Wall of Fire Rising” are very different from today. Social class in Haiti is based on how much wealth one has, how much income they bring in, and what their occupation is. In the short story, Guy and Lili had no steady work or income. It was said that Lili would buy spices on credit and then sell them for a profit and Guy would work miscellaneous jobs. Readers can infer that this poor family was probably in the urban lower class. According to Wikipedia, this class consisted of fifteen percent of Haiti’s population. It is characterized by their dedication to sending their children to school, having to go to urban areas for jobs, and unemployment. It is also said that the poorest families spent around 1/5 of their income on food and water. In the short story, Lili is making dinner on the floor and was said to have to walk to town to bring water back to her family, proving that they were most likely in the urban lower class.

“Krik? Krak! Main Ideas.” SparkNotes, SparkNotes, www.sparknotes.com/lit/krikkrak/facts/.

“Social Class in Haiti.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Aug. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class_in_Haiti.

Below is a picture of a poverty struck town in Haiti.

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The story has two different worldviews depending on who’s point of view you look at it from. Lili, the mother has a very hopeful outlook on the world, yet her husband, Guy, has a very sorrowful outlook. The reader can tell Lili had a hopeful view throughout most of the short story because of the way she phrased things. She praised her son for his play by saying “He has one very good speech!”, she mentions “you are here to protect me”, when her husband talks about her being in the grass with snakes and bugs, and lastly, she tries to cheer her husband up when he admits his job for the next day is to clean the latrines, which are the toilets. The husband, Guy, on the other hand, has a very sorrowful outlook on life. The reader can pick this up by his actions and what he says. At one point Guy twists Little Guy’s ear for mumbling under his breath and then made him kneel in the deep grass with the bugs and snakes. He also tells Lili, “if anyone deserves to work [at the sugar mill], I should”. Lastly, the fact that he killed himself by jumping out of a stolen hot air balloon really says something about his outlook on life. Readers get in inside look at both world views throughout the story, leading to the reader deciding how they want to interpret the story.

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“A Wall of Fire Rising” is about a poor family who lives in a shantytown in Haiti. A shantytown is “a section, as of a city or town, characterized by shanties and crudely built houses” (Dictionary.com). The family consists of Lili, the mother, Guy, the father, and Little Guy, the son. It starts off with Little Guy telling his father that he’s going to be in a play. Guy seems annoyed, but little guy keeps practicing his lines anyways. As the night goes on the whole family goes to town to watch the news on a public TV. Guy obsesses over a hot air balloon that is set in a nearby field. As the story goes on, the hot air balloon is a reoccurring topic, along with them mentioning how little they have and how poor they are. At the end of the story Guy flies the hot air balloon, but then jumps out of it to commit suicide as his wife and son watch.

“Shantytown.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/shantytown.

Below is a picture of a shantytown.

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"A Wall of Fire Rising" Through the Socio-Economic Lens

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"A Wall of Fire Rising" Through the Socio-Economic Lens

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The point of viewing a text from a socio-economic lens helps readers focus on the social and economic issues that are in readings. Questions a reader may ask themselves include “what worldview does the text represent?” and “what does the text say about class and power structures?”. The reader may also look at the ways different demographics are represented and analyze social effects of the text. A lot of these elements are show in the short story “A Wall of Fire Rising”, found in the book Krik? Krak!, by author Edwidge Danticat.