The Graveyard Book

The graveyard, atop a hill in the middle of a city in England, is very old—its oldest denizen is Caius Pompeius, a Roman gentleman buried there 2,000 years ago. Older still is the crypt of the Indigo Man, a mysterious long lost being whose burial chamber is guarded by an ancient power, the Sleer. 10,000 graves now occupy the graveyard, declared a nature preserve 40 years ago and no longer in use.

An abandoned funerary chapel near the cemetery entrance is where Silas stores food and other belongings for Bod. Silas sleeps in the chapel steeple while Bod sleeps in the tomb of his adoptive ghost parents, Mr. and Mrs. Owens. Near the top of the hill is an amphitheater-shaped area with city views centered on the obelisk of Josiah Worthington, the prominent citizen who deeded the graveyard to the city and, in death, acts as de facto mayor of the ghosts. Further along is an ivy-covered section beyond an Egyptian-style stone gate where graves with knocked-over or broken gravestones are located. At the far end of the graveyard, just beyond the fence, is a Potter’s Field where criminals and those who passed away via suicide lie buried on unconsecrated ground. Liza the witch is buried here.

The graveyard serves as a giant estate where Bod grows up. The ghosts are his protectors, caretakers, teachers, friends, and playmates. It’s his entire universe for many years until the lure of the outside world becomes too much and he begins to make sorties out into town. The segregation of the different areas of the graveyard mirrors the kinds of separation in the living world, including the Potter’s Field housing the graves of those who were considered lesser citizens in times past.

The story begins with an assassin’s knife, a long, sharp weapon used by man Jack to kill Bod’s family. Near the tale’s end, it reappears to make another attempt on Bod’s life. The knife serves as an agent of foreboding and foreshadowing in the novel and represents a type of scythe to cut Bod’s life short. A second knife, extremely old and sharp, lies in the Indigo Man crypt for use in the ritual sacrifice of Bod’s blood, but it, too, fails in its purpose when Bod outthinks Jack. The assassin’s knife symbolizes the danger to Jack and the evil purpose of his opponents, the Jacks of All Trades.

The ghosts sleep during the day and come out at night. Bod, too, must keep graveyard hours—his ghost teachers and his guardian, Silas, awake only after dark—and he experiences sunlight only for short moments. This doesn’t bother Bod until he reaches his teens, when the outside world begins to beckon him. The nighttime symbolizes the strangeness of Bod’s upbringing; beyond the graveyard itself, it sets him apart from other living humans.