Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Graveyard Book, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Community, Identity, and Coming of Age
Parents and Guardians
Life and Death
Good, Evil, and Assumptions
Summary
Analysis
In late spring, Bod begins to lose his ability to see the dead. Now that it’s summer, he can see even fewer ghosts. Bod wanders to the overgrown part of the graveyard and notices a fox and a cat. The animals run, which is unusual—Bod has known them for years and they sometimes let Bod pet them. Bod tries to slip through the ivy but has to actually push through it. Finally, he reaches the grave of Alonso Jones, a 19th-century world traveler. Alonso Jones has been telling Bod stories of his exploits. But today, when Bod calls for Alonso, Alonso doesn’t answer—and when Bod tries to push his head into the grave, Bod just knocks his head into the ground.
Losing his ability to see ghosts suggests that Bod is outgrowing his Freedom of the Graveyard. Since the Freedom of the Graveyard is what made Bod an honorary member of the graveyard community, it follows that losing that status indicates Bod has come of age. It’s time now for him to consider leaving the graveyard for the outside world, where Bod can actually travel instead of just listen to stories about the world’s wonders.
Themes
Bod makes his way back to the better-maintained part of the graveyard and comes across Mother Slaughter. She asks him to pick the blooming nasturtiums and put them on her grave. Bod lays the flowers down gently and asks where everyone else is. Mother Slaughter doesn’t answer and instead, asks what Bod did to his forehead. As Bod starts to explain, Mother Slaughter notes that Bod isn’t really a boy anymore. Bod says he’s about 15 now, but Mother Slaughter talks over him. She says she still feels young and remembers the night that Bod arrived. She remembers the Lady on the Grey telling everyone to be charitable, and she’s glad Bod came to them. Then, Mother Slaughter stands, spits on her sleeve, and scrubs Bod’s forehead. As she turns away, she warns him to keep safe.
It may be that all the other ghosts are still around but Bod just can’t see them anymore. Mother Slaughter might be trying to soften the blow to Bod by not enlightening him to this possibility. But the fact remains that even to Mother Slaughter, it’s undeniable that Bod is now a young man, not a boy anymore. She suggests that Bod’s arrival to the graveyard gave the ghosts a second chance at life. This, she implies, was a gift—one that she and the other ghosts aren’t likely to receive ever again. Cleaning Bod’s forehead in such a way may be Mother Slaughter’s final way of saying that she cares for Bod before he leaves.
Themes
Bod feels like something’s amiss. He heads for his parents’ tomb and, as he gets close, he notices that his parents look oddly formal. Mr. Owens greets Bod and says that he and Mrs. Owens couldn’t have asked for a better son. When Bod turns to his mother, she’s gone. Awkwardly, Mr. Owens says that it’s hard to know what to say, and he sends Bod to meet Silas. Bod waits on the bench by the chapel and hears Liza ask him to say that he’ll miss her. He hasn’t heard from her since the night of the Jacks over a year ago. Liza says, “life is wasted on the living,” tells Bod again to say he’ll miss her, and calls him stupid when he’s confused. Liza kisses Bod, catching him off guard. Liza says that she’ll miss him, and then she’s gone.
Mr. Owens’s goodbye is awkward and stilted, but it reflects the kind of relationship Bod had with his adoptive father—Mr. Owens was a part of Bod’s life, but he didn’t figure as prominently in Bod’s day-to-day activities as Liza did. Liza, on the other hand, was a major part of Bod’s journey to learn compassion and kindness. Kissing him goodbye gives Liza one human experience before Bod leaves and confirms that she’s probably had a crush on him for some time now.
Themes
Bod gets up, finds the key, and unlocks the chapel. He doesn’t even try to slip through the door. Inside he can hear Silas, but it’s too dark for Bod to see. Silas lights a candle, which illuminates a large steamer trunk and Silas’s bag. The trunk is open and Bod touches the white silk lining. He asks if it’s Silas’s bed, and Silas says he sleeps in it when he’s “far from [his] house.” This shocks Bod, as he thought the graveyard was Silas’s home. Silas explains that his house is far away, but he’s not sure it’s habitable anymore. Bod is taken aback that Silas is leaving—he reminds Silas that Silas is his guardian. In response, Silas says gently that Bod is old enough to take care of himself now.
