Firstdraftthemepaper

Nobody Owens started out as a baby when the dead took him in and raised him.
In the
Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Nobody Owens was a boy who lived on the outskirts of the
dead and the living. Death is key with Bod as his family was killed as a child, Bod spent time
with the dead all day every day for the most of his life, and he loved them, but also wanted to go
out and explore, the dead held him back.
Nobody Owens lives in a graveyard with the dead and could see, speak to, and even love
them, though they were dead and not his family. Nobody was a little boy who lived in a little
graveyard in Old Town, England. Nobodys parents and his sister were killed while he was still
just a baby (7). The dead ghosts of the graveyard took him in and raised him, saying Then yes.
If you will be its mother, then I will be its father.(17). Silas was a man who was neither dead or
alive. Silas was never buried in the graveyard but the people who were, allowed him to stay
there(23). Since he was in between he could not dance the Macabray, which is the one day a year
that the dead and the living can see each other, ... but I do not know what it is like to dance the
Macabray.(149). All of the graveyards were the dead that had been buried in the graveyard over
hundreds of years. The two main of the graveyard people were the Owens, Bods parents(17).
Another Graveyard who was very fond of Bod, was a witch named Liza Hempstock(109).
Nobody Owens loved, and was great friends with all of the dead in the graveyard, Even though
he was a live breathing child.
Many characters are dead and say and do actions that agree with the death of themselves,
or their friends. Silas is neither dead nor alive and he is involved in many conversations that
support this. The Macabray is a dance where the dead and the living dance together for one
night, in the book Silas says You must be alive or you must be dead to dance it-and I am
neither.(149) On page 160-161 Silas is alone on the streets while everyone dances the
Macabray, In the shadows by the Old Town Hall, a man was standing, dressed in all black. He
was not dancing. He was watching them. The man was Silas. Bod is living but lives with the
dead in the graveyard. On page 179 Bod claims that he wants to be dead, Its only death. I
mean, all of my best friends are dead. saying to Silas after he tells Bod that the man who killed
his family is still out there. Bod gets taken by the ghouls and finds out Miss Lupescu is the ware
dog, he is surprised and thankful that she does not eat him. Miss Lupescu is a ware dog and she
was Bods temporary guardian while Silas was gone. Miss Lupescu was taking care of Bod but
Bod did not like her, she seemed different from the rest of the dead.(73) She claimed to be a
Hound of God on page 96, Those that men call Werewolves or Lycanthropes call themselves
the Hounds of God Silas, Bod, and Miss Lupescu are very great characters that may not all be
dead but seem like they always say and feel.
In The Graveyard Book there are many consequences of death. Miss Lupescu was
a weredog and could also speak to the dead. Under Miss Lupescus protection and guidance, Bod
gets taken by the ghouls and almost gets killed. Another consequence with Miss Lupescu is that
she was just like the dead, and so much worse than Silas, in Bods opinion, Bod thought of Miss
Lupescu and her awful food and her lists and her pinched mouth. (pg. 77). Mrs. Owens also has
consequences of being dead. Since Mrs. Owens is buried in the graveyard, she can not leave, nor
speak, or interact with the living. Mistress Owens cannot exit the graveyard, and she cries of the
loss of Bod when he leaves to explore the world, He thought he heard a voice say I am so
proud of you my son, but he might, perhaps, have imagined it. (pg. 307). Bod was a living
child but has many consequences for living with the dead. Bod loved the dead but also wanted to
explore, he wished to go out and just see the town, as he had not done before, and rarely got to
do so. Bod is a strong man, and could go out on his own by the end of the book, He tried to put
his arms around his mother then, as he had when he was a child, although he might as well have
been trying to hold mist, for he was alone on the path.(pg. 307). Consequences happen often in
The Graveyard Book and many of them are for previous deaths.
Death of many loved ones of Bod also kept him in a loving family, that were dead, but
still loved, and explored though being held back. On the outskirts of the dead and the living Bod
was the main character of the book. A quote by the author, In the first chapter I had written a
doggerel and left the last two lines unfinished. Now it was time to finish it, the last two lines. So
I did. The poem, I learned, ended:
Face your life
Its pain, its pleasure,
Leave no path untaken.

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Nobody Owens started out as a baby when the dead took him in and raised him.

out and explore, the dead held him back.

he was a live breathing child.

dead but seem like they always say and feel.

I did. The poem, I learned, ended:

Face your life

Its pain, its pleasure,

Leave no path untaken.

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