The Graveyard Book
Not everyone grows up the same
Nobody Owens is the protagonist of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book (2008). As an infant, he crawls into the graveyard that he will call home, after unwittingly escaping the clutches of a murderer. His entire family - Father, Mother, and Older Sister - is murdered in their home by The Man Jack for unknown reasons. He is adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Owens (deceased) and put under the guardianship of the Vampire Silas.
Bod is extremely inquisitive, curious about everything - the graveyard, its inhabitants, and especially the world outside (in which he cannot yet venture due to safety reasons). He is quite serious about his education, often getting ahead of his tutors.
"He imagined a future in which he could read everything, in which stories could be opened and discovered" (page 46)
He is generally fearless and a risk taker, this is reflexed in his uncompromising curiosity, drive for knowledge, and behavior in the face of danger. His unselfish, generous, friendly, and accepting of folk
Bod is is given the "Freedom of the Graveyard" by the Lady on the Grey (the personification of Death) when she advises the graveyard inhabitants "In a voice like the chiming of a hundred tiny silver bells she said only, 'The dead should have charity'" (page 30).
Nobody "Bod" Owens
Image credit: Chris Riddell
The man Jack a.k.a. Jack Frost
Image Credit: Dave McKean
"There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife" (page 1).
The man Jack is a professional - a professional killer that is. Jack Frost is a member of the international fraternal occultist secret organization, the Jacks of All Trades - or the Knaves. Each Jack is eqiupt with a weapon, Jack Frost possess a knife with a handle of polished black bone with a blade more fine than a razor, and an exceptionally strong sense of smell.
The Jacks have been around since before memory (or at least the time of the Ancient Egyptians) They rely on The Old Knowledge - magic - and it is the reason that Nobody's biological family was murdered.
Members that are mentioned:
Jack Dandy
Jack Frost
Jack Ketch
Jack called Nimble
Mr. & Mistress Owens
This is the deceased married couple that adopt two year old Bod at the behest of his biological mother's fading spirit form. No legal contract is engaged however, the instinctual bond of womanhood and maternity is plain,
"Yes, said Mrs. Owens, in response to something that no one else had heard. "If we can, then we will." (page 16).
Mr. Owens is an uncomplicated bloke, and despite initial shock and splutterings, welcomes a new, and living, addition to his static afterlife.
Mrs. Owens, childless in life, accepts the maternal calling without question or hesitation. Although facing great challenges, such as being unable to leave the graveyard to procure food for a living baby, she is the epitome of Nurture.
It is Mrs. Owens who bestows a name on the protagonist:
"He looks like nobody but himself," said Mrs. Owens firmly. "He looks like nobody" (page 25).
Image Crdeit: Dave McKean
Silas is Bod's guardian, his primary duty is to bring the living boy food, clothing, companionship, and books from outside the graveyard. Although it is never directly said, it is implied that Silas is a vampire. Evidence of this includes:
"... the tall man had no reflection" (page 291)
"Silas, who consumed only one food, and it was not bananas" (page 27)
"He could not push the minds of the dead as he could the living" (page 23)
"...existing as he did on the borderland between their world and the world they had left." (page 29)
Silas is also a member of the Honor Guard, a mysterious order of supernatural creatures that guard the balance of all things.
Ms. Lupescu is a Hound of God, also known as a werewolf. When Silas must leave the Graveyard Ms. Lupescu comes to watch over Bod, actually cooking proper hot meals, teaching him in numerous languages (known and unknown) to call for help, and takes him to a sports game. Her special name for him in Nimini. When she dies in the line of duty (Honor Guard dismantling the Jacks of All Trades) Bod dispairs,
"You [Silas] could have brought her back here. Buried her here. Then I could have talked to her... She used to call me Nimini. No one will ever call me that again" (page 290).
Scarlett Amber Perkins
Scarlett is Bod's first living friend, the first contact within his new home. Although it must be said, Sacrlett's parents are convinced (and later convince her) that her new friend that cannot leave the graveyard, is imaginary. To be fair Bod never appears before the parents, and what rational adult believes a 5 year old child lives in a Nature Reserve/Cemetary.
There could be romantic possibilities in their relationship - particularly later on, and they are connected by the mystery of Bod's past, however I see them as purely friends.
Guardians