Not being able to see in the dark, like not being able to see ghosts, is another clue that Bod is outgrowing his Freedom of the Graveyard. And along with this, Bod and Silas’s relationship shifts as well. Now, Silas is more willing to let Bod in on how Silas lives his life, as he no longer has to maintain a sense of separation or authority. He can now treat Bod as more of an equal, since Bod is, in Silas’s eyes, a fellow adult.
Themes
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Bod asks if he can stay in the graveyard, but Silas says that it’s Bod’s turn to go out and live. Silas assures Bod that even if Bod never sees Silas again, Silas will keep an eye on Bod. With this, Silas leads Bod down the stairs and offers him a small suitcase. Instead of taking it, Bod asks who else is in the Honour Guard and what the Honour Guard does. Wearily, Silas says they “guard the borderlands” and do what they have to do. Bod insists that Silas and the Honour Guard did the right thing stopping the Jacks, since “they were monsters.” At this, Silas admits that he hasn’t always done the right thing. He used to be a horrific monster himself. Bod says that Silas isn’t a monster anymore, and Silas agrees that people can change.
Even though Bod is more or less an adult now, there are still things he wants to know that only Silas can teach him. Silas’s final lesson to Bod is that people aren’t always what they seem or who they were in the past; it’s essential to judge a person based on their actions and intentions in the present. And even more important than that, one must recognize that people have the power to change, for better or for worse. For his part, Silas changed for the better and has now brought Bod into adulthood. Now, it’s Bod’s turn to strive to be better as he moves into adulthood himself.
Themes
Silas says it’s been an honor to be Bod’s guardian and offers Bod a wallet. Bod takes it and says that when he went to see Alonso Jones earlier, Alonso either wasn’t there or Bod couldn’t see him. Bod asks if he can go to all the places that Alonso talked about. Silas says Bod can; there’s a passport in the suitcase. Bod asks if he can come back to the graveyard, but he answers his own question: if he comes back, it won’t be home. Silas offers to walk Bod to the gate, but Bod says he’ll go alone. Awkwardly, Bod tells Silas to call him if he needs help, even though Silas doesn’t get into trouble. Bod solemnly shakes Silas’s hand, picks up his suitcase, and heads for the gate.
Even if Bod realizes on some level that he’s an adult, he still needs the comfort of asking Silas if he can really travel the world now. Bod isn’t done growing up, as he still has more to learn about himself and the world of the living that’s now safe for him to traverse. Offering his help to Silas is Bod’s attempt to try to repay his guardian for his years of advice and assistance.
Themes
Bod half expects to find the gates locked since it’s after midnight. But the pedestrian gate is open and Mrs. Owens is standing next to it, crying. She asks Bod what he’s going to do, and Bod says he’s going to meet people and see the world. Then, Mrs. Owens sings the song she sang to Bod on the night he came to the graveyard. Now, she can remember the final lines of the song: “Face your life / Its pain, its pleasure, / Leave no path untaken.” Bod promises to travel every path and tries to hug his mother, but she disappears. As Bod exits the graveyard, he thinks he hears a voice say it’s proud of Bod. He heads toward the city, smiling. One day he’ll ride with the Lady on the Grey, but for now, he has to live.
Finally, it’s time for Bod to say goodbye to his adoptive mother, who’s possibly the most important person to him in the graveyard. She’s the reason he grew up here, safe from Jack—and she’s therefore the reason that Bod even survived to adulthood. While it’s unclear whether Mrs. Owens purposefully disappears or whether Bod loses his ability to see her, her disappearance suggests that Bod is now officially on his own. It’s his responsibility to live his life and show his parents, guardian, and friends that their hard work won’t go to waste.
Themes
