Subversion What someone is or what someone is, doesn’t define who they are. Over the course of the novel, The Graveyard Book, we see how Nobody Owens encounters a variety of people who are, at least physically, monsters. A running theme throughout the novel, Neil Gaiman plays with the twisting of traditional tropes. A werewolf, vampire, and ghosts raise Bod, yet they act with far more humanity than the people from whom Bod has to hide. Through the protagonist's perspective, Bod, the reader sees how Neil Gaiman subverts the typical representations of monsters through the depictions of Silas, the residents of the Potter’s Field, and the Jacks of All Trades. Silas, one of the most pivotal characters in the book, acts as Bod’s Guardian. While he never openly acts warmly towards Bod, it’s clear that …show more content…
The ‘Mm. Oh, no, not at all [...] I don’t remember anyone particularly evil. Remember, in days gone by you could be hanged for stealing a shilling.’,” (100-104). Undead criminals wouldn’t typically be written as redeemable characters, but Neil Gaiman paints them in a positive light to tie into the central theme. Bod then encounters a witch named Liza Hempstock, who, despite receiving the worst treatment out of all in the Potter’s Field, is a friend who assists Bod when he gets into trouble. She and the rest of the graveyard stand in stark contrast to the Jacks of All Trades. While the graveyard “monsters” would traditionally be evil, the Jacks are affluent and well-dressed members of high society, who attend charity events to keep up appearances. According to the book, “. a wide cheery man, dressed in a morning suit, as if he had just come from a wedding, was announcing Good Deeds Done. [...] The man Jack sat at the front center table, beside a dapper man with silver-white hair,” (168). The setting for the introduction of the Jacks of All Trades is an intentional decision on Neil Gaiman’s part to exemplify how they keep up a guise of charitability to hide their