The Ghouls Character Analysis in The Graveyard Book

Bod meets a group of three ghouls when he falls asleep on their ghoul-gate. Ghouls look like shrunken, leathery people, but they bound and climb more like rats. All ghouls are named after famous historical figures and so have names like The Emperor of China and The Famous Writer Victor Hugo. Bod’s original captors are the Duke of Westminster, The Honorable Archibald Fitzhugh, and The Bishop of Bath and Wells. Ghouls are scavengers and live lives of debauchery and pleasure in the city of Ghûlheim, a terrifying city in Hell. They insist to Bod that being a ghoul is preferable to being human. Despite the ghouls’ physical strength and belief in their superiority, they’re not very smart and are actually terrified of anything that might hurt or kill them.

The Ghouls Character Timeline in The Graveyard Book

The timeline below shows where the character The Ghouls appears in The Graveyard Book. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Community, Identity, and Coming of Age Theme Icon

...a six-year-old boy knows everything. She asks him to tell her why he should avoid ghouls and to list the “different kinds of people.” Bod can do neither. Miss Lupescu accuses... (full context)

...it’s water stained and covered in fungus. Bod sits down and falls asleep. Meanwhile, three ghouls race toward the graveyard from the village. They scuttle like rats. At the edge of... (full context)

Bod asks to accompany the ghouls to wherever they’re going, especially once they mention that the food is amazing there. The... (full context)

...explains to the newcomers that Bod is going to become one of them, and the ghouls explain what that means. Bod will have strong teeth, a tongue capable of flaying flesh,... (full context)

The ghouls lift Bod and still tossing him between them, lope toward the city. Bod feels stupid... (full context)

Bod falls asleep for several hours. When he wakes up, the ghouls are arguing: several of the ghouls in their group have disappeared without a trace. The... (full context)

While the ghouls race up the rocks, Bod finds a screw inside the bag he’s trapped in and... (full context)