Neil Gaiman was born on November 10, 1960, in Portchester, England and started writing novels from the 1980’s to present. His books are mostly fantasy, horror and science fiction. He wrote book such as Stardust, Caroline, The Sandman and The Graveyard Book. Gaiman won many awards for his books, such as the Hugo, Nebula and the 2009 Newbery Medal recently. Neil Gaiman is also a Screen Writer and a Graphic Novelist. The Graveyard book was inspired by his son who he saw playing in a graveyard but it took him over 20 years to finish.In the final research paper for this class I choose the Marxist Literary Theory in interpreting The Graveyard Book. I choose that approach because I saw many instances where there was a division in the classes. The Graveyard Book is about a little boy whose family got killed when he was still a baby by a man. He was then adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Owens who were ghosts and belonged to the graveyard. He was named Nobody Owens and his Guardian Silas a man who was neither dead nor alive. Bod as he was called was not allowed to leave the graveyard because if he left the mysterious man would track him down and kill him. At the Graveyard Bod had many ups and down and made many friends as well as lost some, he was also educated by the residents of the graveyard for many years and went to a public school for a short period. At the Graveyard as well as outside Bod got into a lot of trouble as he grew up and eventually he had to leave the Graveyard. The major players for Marxism are Karl Marx, Fredrick Engle and Louis Althusser. In this theory the founder Karl Marx saw conflict in the society as well as between countries where there was inequality between the classes (upper and lower class). The upper class was said to use their wealth and power to exploit the poorer or lower class. We see where this relates to the book as the bad persons were the ones who were wealthy on the other hand, Louis Althusser also a well know Marxist philosopher and was sometimes referred to as a Structural Marxist. In this Marxist theory Karl Marx talks about inequality in the classes (bourgeoisie and proletarian). In the Journal of Aesthetic Education Vol. 22. No. 2, Published by the University of Illinois Press, by C. David Lisman, he stated that Karl Marx argued that "circumstances make men just as men make circumstances" and that Georg Lukcas in his book Realism in our Times, and who is also a Marxist Literary theorists "theorizes that the Western modern literary tradition itself can be seen as mediated by capitalism. He maintains that the modernist tradition has adopted the view that humans are essentially solitary. Modernist characters are a historical beings confined within the limits of their own experience and thrown into the world without any sense of personal history". The statement means that because of the way a person grows up they maybe consider somebody as being in the upper or lower class. The Marxist Literary Criticism as stated by Terry Eagleton focuses on not only focuses on class but also aims to explain the form style and meanings of a piece of literature.In the Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman we see different classes; one instance is the Ghouls and the Ghosts. When Gaiman refers to the Ghouls in the book he refers to them in a degrading and disgusting manner (rats the size of children pg.75). The Ghouls are also portrayed as fearing the Ghosts as well as the Hounds of God (Miss Lupescu). Its can also be said that there is a difference in the living arrangements as the Ghouls lived underground which Miss Lupescu referred to as “hell” where its dark and dull and the Ghosts live above ground where it green and bright. As a stereotype the upper class are often identified as having better living conditions than the lower class. In the graveyard we also see where there is a difference in the classes between the Ghosts themselves; we see this with Caius Pompeius who is one of the oldest in the graveyard and a person who everybody in the graveyard looks up to. Here we see where the power goes against the norm as here the power is not determined by money or social class but by how long a person has been buried in the Graveyard. Another instance of class conflict is determined by the graveyard grounds (sacred grounds) and the unconsecrated grounds which were parted off by a fence. The people who were on the unconsecrated ground were seen as people who were criminals, who committed suicides and who were not of faith. As seen in the book the Owens’s told Bod not to go near Potter’s Fields (unconsecrated grounds) because there were bad people there even though later on Bod made a very good friend, Liza Hempstock who helps Bod when he was in a lot of trouble. We see where the in the Danse of the Macabre, the Ghosts controlled the living people and the woman on the horse who started to Lead the Macabray dance. She maybe seen that the person who collects the Ghost of a person when he or she dies therefore she is seen as a superior figure in the Ghost world.Marxism is also identified where we see that the Man Jack works for persons in high power who also are called the “Jacks of All Trade”. As Giaman stated the men met in an expensive room (Washington Room was taken for the night for a private function pg.166) at a hotel, he also said that they were in “sober black suit”(pg 166). He also stated that all had a hundred of them had different features Gaiman described them as having “white hair or dark hair, fair hair or red hair, or no hair at all. They had friendly faced and unfriendly faces, helpful or sullen, open or secretive, brutish or sensitive”. The book points out that the men were from all races and from all over the world, we can see where the “Suits” symbolizes wealth. Gaiman explains the men’s different features to show that anybody can be wealthy and in a bourgeoisie position no matter where in the word a person is from. We also understand that they consider themselves as being in the ”higher class” as the men were talking about what they had done for the poor and lower class.Class conflict is also seen when Bod started school where at first he wasn’t noticed but after standing up for himself as well as other kids he was noticed by the bullies Nick Farting and Maurine Quilling (Mo). Nick and Mo thought they could get what they wanted from the kids and boss them around. They thought they were better than Bod and wanted to beat him up which did not work. They even tried sending Bod to prison but instead they got in trouble. There is a reverse in the role between Bod, Nick and Mo where Bod started to bully Nick and Mo using the powers the graveyard gave him. This showed that there can be a change in the class of persons where the person that was considered lower can reverse the role and become the higher one.Multiple instances of class conflict are seen in “The Graveyard Book”. In the book you see that class cannot only be due to riches but also due to age and where the ghosts are buried in the graveyard. This tells us that in the world class does not only refer to the rich and the poor but maybe due to many reasons. It is concluded that class conflict is seen everywhere in a society and has influence the way a person thinks and even in novels. The book ends with Bod having to leave the graveyard and all the people he knew because he was getting too old and it was time to find himself and where in the real world he belongs and also the graveyard that gave him his powers now started to take it back.
WORK CITED
Lisman, C. David. Journal of Aesthetic Education Vol. 22. No. 2. Published by the University of Illinois Press. JSTOR. Web. November 29,2009.
Louch, A. R. New literary History. Vol 8,No1. John Hopkins University Press. JSTOR . Web. November 20, 2009.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_theory>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Gaiman#Bibliography>
Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard book. HarperCollins Publishers. 2008

extra credit

In the movie Spirited Away by Hayao Mayazaki the major characters are Chihiro also called Sen, a young girl who gets lost along with her parents, Haku, Yubaba, Zeniba, Bandai-gaeru, Chichiyaku, Kawa-Kami, Rin and Aniyaku. The plot of the movie is about a young girl and her parents who while moving find themselves stuck in a strange world with Gods, and withches and ghosts and monsters and the humans who enter the world turns into animals and put to work in the bath house where the Gods and monsters.Her parents turns in pigs and to save them Chihiro tries takes a job at the bath house. Alone the way the Chihiro makes friend who help along the way epecially her best friend and the person she loves Hoku who works for Yubaba who is the head of the bath house.
This film fits into the course perfectly as its about the supernatural and this whole course has been aim at the supernatural about witches, ghosts, magical powers, monsters and gods.