Imagine a world where civil liberties have been stripped away, a bare façade of civilization left behind. This is a world inhabited by people who once had free will and strong minds. These people have become weak and obedient, easily bending to the will of their oppressive government. The world these words conjured in your mind is the same existence that the characters in Edwidge Danticat's “A Wall of Fire Rising” and Alan Moore's “V for Vendetta” occupy. Danticat's story is about a small family living in present-day Haiti with their young, ambitious son. The country is a hodgepodge of people amassing obscene fortunes while others scrape the bottom of the proverbial barrel just to make ends meet; the class divide is seemingly distant. In Danticat's story, the husband spends his days working at the sugar cane mill or looking for work elsewhere. Every day the husband watches the factory owner's son take flight in a hot air balloon and every day he becomes more and more envious of the freedom associated with that action. After complaining to his wife about his exhaustion with the current situation, he states that he wants to take the hot air balloon for himself and leave Haiti for somewhere far away and better. The following day the husband keeps his word, abandons the family and takes off in a hot air balloon. In James McTeigue's version of “V” for Vendetta, the country is a futuristic, dystopian London. Corrupt politicians control every aspect of the country and the citizens within it. The main character, a masked vigilante named V, gets tired of his country's lack of freedom and decides to destroy a historic courthouse at midnight on the morning of November 5th. The building is... middle of paper... instead of trying to take it apart and figure out why it works. I enjoyed watching “V” for Vendetta and reading “A Wall of Fire Rising” but, due to this in-depth analysis, I don't think I could stomach either of them again; but this is just my opinion. Work Cited Booth, Alison and Kelly J. Mays, eds. Norton's Introduction to Literature: Tenth Edition.New York: WW Norton & Company, Inc., 2010. Print.Danticat, Edwidge. "A wall of fire rising." The Norton Introduction to Literature: Tenth Edition. Booth and Mays. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2010. 339-349. Print.Edelstein, David. "Explosive action." New York magazine. New York Mag., March 26, 2006. Web. March 31, 2014. Jolin, Dan. “V for Vendetta.” Empire magazine. Bauer Consumer Media Ltd., March 17, 2006. Web. March 31, 2014. “V” for Vendetta. Dir. James McTeigue. Warner Bros., 2006. Film