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Graveyard Book Themes

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The Graveyard Book is a children's fantasy fiction novel by author Neil Gaiman, which was published in Britain and America during 2008. The Graveyard Book explains the story of how a young boy, Nobody "Bod" Owens, is orphaned after a mysterious man named Jack brutally murders his parent’s and older sister; who is then adopted and raised by the Owenses’, ghosts, and Bod is given free reign of the graveyard. As Bod ages, he faces many struggles, from learning, facing other devilish creatures, such as the ghouls, and later facing the man that had assassinated his family for the sake of an order of Jacks of All Trades. Throughout reading the book, we are numerous themes presented in Gaiman’s book, ranging from relationships between the living and dead, to psychopomps and other beings, and one of the most noticeable, good versus evil. In further examining the themes portrayed in …show more content…

This begins when the baby (later known as “Nobody “Bod” Owens”) is taken in by the ghosts of a long-time deceased, married couple, that was asked to save the baby from a massacre by the transitioning souls of the mother and father, accompanied by the baby’s older sister. This is a reoccurring theme, as it appears again, with the mention of the Danse Macabre, the dance where the living and the dead dance together; the psychopomp (a spiritual guide of a living person’s soul), the Lady on the Grey [horse], which danced with Bod, answered Bod’s question about riding her horse, by saying, “One Day. Everybody does;” this statement gives you the idea that she is the Angel of Death. The main concept for the Lady on the Grey being the Angel of Death, is based on a verse in the Holy Bible about Death riding on a pale horse; Revelations 6:08, which states, “And I looked, and there was a pale green horse. The horseman on it was named Death, and *Hades was following him” (Holman Christian Standard Bible, Rev.

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