How Does This Lives of the Dead Connect With and Continue Themes From Precious Stories in the Novel
The Graveyard Book is riddled with death. The book opens in the moments after three gruesome murders, and many of the book's characters are dead. On the whole, the novel shows that death is a safe state to find oneself in, as dead people no longer have to worry about concerns that plague the living, like the existence of schoolyard bullies or, in Bod's case, the possibility that one will be murdered. However, Bod's adoptive, ghostly parents and guardians still insist that Bod should under no circumstances give in and allow Jack to murder him; Bod has the rest of his life ahead of him and should make a point to stay alive and live it. Thus, The Graveyard Book proposes that death may offer comfort, security, and predictability, but the ever-present prospect of death is nevertheless a constant reminder that life is worth living in the meantime.
Though The Graveyard Book emphasizes that dying can be traumatic and horrifying, its treatment of the graveyard's ghosts suggests that actually being dead provides a person contentment and security. This is because, in the graveyard, life is predictable and safe—nothing can hurt or kill ghosts, after all, because they're already dead. So instead of worrying about the things that might end or alter a mortal person's life, ghosts can peacefully reflect on the life they lived. With this, the novel suggests that the main quality separating the dead from the living is this sense of security. Life for ghosts who are already dead is fundamentally safe, but the same cannot be said for their living counterparts.
Bod's circumstances, meanwhile, emphasize that mortal life is dangerous—Jack, who murdered Bod's parents and older sister, still wants to murder Bod. And Bod also discovers that as a living person, he should fear ghouls. While the ghouls pay no attention to the graveyard's ghosts, Bod can either provide them with a tasty snack or be transformed into a ghoul himself, a fate Bod decidedly doesn't want. Bod's foes, in other words, are both mortal and supernatural—and they're foes only because Bod is alive.
But even though Bod's life is dangerous, his ghostly guardians also insist that this doesn't mean a person should race towards death. Rather, they suggest, the fact that life is dangerous is all the mor reason to throw oneself into living. This is why, throughout the novel, Bod's parents and guardians don't get too angry with him when he ventures out beyond the graveyard (in the graveyard, Bod is safe from Jack; Bod gives up that protection when he leaves the premises). Bod's vampire guardian, Silas, and the ghosts suggest that it's natural for Bod to want to learn more about and immerse himself in the world of the living, dangerous as it may be. But this doesn't stop Bod from asking, at times, whether he can die and stay with his adoptive parents and friends in the graveyard for all time. Because Bod's friends and guardians are all ghosts, he sees little wrong with being dead. Silas, however, suggests that this outlook is understandable but ultimately misguided. Death, he warns Bod, seldom gives people what they hope it will—and in Bod's case, dying would mean he won't be able to enjoy the life that Silas and Bod's adoptive parents worked so hard to give him.
Even though The Graveyard Book clearly lays out these differences between life and death, it nevertheless suggests that the two are intrinsically connected: death is a fact of life, and remembering this makes life seem all the more precious and worth living. The novel explores this most fully through the event of the Macabray. The Macabray is an iteration of the mythical danse macabre, in which the living and the dead can see each other and dance with each other for one night only. When it occurs in the novel, the joyous event allows everyone in the village to see the dead as Bod sees them: as people who are just as happy as anyone else to have a frivolous night of fun. However, the Macabray has a deeper purpose both within the world of the novel and in the real-world religious and mythical beliefs surrounding the danse macabre: it reminds the living that death could come for them at any moment. It is, at its heart, a reminder to enjoy life to the fullest while it lasts. And while the Macabray may be a fictional event unique to The Graveyard Book, it nevertheless encourages readers to savor and appreciate life, because it will inevitably come to an end.
Life and Death ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Life and Death appears in each chapter of The Graveyard Book. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Life and Death Quotes in The Graveyard Book
Below you will find the important quotes in The Graveyard Book related to the theme of Life and Death.
"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.
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Silas said, "Out there, the man who killed your family is, I believe, still looking for you, still intends to kill you."
Bod shrugged. "So?" he said. "It's only death. I mean, all of my best friends are dead."
"Yes." Silas hesitated. "They are. And they are, for the most part, done with the world. You are not. You're alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over."
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"But you aren't dead, are you, Nobody Owens?"
"'Course not."
"Well, you can't stay here all your life. Can you? One day you'll grow up and then you will have to go and live in the world outside."
He shook his head. "It's not safe for me out there."
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"What's your name?" he asked.
"Got no headstone," she said, turning down the corners of her mouth. "Might be anybody. Mightn't I?"
"But you must have a name?"
"Liza Hempstock, if you please," she said tartly. Then she said, "It's not that much to ask, is it? Something to mark my grave. I'm just down there, see? With nothing but nettles to show where I rest." And she looked so sad, just for a moment, that Bod wanted to hug her.
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He straightened up, and looked around him. The dead had gone, and the Lady on the Grey. Only the living remained, and they were beginning to make their way home—leaving the town square sleepily, stiffly, like people who had awakened from a deep sleep, walking without truly waking.
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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."
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Bod said nothing. Then he said, "It's not just the learning stuff. It's the other stuff. Do you know how nice it is to be in a room filled with people and for all of them to be breathing?"
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"That's the difference between the living and the dead, ennit?" said the voice. It was Liza Hempstock talking, Bod knew, although the witch-girl was nowhere to be seen. "The dead dun't disappoint you. They've had their life, done what they've done. We dun't change. The living, they always disappoint you, dun't they? You meet a boy who's all brave and noble, and he grows up to run away."
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"He's out here, somewhere, and he wants you dead," she said. "Him as killed your family. Us in the graveyard, we wants you to stay alive. We wants you to surprise us and disappoint us and impress us and amaze us. Come home, Bod."
"I think...I said things to Silas. He'll be angry."
"If he didn't care about you, you couldn't upset him," was all she said.
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"You weren't selfish. You need to be among your own kind. Quite understandable. It's just harder out there in the world of the living, and we cannot protect you out there as easily. I wanted to keep you perfectly safe," said Silas. "But there is only one perfectly safe place for your kind and you will not reach it until all your adventures are over and none of them matter any longer."
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Mrs. Owens reached out a hand, touched her son's shoulder. "One day," she said...and then she hesitated. One day she would not be able to touch him. One day, he would leave them. One day.
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In the graveyard, no one ever changed. The little children Bod had played with when he was small were still little children; Fortinbras Bartleby, who had once been his best friend, was now four or five years younger than Bod was, and they had less to talk about each time they saw each other; Thackeray Porringer was Bod's height and age, and seemed to be in much better temper with him; [...]
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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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"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."
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