What Is Rising Action in "The Golden Kite, the Silver Wind"?

"The Golden Kite, the Silver Wind" is a short story by Ray Bradbury that was published in 1953. The story is about two rural, superstitious, neighboring Chinese villages that fear one another. Each village is dependent on farming and trade and wants surrounding villages to see it as the dominant community. The story was written during the Cold War and symbolizes the long-term conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. The rising action sets the stage for the resolution.

The rising action is about each village's attempts to prove its superiority. One village has walls around the community that resemble an orange, so the other village rebuilds its walls to look like a pig, symbolizing the pig's ability to eat the orange. The original village responds by reconstructing its walls to resemble a club to beat the pig. The two go back and forth, constructing even more ominous-looking walls, even though no physical fighting occurs. Ongoing competition and animosity between the village leaders finally leads to the climax -- a realization that both villages have allowed more important issues, such as farming and health, to go by the wayside.