Morality in The Graveyard Book

Despite its macabre backdrop, Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book is a classic bildungsroman, following the growth of a child to an adult. Nobody Owens, the child raised by ghosts, learns to navigate a complicated world of right and wrong. Like so many classic fairy tales, Nobody is safe at home in the graveyard, but meets a world of temptations outside of its gates. Only through exposure to this bleak world, combined with tutoring from loving mentors, is he able to mature.

From its outset, The Graveyard Book is remarkably black and white. The man Jack, and his compatriots, are the epitome of evil. They are the ‘wolves’ in the outside world, who constantly prey on Bod. Gaiman flips our expectations by conversely making the graveyard a place of love and security. Mr. and Mrs. Owens are loving parents, who do not hesitate to take care of Bod. The Lady in Grey is a saving angel, full of grace. Silas, though mysterious, is a capable and diligent caretaker. Gaiman even takes the classic images of the ravenous wolf and the wicked witch and turns them on their heads, presenting both Miss Lupesco and Liza as mentors and friends to Bod. The distinction between right and wrong is clear: the Jacks are outside the graveyard, in the wild world, and the ghosts are inside the graveyard, where it is safe.

Upon this classic stage, Gaiman presents a familiar story: the curious child, who strays from the path. Bod, like most children, is curious, becomes frustrated, and has his own dreams that go against the wishes of his guardians. He strays from the rules several times throughout the story, and each time is waylaid by evildoers. By the ghouls at the ghoul gate, Abanazer Bulger in the pawn shop, Mo and the policemen in town, and finally, the man Jack himself at his old house. Each of these times, if he had listened to reason and the words of his mentors, he would have avoided tragedy.

As Bod is consistently rescued from this situations, however, he learns. Were it not for the disaster at the ghoul gate, he may have never come to love Miss Lupesco. In the pawn shop, he learned to Fade, and his interactions with both Mo and the Jacks not only taught him to overcome his challenges, but how to change the world for good. The very climax of the story, where the man Jack is taken by the Sleer, could not have been accomplished were it not for Nobody’s knowledge of the tomb in the hill, a place he had been expressly forbidden to go.

The Graveyard Book is a classic tale of right and wrong, but one with an optimistic viewpoint. Nobody does live in a world of black and white, where straying from the path leads to danger, but it also leads to growth. There are losses along the way. Scarlet ultimately comes to fear Bod, and their relationship must end. Miss Lupesco must sacrifice herself to save him. But these losses lead to maturity. Bod learns to solve his own problems. He learns to love being around humans, to learn, and make a difference in the world. His desire to travel the world grows, as he prepares to leave the graveyard. Through trial and mentorship, Bod slowly learns to master a world of good and evil and leave childhood behind.