Barrows are underground burial sites. Like the barrow grave in the novel, most barrows feature an underground room of sorts that was originally created within a man-made hill. Barrows first became common in Britain around 3600 BCE. The barrow grave in The Graveyard Book houses the Sleer and a few treasures.
Barrow Quotes in The Graveyard Book
The The Graveyard Book quotes below are all either spoken by Barrow or refer to Barrow. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 7
Quotes
“You want to know your name, boy, before I spill your blood on the stone?”
Bod felt the cold of the knife at his neck. And in that moment, Bod understood. Everything slowed. Everything came into focus. “I know my name,” he said. “I’m Nobody Owens. That’s who I am.”
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“Look, it’s okay. I dealt with them.”
Scarlett took a step away from him. She said, “You aren’t a person. People don’t behave like you. You’re as bad as he was. You’re a monster.”
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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.”
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Get the entire The Graveyard Book LitChart as a printable PDF.
Barrow Term Timeline in The Graveyard Book
The timeline below shows where the term Barrow appears in The Graveyard Book. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...the people before the Romans buried their dead underground with treasure. The graves are called barrows. Bod nods and asks if Scarlett wants to see a barrow. Though Scarlett is nervous,...
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...the master. Bod shakes his head, which feels fuzzy, and leads Scarlett out of the barrow and the mausoleum. Then, they hear many people shouting for Scarlett. A police officer descends...
(full context)
...his fault that Scarlett is in trouble. He tells Silas that they went into the barrow grave, but they only found “a Sleer who scares people.” Three weeks later, Scarlett and...
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Chapter 4
...arrives, Abanazer lets him in and brandishes the brooch, explaining that it’s from a pagan barrow grave. Tom says it might be worth it to go about this deal legally; a...
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...punish Bod. He then disappears to dispose of the card. Bod runs up to the barrow grave and returns the brooch. The Sleer says, “it always comes back.”
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Chapter 7
...that Bod was her imaginary friend from childhood, Bod mentions that they went into the barrow grave, saw the Indigo Man, and met the Sleer. At this, Scarlett remembers everything and...
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...bring her friend to learn the rest. A bit later, Bod walks down into the barrow grave for the first time in six years. The Sleer doesn’t speak until Bod touches...
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...the men. Caius Pompeius rises from his grave and suggests that Scarlett hide in the barrow grave. Bod leads Scarlett to the barrow, talking to ghosts along the way. Once Scarlett...
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