Themes in the First Three Stories

I think that one major theme that has plays a large role in all three of the stories we read was freedom. Each story plays with the idea of freedom a little differently. For example, in the first story, the boy is physically stuck in the boat. He shares his living with many other people and there is nowhere he can go. Another aspect is that although he left Haiti to be free of their problems, there is not much that he can depend on for the rest of his future. He left a job in a radio station, a spot to go to university and even a serious relationship when he left the island. Now, there is no telling if he could use his education, or if he will ever leave the boat. He writes as if he is informing someone of his coming death. For example, he writes, “I must throw my book out now. . . Perhaps I was chosen from the beginning of time to live there with Agwe at the bottom of the sea. . . Maybe this was my invitation to go. In any case, I know that my memory of you will live even there as I too become a child of the sea” (Danticat 24). This tells a lot about the boy’s thoughts. It is clear from his writing that he thinks that he is destined to die on the ship. He has already resigned himself to this future as if he has no choice in the matter.

In the story “A Wall of Fire Rising,” freedom is also the main theme. Guy believes that he has no freedom and that he is stuck in his situation. This is clear, especially when it comes to his relationship with his son. Because his son Little Guy is getting an education, it gives him many opportunities that Guy could not imagine. At times, he feels inferior to his son because Little Guy has so much more potential than he has. Guy must provide for his family and because of the lack of jobs, it is difficult. He feels powerless and stuck in his life. He says to his wife one day, “I want to tell you a secret. Sometimes, I just want to take that big balloon and ride it up in the air. I’d like to sail off somewhere and keep floating until I got to a really nice plane with a nice plot of land where I could be something new. Just be something new” (Danticat 60). Guy feels so stuck in his position that he thinks that the only way that he could be happy is if he starts all over somewhere new. The fact that he does not mention his family is another sign that they may be adding to his unhappiness.

I think that Danticat portrays this one theme very differently in these three stories. It shows what freedom (or the lack of it) looks like for different people. It’s interesting because each person reacts to their lack of freedom differently. The boy from the first story basically accepted his fate on the boat, while Guy found a solution by taking his own life. In this case, there was also an age difference involved. Perhaps Guy felt that there was nothing he could do in his lifetime to improve anything so he decided to just end it, right there. The younger boy might have been the ‘wiser’ one because he did not try to ‘fight’ it. Because many of the stories center around events relating to the Haitian Revolution, it would make sense that freedom would be a main theme. Maybe by the end of the book, there might be a similar overarching theme.