Being an Outsider

In both books, The Jungle Book and The Graveyard Book we are introduced to a protagonist who is an outsider in the community, under normal circumstances they wouldn’t belong in this community. Both books make references throughout of the characters respective status as outsiders. Particularly at the very end of the books the characters are reminded that they are not meant to be there. One moment where we can see this in The Graveyard Book when it is nearing the time for Bod to leave the Graveyard he is asked, “Do you know what you’re going to do now?” she asked. “See the world,” said Bod. (147) This exchange shows that although he came of age in the graveyard Bod is an outsider and further he realizes that he will need to leave the jungle at one point. In a similar way Mowgli is in the same situation as Bod and grew up an outsider in the situation and will one day see the world.

What is interesting is that in none of the books we have read thus far do the characters really belong. While writing this I realized this is a common theme between all of the books where the characters are outsiders. What is more is that all of these characters, despite being outsiders, get an inside perspective on these various communities. Much like Yunior doesn’t belong in the United States and Dante doesn’t belong in hell the characters in the Jungle Books and The Graveyard Book do not belong in their respective places either. Their newfound environment in turn helps contribute to their personal growth and they evolve as characters as a result of being outsiders in their respective environments. Lastly, while they may leave the impact of their experiences is lasting and the environment has left its mark.

The Living and the Dead

            Bod lives between two worlds, one living and one dead.  His experiences in dealing with both of these realms can give insight into how Gaiman thinks about the world in which we live in, and the message he is trying to send the reader through The Graveyard Book.  Bod is raised by the dead, an upbringing that is not the most ideal for the life that he will eventually have in the living world, but it hardly hinders him.  Although Bod is an outsider, he is welcomed into the graveyard after the recommendation of the Lady on the Grey.  Bod’s interactions with the people of the graveyard are generally positive and though the methods of the dead can sometimes be old fashioned and harsh, the caring they show for Bod is apparent.  The people of the graveyard raise, teach, play, and feed Bod to the best of their ability.  Where Bod runs into trouble is when he is dealing with the living.  School kids, policemen, shady shop owners, and of course the man Jack try to bully, steal from, and murder Bod in all of their encounters.  The living world is where Bod is exposed to greed and corruption, whereas the graveyard is where Bod learns about loyalty and friendship.  Although Silas is a distant person who can seem very impersonal, he still encourages Bod saying, ““You’re alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything” (179).  At moments like these it seems that Bod learns more about life from the dead than from the living, and that the living are the ones to be feared.

Leaving the Graveyard

The end of The Graveyard Book is very similar to the end of The Second Jungle Book. Mowgli leaves on his own accord, for Kaa said “Man goes to Man at the last, but the Jungle does not cast him out” (Kipling 371).  So too did Bod leave the Graveyard for the human world.  That being said, Bod was told that he must leave, as the living did not belong amongst the dead (Gaiman 281).  I found it very interesting at how similar, yet different these endings were.  

In the Jungle Book, Mowgli realizes that he needs to rejoin human society, as he is a man not a beast.  Similarly, Nobody Owens needs to rejoin human society, as he is alive and not dead.  That being said, Mowgli comes to this gradual realization of that he must leave for his own good, whereas Bod gradually lost his ability to see and communicate with the dead and is told that he does not belong there.  This final chapter for Bod is almost a hybrid of the two chapters where Mowgli leaves the Jungle.  The first where he uses fire to save the life of Akela and then leaves because he does not feel like he belongs there, and the second where he finally understands that he belongs in the human world and not in the Jungle.  Likewise, Bod is told that he does not belong in the Graveyard, and while his friends do not cast him out with anger, they tell him that he has to go, and I think that Bod understands why.  

Given these similarities and differences, it is important to note that while the Graveyard Book certainly drew inspiration from the Jungle Book, it is not just a modern update on Kipling’s work.  Both stories tell the unique tale of a young boy raised in a foreign environment, who grows attached to his guardians, and must one day leave them behind to rejoin society.  And whereas Kipling’s novel touches more on the societal and cultural issues of the day in British controlled India, Gaiman’s novel seems to be more of a strictly coming-of-age novel. 

The Graveyard Book and Community

The graveyard in The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman has a reoccurring theme of community strength and the influence that community has in a situation. One can see the community is protective of their own from the beginning. This shown before Mr. and Mrs. Owens even take baby Bod when Silas sends Jack away from the graveyard.  The community strength is shown again when the narrator says,

“A graveyard is not normally a democracy, and yet death is the great democracy, and each of the dead had a voice and an opinion as to whether a the living child should be allowed to stay, and they were determined to be heard, that night.” (Gaiman 29).

