Krik Krak

Society sets up many expectations and standards that it expects individuals to live up to. It is difficult for many people not only to live up to these expectations, but also to deal with the pressure from society for not fulfilling them. In today’s society it is difficult enough to identify with our own failures, let alone having to justify these failures to society. Throughout her novel, Krik? Krak!, Edwidge Danticat shows how the Haitian society sets up unrealistic expectations for individuals. Faced with obvious failure and an inability to meet these expectations in “A Wall of Fire Rising” and “ Between the Pool and Gardenias” hero’s try to escape reality through dangerous fantasy.
In the short story, “ A Wall of Fire Rising,” Guy does not feel that he has been living up to his or his family’s expectations. As a father and a husband, Guy is expected to provide, protect, and make a mark of success in society. Along with society’s expectations, Guy also had grea...