The Graveyard Book: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

The narrator explains that every graveyard has a ghoul-gate, which is marked by a gravestone that is cold, covered in fungus, and water stained. Back in the story, Bod is furious: Silas is leaving and won’t tell Bod why. He say only that he’s going “away” to uncover “things.” Bod kicks the ground as he walks to the northwestern side of the graveyard, which is overgrown. He wakes up a family of Victorian children to play and, later, runs back to the chapel. There, Bod finds a woman, whom Silas introduces as Miss Lupescu. She’s not pretty and looks disapprovingly at Bod. After circling him and sniffing, Miss Lupescu tells Bod to report to her upon waking and before sleeping. She refers to Bod as “boy” and refuses to use his name.

Silas tells Bod he’ll be in good hands, but Bod shouts that Miss Lupescu is horrible. Bod apologizes only because he knows Silas is leaving and doesn’t want to disappoint him. Since Silas isn’t someone who accepts hugs, Bod shakes Silas’s hand and watches him leave. Then, Bod goes to his parents to complain about Silas. Mr. Owens and Mrs. Owens cheerfully assure Bod that Silas will be back to bring Bod food, but Bod thinks food is unimportant. Unlike the ghosts in the graveyard, Silas gives Bod modern information that’s always correct. He also makes Bod feel safe. 

Later, Miss Lupescu sets down her first meal for Bod: beetroot-barley stew and a salad dripping with vinegar. This is a change from the food Silas provides, which usually comes in packets. Bod eats some of the stew but can barely keep the slimy salad down. Miss Lupescu forces Bod to eat one more piece of salad and then begins their lesson. Bod is annoyed; he doesn’t usually have lessons in the summer and has more than enough teachers the rest of the year. But Miss Lupescu sniffs and, in her slightly accented voice, asks if a six-year-old boy knows everything. She asks him to tell her why he should avoid ghouls and to list the “different kinds of people.” Bod can do neither. Miss Lupescu accuses Bod of willful ignorance.

Miss Lupescu’s preferred teaching method is to make Bod memorize lists, and she spends three days teaching Bod to call for help in every language. When she asks him to call for help in the Night-Gaunt language, Bod says this is stupid since he forgot what a night-gaunt even is. Miss Lupescu explains that they fly in the red skies surrounding Ghûlheim and ignores Bod’s insistence that he’ll never need to know this. He makes the eagle-like cry and asks if the dog he’s seen in the graveyard belongs to Miss Lupescu. She says it doesn’t and gives him another list to memorize. Bod tries to study, but he’s too angry. His parents won’t listen to his complaints and send him to study.

Bod kicks stones and wanders around. When he spots the dog and tries to call it, the dog walks away. Bod stops next to a grave that captures his mood: it’s water stained and covered in fungus. Bod sits down and falls asleep. Meanwhile, three ghouls race toward the graveyard from the village. They scuttle like rats. At the edge of the graveyard, the ghoul the Duke of Westminster smells a werewolf, but the Bishop of Bath and Wells insists it’s just a normal dog. The ghouls pause beside the ghoul-gate when they find Bod. They introduce themselves as “most important folk” and Bod tells them how no one cares about him.

Bod asks to accompany the ghouls to wherever they’re going, especially once they mention that the food is amazing there. The ghouls agree. Despite being only a little bigger than Bod, the ghouls lift him, open the ghoul-gate, and toss Bod into the darkness. Bod hasn’t experienced total darkness in years, since he sees as ghosts do. He’s terrified, but excited too. Bod and the ghouls emerge from a high wall with tombstones jutting out everywhere. The sky is a nasty red, while the sun is small and gives no heat. Bod looks around as the ghouls toss him amongst themselves and descend the wall. Suddenly, two more ghouls emerge from a grave and approach Bod’s new friends.