The quote shows the community is mindful of everyone’s opinion in a big decision. Immediately they come together and make a decision that will affect everyone. The quote shows that the dead do have a community and they act and make decisions the same way a living community would. Voting and having equal opportunity to share thoughts and ideas is essential to a successful community.

The community aspect in The Graveyard Book is shown through Bod’s teachers and mentors. In fact the book reads, “It is going to take more than just a couple of good-hearted souls to raise this child. It will take a graveyard” (Gaiman,23). The quote meaning that it takes many members of the graveyard teach Bod the skills he needs to succeed in the graveyard. Silas helps take care of Bod from the second he arrives at the graveyard. He protects him from Jack at the beginning of the story. He also is the only one who can leave the graveyard. He uses this benefit to get Bod food and clothing. Silas steps up and becomes an important influence in Bod’s life. He teaches him lessons and lets him eat junk food. Silas is a guiding factor in Bod’s life because he has been with him since the beginning.

Miss Lupescy is another mentor to Bod. In the beginning, he was not happy with her persistence in languages and healthy snacks. However, it is Miss Luspescy’s lessons that save Bod when he gets in trouble. In the end, Miss Luspescy becomes an important person in Bod’s life. This is similar to many real life situations. We have all had members of the community that we struggle to get along with because of different life views.

It is ironic that a graveyard would have such a strong community with organization, rights, and teachers. These qualities are one a living community strives to achieve. The qualities the graveyard has makes me wonder why the graveyard taught Bod to be so similar to the living. In the end, does it show that he belongs with the living, even if the dead have raised him?

Mowgli: Curious and Loyal

In Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, the protagonist Mowgli is present in the majority of the short stories. During these tales, he learns vital lessons that are illustrated more thoroughly in the additional short narratives. Mowgli is the lone character in the stories that traverses the human and the animal worlds seamlessly. He is born a human, he is raised by wolves in the jungle, he is friends with bears, panthers, and snakes, and ultimately he ends up back with his own kind – humans. Throughout the stories, Mowgli is characterized as inquisitive and loyal. The personality traits of curiosity and loyalty serve him well as he continuously crosses species boundaries.

            Mowgli’s character trait of curiosity shines through from the very first book. In “Mowgli’s Brothers,” the small human baby is not afraid of the wolves that find him. He is simply curious. The narrator describes baby Mowgli holding on to a low branch and discovering he has an audience. The narrator says, “He looked up into Father Wolf’s eyes and laughed” (8). Even as an infant, Mowgli is curious about his surroundings and is not afraid. Mowgli continues to be inquisitive about his surroundings as he grows up. Mowgli is curious about the monkeys as well as the human villagers to some extent. Luckily, his overly inquisitive nature about his environment does not hamper his loyalty to his family and friends.

            Loyalty, even to a family he is not related to by blood, or even by species, is one of Mowgli’s most outstanding characteristics. Mowgli is consistently loyal to his family, his mentors, and his friends – even in difficult situations. In “Mowgli’s Brothers,” Mowgli and the elderly leader Akela are exiled from the pack under Shere Khan’s urging. Mowgli is devastated and angry to be torn from the pack that raided him, including the only family he has ever known. Despite this tragedy, Mowgli is kind and loyal to his family and friends. He states, “The jungle is shut to me, and I must forget your talk and your companionship; but I will be more merciful than ye are… I promise that when I am a man among men I will not betray ye to men as ye have betrayed me”(21-22). The loyalty that shows through in Mowgli is unseen in most other characters. Mowgli overcomes his hurt for being turned away and unease about the unknown of the human village to remain loyal to his family. Overall, Mowgli’s curiosity and loyalty shine throughout Kipling’s The Jungle Book.

