“A Wall of Fire Rising”, a short story written by Edwidge Danticat, presents a man's desire for freedom as well as the gap between reality and the fantasy that is created by desire. Two different perspectives of evaluating life lead to the conflict between Guy and Lili who are the little man's parents. Throughout the story, the guy hints that he wants to do something that people will remind him of, but Lili, who opposes the guy, tries to calm the guy down and follow the normal life they belong to . Guy is aggressive, adventurous and reckless while Lili is realistic and responsible. The wall of fire is the metaphorical expression of the boundary that separates two different types of people. One is for those who accept their position and try to make the best of it, and the other for those who are unhappy with the circumstances and desire to turn things around. Through this essay, I will reveal how the contradiction between the attitude and speech of a reckless idealist, and also how it led the entire family into a horrible tragedy. The little guy is in the play and his role is Boukman, who was the leader of the Haitian Revolution in the late 1700s. Celucien Joseph describes: On the night of August 22, 1791, which initiated the Haitian Revolution, Dutty Boukman, a slave and religious leader gathered a band of slaves and prayed one of the most important prayers in Black Atlantic religious thought.1 The prayer embodies the historical tyranny of oppression and suffering, as well as the cry collective for justice, freedom and human dignity of African slaves in Santo Domingo. The guy who is not happy with the situation that...... middle of paper ......rson and he knows that she will take care of the little guy even if the guy is not there. A distorted desire to break free from the situation leads the entire family into tragedy and leaves them grieving. Works Cited Danticat, Edward. “A Rising Wall of Fire” (2009). The Norton Introduction to Literature, Portable 10th ed. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010. P. 232-244 Higgins, Tory. “Self-difference theory: What patterns of self-beliefs cause people to suffer?” » (1989). Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol.22 (1989):93-136. Academic Press Inc. Joseph, Celucien. “The rhetoric of prayer: Dutty Boukman, the discourse of “freedom from below” and the politics of God” (2011). Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion. Vol.2 Issue June 9, 2011. Michaelson, Peter. “A hidden reason for suicidal thoughts” (2013). Why we suffer. n.pag. Internet. April 2. 2014”