The Language of Freedom

                Throughout Edwidge Danticat’s Krik? Krak! the force of language is undeniable.  When language, words, and descriptions aren’t painting a heart breaking and sometimes horrific self portrait of one’s journey by boat from war-torn Haiti to the promising beaches of America, like in “Children of the Sea”, it is delving into the inner workings of an impoverished yet disturbingly common household, and allows us to understand the harsh reality of the relationships of those living in these conditions, as it does in “Wall of Fire Rising.”

                Throughout “Wall of Fire Rising,” the heavy impact that words can have is felt even when they are not said aloud.  Guy’s personal feelings of insecurity are never brought to him head on by his wife Lili, yet he is constantly yearning to be good enough for his family.  In a time in Haitian history where jobs were scarce and security was practically nonexistent, this was a profound load to bear.

“When things were really bad for the family, they boiled sugarcane pulp to make what Lili called her special sweet water tea.  It was supposed to suppress gas and kill the vermin in the stomach that made poor children hungry…That night, anyway, things were good.  Everyone had eaten enough to put all their hunger vermin to sleep.” (pg. 58)

As Guy’s feelings of inadequacy rise, his thirst to escape these feelings grew just as fast.  These emotions are shadowed by his son’s inspirational school monologue, which he practices as his father struggles with his bleak future.  Danticat uses Little Guys words to catapult his father into an idealistic world, where revolutionary thoughts and change were in sight.  However, these thoughts ended with death.  “Your new lines are wonderful son.  They’re every bit as affecting as the old.  He tapped the boy’s shoulder and walked out of the house.” (pg. 71)  By motivating Guy to succumb to his own destructive thoughts, Little Guys words freed his father from a fruitless life of scattered labor, and insufficient love.  Language set him free.