A wall of fire rising character closer look.

Guy is in many ways a tragic and flawed character. He struggles to do the honorable thing and whatever it takes to support his family, but in the end he finds himself wanting more. His wife tells him he is a good man because they are never hungry at the end of the day but this doesn’t satisfy him. He wants to do more than struggle through life. He’s a smart man, he should be excelling, or so he tells himself. Yet turning dreams into reality takes action and circumstances beyond his control. He can dream, but it is hopeless if he can’t turn his dreams of happiness into actualities. In killing himself Guy takes control of his life arguably for the first time ever. Ironically, it is also the last time. What makes Guy such a tragic character is the recognizability of men like Guy. Plenty of people know dreamers who long for something better in their lives. As previously stated, dreaming is a very natural and healthy thing to do. However, these dreams of a better life are recognized as dreams or goals, something to work towards. They provide a reason for people to get up and start a new day. Guy lets his wants rule him. It is not enough to be self-sufficient when he could be wealthy, the problem being that he could never be wealthy, the circumstances of his life prevent it. When Guy’s dreams are recognized as just that, merely dreams, he no longer feels the need to work towards anything, knowing that it will be fruitless. This leads to a very real interpretation of the philosophy that once a man’s dreams die, the man dies. It is Guy’s dreams that force him to kill himself in the end of the story. “I know because I remember my father, who was a very poor struggling man all his life. I remember him as a man that I would never want to be.” (261). His inability to reconcile himself with his own sense of failure drives him to climb out of the basket of the hot air balloon and fall to his death. Not only do his dreams drive him to his death, but they severely impact those that he leaves behind as well.