Anxiety In Danticat's A Wall Of Fire Rising

“Someone says, Krik? You answer, Krak!” (Danticat 14). This quote was used by Haitians when telling stories. Storytelling was a powerful source of hope, especially throughout Haiti during this horrible time period. The book contains a collection of fictional short stories explaining the harsh lives of Haitians and different problems that they had to go through. In the book, Krik Krak, a series of short stories, the author Danticat utilizes juxtaposition to create intriguing characters that in return create a mood full of anxiety. The specific examples that best display intriguing characters creating an overall sense of anxiety are a depressed father, a determined mother, and a wannabe mother.

In the third story, “A Wall of Fire Rising” Guy, the father, intrigues the reader with his decision making on his life. Beginning when he questions the worth of his life, Guy’s wife, Lili, reassures his thoughts by saying, “A man is judged by his deeds” (Danticat 74) and he always kept his family fed. However, Guy soon came up with his own conclusion as he thought about his poor struggling father, “I remember him as a man that I would never want to be” (Danticat 75). As Guy realizes the

She will do just about anything to take care of her son, “The night is the time I dread most in my life. Yet, if I am to live, I must depend on it” (Danticat 83). However, she can’t keep the fact that she sells her body from her son forever, “I will tell him that his father has come, that an angel brought him back from Heaven for a while” (Danticat 88). That shows that she is embarrassed from her work and prepared to lie to her son to keep him from knowing the truth. This character’s determination to survive and protect her family makes the reader anxious to know more about her and discover what’ll happen to her and her