You know I’m not one for bonfire night. Not been a fan for many years, standing on damp grass, shivering when you move away from the fire, and then holding your head up into the air and watching fireworks shooting all over the sky, does not appeal to me one bit.
That was until one such night. November the fifth.
My husband had been asked by his work colleague, Mark, if we wanted to go round to his house that night as he was having a bonfire at his house and without even thinking the question through, he said yes, sure.
I was not happy at all. He’s one of those people who needs to impress the mass, a bit of a show off, and his wife Sadie? Well, let’s just say she wears so little that you don’t need to use your imagination when she flashes her plastic bosoms in your direction,.
It was a typical Autumn night, a slight smog was visible in the blackened sky, and the booms from fireworks, which were going off in the area, were like bombs going off at war.
I was froze, because the fire had not been lit. Sadie had no such things as matches or lighters in her house, and no one smoked, either, so the rubbish was piled up like some appalling art sculpture.
The first firework was found. It had taken a while, as each young stud grabbed the meanest and loudest looking firework to use, hoping to light the sky up and give the neighbourhood a fright in the process.
The timid looking man who was in charge of lighting the fireworks was the sort who had to keep going over the instructions. And how slow he was at placing the banger in its holder, I had a feeling we would still be here for the next bonfire night.
“You’ll have to move away,” he said
“Any further, Dan and we’ll be in the kitchen,” Mark hollowed as everyone cheered back with agreem...
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...ells to my old man, hoping he remembers it’s bin day on a Friday. My children, who will only notice I am not there when the cupboards are bare and hope that the bullet that is now being triggered from the gun strikes me without causing me to scream out in pain.
Bang!
I closed my eyes and see my life fly by. Not very long, I perceive. However, long enough for me to feel cold, empty and alone.
“What you doing?” I hear a familiar voice ask.
I opened my eyes and look around, confused. Everyone is around again. No longer do I smell, no longer am I in a room full of strange looking men. I am here with my husband, listening to the cheers as the longest firework I have ever seen explodes into space.
As sad as it was to allow Guy Fawkes to carry on with the deed of blowing up parliament, without bonfire night, November the fifth would be just a normal, cold November night.
All the hospitals lights were out and there was a faint moon, but the sky overhead was full of searchlights and fragments from the bursting anti-aircraft artillery. She passed the cook running for an adjacent paddock, swearing hard and complaining that the bombs had put his fire out.
Due to King James making the Catholic laws more strict, gave Guy Fawkes his plan to rebel. With the survival of King James, today, Britons still celebrate the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot. November 5 is celebrated as Guy Fawkes Day, and has became a time to get together with friends and family, set off fireworks, light bonfires, attend parades and burn effigies, or stuffed dolls, of Fawkes. Children wheeled around their effigies, begging for a “penny for the Guy” (a similar custom to Halloween trick-or-treating) and imploring crowds to 'remember, remember the fifth of November'.
The innocent, smoldering fire that began the day the boys first left the scar is in stark contrast to the horrors of a ravenous flame that ensued as a result of an uncontrolled lust for not solely blood, but for power. In the beginning, the motif of fire had a wholesome foundation. Chiefly through Ralph’s eyes does this become evident, as to the rest of the stranded boys he states: “There's another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire" (38). It is here that power is first imparted into the use of fire, and the authority that such a thing facilitates. Ralph’s understanding of the necessity of fire is found throughout Lord of the Flies. Persistently, Ralph tries to remind the boys as to why maintaining a steady column of smoke and fire should be their first priority. By insisting on maintaining the flames, rather than allowing himself the simple amusements such as hunting and sport, Ralph’s valuable foresight demonstrates his ability to bear patiently the drudgery of rescue. Eventually Ralph grows to be alone in his ideals of returning to society, as the idea of rescue becomes increasingly remote. The labor of sustaining a fire h...
"Overview: “To Build a Fire”." Short Stories for Students. Ed. Ira Mark Milne. Vol. 7. Detroit:Gale Group, 2000. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Nov.2013
Heat in the cold, light in the darkness, survival at it’s best, everything that fire represents or perhaps nothing for nothing is ever like what it first appears. On the island, fire stood for hope and rescue to some but for others it stood for fear, power and death. Fire is two-sided. At first, for the boys, the fire on the mountain made them feel powerful that something was being done and with that, it made them feel as though they could conquer an important task. But, as quickly as the fire and pride built up, it caused the boys to feel vulnerable by lighting the entire forest on fire. This made them feel like the very thing they created to stand above rose up to be bigger then them, leaving them confused and weak. It was a reality check that they are not in control and that their actions could have greater consequences then they had ever imagined. Also, in the process of lighting ...
I went through the day numb. After school, I hurried home, closed the door to
Gasping in terror I awoke and shot to my feet. He was gone, but where, how long had I been here and ...
These were not the gentle sheltered flame wisps that dwelled in stone lanterns, but rather the vicious wild flames that consumed all that they touched, raging wildly as they continued their relentless devouring.
"Good job, girls. Now, was that too hard?" Yes, it was. "Go clean yourselves for dinner." Lola smiled.
I put my head between my legs and sobbed. I stayed on that little raincloud until sunset. I watched from my cloud until it finally had no more water and I flew back to my mom. I landed back in Heaven and discovered all the angels were gathered.
A large bomb fire was built in the middle of the settlement, and families would gather around the bomb fire and celebrate the last day of the Celtic year. The Celts would take the night of Samhain and celebrate as well as honour the ones that they lost the previous winter. The veil between the living and the dead was at its thinnest, which led many people to dawn costumes in order to blend in with any potential ghosts that might have returned to possess a living body and extract revenge on those that might have done them harm.
The car was hot and stuffy when I slipped back into the driver's seat. I found the most depressing music I owned and drove out of Glenwood as the sun started to set. Two more hours until I was home, two more hours of thinking what a terrible day I had gone through, and two more hours of cussing myself for being so naïve. The drive was a long one.
I stopped walking and looked up at the faint stars. The seagulls were flying overhead. They were screeching and swooping at the water. I started to wish I were one of them, flying free without any restrictions or limits. I listened to their voice, the screech. Deep down in I could understand what they were saying. I can't explain it, but I was so in love with the moment I thought I saw things as they did. I was in company of animals that had no concept of time, and no worries, and I was contempt with that. I closed my eyes and the faint sun warmed my face, as if shining only for me. The warmth made ...
...y all of my pictures of my loved ones. I rushed down stairs and grabbed a trash bag then came back and began stuffing everything else I owned into the bag ranging from the rest of my clothes to a speaker set my father had sent a few years back as an apology gift for leaving me stranded. I slung the bag over my shoulder and went to our back yard. I poured everything out and used a match I had found under my bed to light it all on fire.
eerily past me. My freezing cold hands were as blue as the sea and my