Our beloved Fawkes was named after Guy Fawkes, the man who intended to carry out the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the British Parliament in 1605. Depending on your particular political persuasion, you’re either celebrating the failure of that attempt, because government was not overthrown (“Bonfire Night,” tonight, is celebrated, and Guy Fawkes is burned in effigy), or you’re honoring Guy Fawkes for his attempt to overthrow an oppressive State.
Or you have no idea what Guy Fawkes Day is, in which case you can click here.
In any case, Happy Guy Fawkes Day!
Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I can think of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Black Angus on 
Travis Prinzi on 
Arabella Figg on 
Joivre on 
korg20000bc on 
Red Rocker on 
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I celebrate Guy Fawkes Day in the same way I celebrate Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg. Always hoping it had succeeded but knowing it didn’t. Of course, I wish the violence or potential violence of these events could’ve been avoided.
Happy Guy Fawkes Day!
When I was a kid we used to have “Cracker Night” and I had no idea what some people meant by Guy Fawkes Day. It was mostly people of British extraction who I heard this from. Now it’s called Queen’s Birthday celebrations because most of the Australian states have banned unliscenced fireworks sales. No more FUN with crackers.
I suppose I can understand why- the whole suburb used to be filled with smoke and the sound of ambulance sirens spoiled the ambience.
I just taught V for Vendetta to my Intro to Lit students.
Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici!
I haven’t seen V for Vendetta since I saw it in theatres. I got to pick up a copy sometime and watch it again.
Ah, Korg.
Cracker night, running around the back yard while Dad fired ball shooters over our heads, like the scene from Fandango. Bonfires so big the skin melted off your face if you were in the same postcode.
Thanks, Guy Fawkes.
And now people overthrow oppressive governments just by voting them out. Boring.
I still haven’t seen V for Vendetta. Gotta remedy that.
Travis, read the graphic novel first! The movie is quite good, but Alan Moore’s full vision is so much better.
Dave, that’s one of the reasons I haven’t rented it yet!
Have we ever discussed the implications of Dumbledore’s pet and Harry’s savior on more than one occasion being named after someone who generally comes off as a violent revolutionary?
Or is this in Travis’ book and I just have to be patient?
Just thought I’d bring up a complicated question right before I go on vacation. I’m ready to leave for Arizona for a few days because right now out my window I see the snow blowing in the steady & sustained 40mph winds.
revgeorge, No, I didn’t end up putting that in my book, because it would have been a speculation on thin ice, which could have easily been defeated by a JKR interview sometime in the future.
Here are some thoughts:
When JKR referred to Guy Fawkes being the source for the name of the phoenix, she also referred to that day as “Bonfire Night,” and referred to celebrating that the government did not fall that day. Tie that in with her being a socialist, and you don’t really get the impression that she’s really an anarchist. My argument in the book is that Rowling is a socialist, and that shines through in the links to Fabian gradualism, but that the Harry Potter stories taken alone are really quite libertarian.
We might also speculate (and this is the area of thin ice) that she named a phoenix (which rises from the ashes) after Guy Fawkes in order to say, “You burn him in effigy, but he’ll keep rising.” She might be saying, “You burn him in effigy, but those who oppose totalitarianism and oppression will keep rising up,” but there’s no way to be sure.
Not to say, by the way, that there aren’t any speculations that are on thin ice in my book – but I tend to say so when there is one (chapter 6, the Revelation 12 connection), and I didn’t want too many.
Travis said, “She might be saying, “You burn him in effigy, but those who oppose totalitarianism and oppression will keep rising up,” but there’s no way to be sure.”
Sure there is; just ask her!
Couldn’t resist.
Otherwise, very helpful comments. I look forward to reading the political section of your book. I would agree with you, that the stories taken on their own are more libertarian leaning, or perhaps to not be so political, they’re more about individuals taking responsibility for their actions and those actions being governed by love, loyalty, faithfulness etc. That is to say, they focus on solutions provided by individuals rather than solutions that governments claim to provide.
Could we say that to some extent Jo subverts her own socialist (and I don’t mean that in a pejorative way; it’s an accepted term in most other parts of the world just not in the USA) views and solutions through the story of Harry and his friends and their struggle against hatred and selfishness? Harry et al show what it means to love and to share and to care for other people, albeit not perfectly but then it wouldn’t feel real. And they do it all without some government decree saying that’s what they should do.
Just some thoughts.
I’m not sure I see any specific political statement in HP beyond a general leariness of government, which I can sympathize with.
But, Harry and Fawkes certainly aren’t going to tunnel under the Ministry of Magic and destroy it with some Weasley-made explosive. Then, it couldn’t be labeled a children’s story!
revgeorge wrote,
“Harry et al show what it means to love and to share and to care for other people, albeit not perfectly but then it wouldn’t feel real. And they do it all without some government decree saying that’s what they should do. ”
Excellent point revgeorge!
I believe that Jo Rowling presents Harry as one who shows love, caring for others by means of “personal choice” rather than government decree (Ministry of Magic).
Remember one of the famous staements by our favorite Headmaster, “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” The key word here is “choice”, which is a personal decision rather than a governmental one.
This presents something that Jo gives us through the entire Harry Potter saga, that love, caring for others, giving to anothers needs comes from the “heart” or the “soul” rather than from cold secular/political means. It’s a “faith-based” means of sharing.
So how would we describe this thought related to Harry’s story?
Travis will love this…………………… a Socio/Libertarian!!!!????
Help me on this one guys, I teach Theology more than politics.
David,
I don’t know what one would call it. It’s simple a matter of helping people out when they need it and not forcing things down their throats. Which is generally where Hermione goes wrong. She sees a problem, knows it has to be addressed but then assumes that simply forcing people to act the way she thinks they should is the way to go.
Ron comes to share a compassionate view of house elves and a desire for their wellbeing not because somebody passes a law but because he sees Hermione’s compassion for them and he also sees Dobby’s sacrifice and learns from it. This is something he could never get from governmental action.
Now, this is not to say, of course, that there should be no laws or governments at all, although I’m getting closer to that every day, but laws are used to compel people to act in a certain way. They are force, plain and simple. Where true reform goes on is in the hearts and minds of people through the choices they make and through the choices of others which may show them that a certain way of believing and acting is good and necessary.
Dave, I agree that there is no specific political statement (favoring one political philosophy over another), but there are no doubt potential political consequences to such an influential series.
And outside of the series itself, its author has set herself up as a political figure, and she’s been fairly upfront about certain political ideals informing her thinking, even in the books.
The Weasleys do make a few big bangs in their protest of Umbridge!
Ahem, and returning to Guy Fawkes – the first time I heard about him was when we read Thomas Hardy’s “Return of the Native”, which coincidentally, I’m listening to this week (read by Alan Rickman).
Pat
Fireworks Year Round
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