Bod’s new friends introduce him to the Emperor of China and the 33rd President of the United States. The Bishop of Bath and Wells explains to the newcomers that Bod is going to become one of them, and the ghouls explain what that means. Bod will have strong teeth, a tongue capable of flaying flesh, and he will be free and dangerous. When Bod asks what happens if he doesn’t want to become a ghoul, the ghouls insist that Bod wants to join them. Then, they see a group of ghouls bounding down the path below. The ghouls toss Bod around as they race to join their fellows. When they reach a barren plain with a road running through it, Bod catches sight of the city of Ghûlheim. The city looks like “a huge mouth of jutting teeth.”

The ghouls lift Bod and still tossing him between them, lope toward the city. Bod feels stupid and sick. When he catches sight of night-gaunts—huge winged beasts—Bod makes the cry like Miss Lupescu taught him. A night-gaunt starts to descend, but the ghouls shush Bod. As the night-gaunt returns to the sky, Bod’s hope disappears. The sun sets and two moons rise. One moon looks like moldy cheese, but the ghouls seem excited to see it. They stop, start a fire, and tell stories about how great it is to be a ghoul. The ghouls ignore Bod’s request to go home. When they hear a howl in the distance, the ghouls are terrified and fall silent for a bit. After a while, they resume singing and assure Bod that becoming a ghoul is great and that he won’t remember where he came from.

Bod falls asleep for several hours. When he wakes up, the ghouls are arguing: several of the ghouls in their group have disappeared without a trace. The ghouls pick Bod up and resume their run to Ghûlheim. To Bod, it seems like they’re running from something. At midday, the ghouls stop. As night-gaunts circle overhead, the ghouls argue. Some believe the disappearance of their friends is concerning. They arm themselves with pebbles as another howl booms over the plain. The ghouls agree that they heard nothing and then begin the climb up to Ghûlheim. When night-gaunts circle, the famous writer Victor Hugo throws Bod in a sack over his shoulder.

While the ghouls race up the rocks, Bod finds a screw inside the bag he’s trapped in and digs at the fabric. He hears another howl and realizes that whatever is howling might be even worse than the ghouls. Bod figures that if he dies, he’ll at least die knowing who he is and where he came from. When the hole is big enough for Bod to see through, he looks down at the desert floor. Now, it’s several hundred feet below him. The cliff face has giant-size steps cut into it, and Bod decides he’ll have to risk a long fall. Then, Bod notices a huge gray monster chasing after them. Sharp teeth bite the bag until Bod tumbles out and lands between a wolf’s paws. The wolf is huge, with red eyes. The ghouls abandon Bod and continue toward Ghûlheim.

Bod vows to get home, so he leaps down to the next step. He lands on his ankle, twists it, and falls off the cliff. He hears the wolf, in Miss Lupescu’s voice, say, “Oh, Bod!” Bod is terrified. Something grabs him and begins to rise. Bod sees that a night-gaunt rescued him. He says “help” and the night-gaunt hoots in response. As they land, Miss Lupescu races for them and informs Bod that this is the third time the night-gaunts have saved his life since he left. The night-gaunt helps Bod onto Miss Lupescu’s back and chuckles when Bod attempts the screech that means both “thank you” and “goodbye.” Miss Lupescu begins to run. She explains that she’s a Hound of God, so she has her own path out of Hell.

When they reach the boundary between Hell and Earth, Bod looks up at the stars. Miss Lupescu offers to teach him their names as they resume their journey. Moments later, Bod is in Miss Lupescu’s arms and Mrs. Owens takes Bod from Miss Lupescu. The next day, Bod limps up the hill and retrieves Miss Lupescu’s last list of facts to memorize. The first item on it is “The Hounds of God.” The explanation reads that while men refer to these creatures as werewolves, the creatures refer to themselves as the Hounds of God. They believe their transformation is a gift from God and will pursue villains to Hell’s gates.

Silas returns at the end of the month with a stiff right arm and a model of the Golden Gate Bridge for Bod. Bod tells Silas he learned a lot and points out several constellations. Both Silas and Miss Lupescu say that they learned things as well. Miss Lupescu suggests she might come back next summer to instruct Bod again. Silas raises an eyebrow at Bod, but Bod says he’d like that.