Symbolic of community and chosen family, the Freedom of the Graveyard refers to the privileges Bod has that allow him to see ghosts and perform ghostly antics, like Haunting and Fading. When Bod is just a baby, the ghosts in the graveyard choose to give him the Freedom of the Graveyard to protect him from Jack, and in doing so, they make him one of their own. Despite the fact that Bod is a living, mortal boy, the Freedom of the Graveyard allows him to integrate into the ghostly, supernatural community so he has a safe place to grow up. In other words, in granting Bod these privileges, the graveyard’s ghosts declare him chosen family and commit to raising him as such.
When Bod begins to outgrow the Freedom of the Graveyard as a teenager—he gradually loses his ability to see and interact with the dead—this represents his growing maturity and leap into adulthood. As a young adult, Bod no longer needs the close supervision of his ghostly parents and guardians to stay safe or to ensure that he’s making the right decisions. However, losing the Freedom of the Graveyard doesn’t mean Bod loses his ghostly community and chosen family entirely; near the end of the novel, he decides to keep the name his ghostly adoptive parents gave him rather than seeking out the one his biological parents gave him at birth. So although Bod can no longer physically see his community and chosen family and doesn’t need them in the same way as he did in his youth, their love, friendship, and support is still integral to his identity.
Freedom of the Graveyard Quotes in The Graveyard Book
“It must be good,” said Silas, “to have somewhere that you belong. Somewhere that’s home.” There was nothing wistful in the way he said this. His voice was drier than deserts, and he said it as if he were simply stating something unarguable. Mrs. Owens did not argue.
“You were given the Freedom of the Graveyard, after all,” Silas would tell him. “So the Graveyard is taking care of you.”
Josiah Worthington said, “The dead and the living do not mingle, boy. We are no longer part of their world; they are no part of ours. If it happened that we danced the danse macabre with them, the dance of death, then we would not speak of it, and we certainly would not speak of it to the living.”
“But I’m one of you.”
“Not yet, boy. Not for a lifetime.”
And Bod realized why he had danced as one of the living and not as one of the crew that had walked down the hill, and he said only, “I see...I think.”
Bod said, “She was scared of me.”
“Yes.”
“But why? I saved her life. I’m not a bad person. And I’m just like her. I’m alive too.”
“Can’t I stay here? In the graveyard?”
“You must not,” said Silas, more gently than Bod could remember him ever saying anything. “All the people here have had their lives, Bod, even if they were short ones. Now it’s your turn. You need to live.”
Freedom of the Graveyard Symbol Timeline in The Graveyard Book