Fear with a Capital "F"

The theme of fear in The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman is fascinating because of how it is conceptualized by each author and how it is utilized by the protagonists.  Kipling's conceptualization of fear is most salient in the story, "How Fear Came."  In this story, wise old Hathi the elephant relates the tale of how the law and order established in the jungle was essentially based on the Fear of Man in lieu of the death and shame that the first "masters" of the jungle had brought upon the jungle society; Hathi delineates a need for this fear in saying, "only when there is one great Fear over all, as there is now, can we of the Jungle lay aside our little fears, and meet together in one place as we do now" (Kipling 191).  This statement by Hathi suggests that this Fear of Man serves to unite the jungle creatures under one superordinate enemy of sorts, thereby giving power to the humans and inordinately shaping the very hierarchy that is the Jungle society.  As I was reading the Jungle Books, it seemed to me that fear was used as a tool to inspire obedience of the Law of the Jungle and to ensure that everything goes according to the status quo.  This idea of Fear, with a capital "F," works to the advantage of Mowgli, the human protagonist in the novel, who bends the will of the animals to his own by using the power of "the eye" throughout the stories.
The influence of Kipling on Gaiman becomes very apparent through Gaiman's conceptualization of fear in The Graveyard Book.  In some ways, fear of the unknown world outside of the Graveyard shapes the world of Bod, the protagonist of Gaiman's contemporary take on Kipling's classic stories in that it keeps Bod in the Graveyard for the most part.  More importantly, the Freedom of the Graveyard that is given to Bod in the novel seems to empower him to overcome the fear that at times debilitates the normal people in the novel.  For instance, when Scarlett and Bod go exploring in the Graveyard and encounter the Indigo Man, Bod is the first to compose himself and calm down his friend after quickly realizing that it was fear that killed the man who died there before (Gaiman 54). In The Graveyard Book, fear is employed as an emotion that demands to be felt, with the exception of Bod, who masters it as a tool of his own.  Gaiman writes, "Fear is contagious. You can catch it. Sometimes all it takes is for someone to say that they're scared for the fear to become real" (188).   Bod uses "The Fear" to his advantage in scaring off the bullies Nick and Mo in a manner similar to Mowgli's mastery of the power of the eye.  Ultimately, the idea of mastering fear rather than being mastered by it is an idea that both Gaiman and Kipling suggest is necessary for not only survival, but also for dominating a social hierarchy.

Similarities Between The Jungle Book and Gaiman’s The Grave Yard Book

The similarities between Kipling’s The Jungle Book and Gaiman’s The Grave Yard Book are striking. For example, The Jungle Book and The Grave Yard Book tell the story of a young boy who is taken into a surrogate wolf and ghost family respectively, after the boy looses his family. Also, both books present a teacher who is harsh on the boy, but whose harsh lessons ultimately save his life.

            In The Jungle Book and The Grave Yard Book, an unconventional family takes in a boy, Mowgli and Bo Respectively, after they each lose their parents. A family of wolves take in Mowgli and he subsequently becomes part of their wolf pack. Two ghost parents, Mr. and Mrs. Owens, take in Bo and he subsequently becomes part of their ghost community. Gaiman describes, “Mrs. Owens and her husband have taken the child under their protection. It will take more than just a couple of good hearted souls to raise this child. It will” (Gaiman 22). Gaiman insinuates that Bo will not live with his adopted parents alone, but will become a part of the ghost community, just as Mowgli becomes a part of the wolf pack.

These unordinary families eventually hand their adopted son off to a teacher, Baloo in The Jungle Book and Silas in The Grave Yard Book. Mowgli is content with his wolf parents as his teacher, but he later transfers to a different, harsher teacher named Baloo. Baloo teaches Mowgli many valuable skills such as how to speak different animal languages and how to ask for permission to hunt in foreign territories. Yet, Baloo beats Mowgli when he messes up, and after one beating Mowgli runs of in a fit of rage to play with the lawless monkeys. These monkeys would ultimately kill Mowgli if it were not for the lessons Baloo had taught him. While taken prisoner, Mowgli asks a bird for help using a language Baloo taught him. This plea for help led to Mowgli rescue from the monkeys.

            Similarly, Bo leaves his pleasant teacher, Silas, in exchange for a harsher teacher, Miss Lupescu. Miss Lupescu likewise teaches Bo different languages that ultimately save his life. After one harsh lesson Bo shouts in a fit of rage, “‘What would you do to keep me here? Kill me?’ And he turned on his heel and began to walk down the path that lead to the gates and out of the graveyard (Gaiman 190). Just like Mowgli, Bo storms off into the hands of enemies. He gets caught up with ghouls who try to bring him to Hell. However, Bo shouts to friendly Night-Gaunts in their native language. These allies save Bo and prove that his harsh lessons were worth it after all.

            The similarities between The Jungle Book and The Grave Yard Book do not stop with an unconventional family who takes in a helpless boy or this boy saving his own life through the teachings of a harsh teacher. Instead, they extend to an antagonist who tries to kill the boy throughout the story, a snake who saves the boy’s life, and numerous other examples as well.