Using Secrecy to Breed Curiosity

Bagheera the black panther can be equated to Silas in The Graveyard Book due to similarities in personality and respective abilities. Both figures are primarily teachers and protectors of the protagonist in each story, but each adopts a different style of education. Both Silas and Bagheera have considerable clout within their communities due to their respective physical abilities and accumulated reputations. Silas is known as one who can transcend the world of the living and the dead, just as Bagheera straddles the Pack and the Jungle. The defining factor between these two teachers is their use of secrets to educate their pupils; Silas prefers secrecy, while Bagheera remains rather open to prolonged discussion. In either situation, each teacher realizes that they must give their pupil’s the opportunity to experience the world independently if they are to fully develop into adult human beings.

In the story “Mowgli’s Brothers”, Bagheera is described as someone that everyone knows, and no one dares cross his path (Jungle Book 30).  Additionally, it is shown that Bagheera has “eyes and ears everywhere,” granting him access to happenings outside of the protagonist’s immediate sphere of concern (Jungle Book 36). Bagheera has the foresight to warn Mowgli of the danger that lurks in the Jungle in the form of Shere Kahn, and he works to prepare Mowgli for his eventual confrontation with that danger. Bagheera even goes so far as to sacrifice himself physically in an effort to protect Mowgli from the Bandar-Log, and uses the moment as a teaching opportunity to show his pupil the consequences of poor choices (Jungle Book 94). Mowgli sees that his choice to follow the monkeys resulted in the injury of his loved ones, and it spurred him to change his behavior.

Silas mirrors these principles of guardianship in The Graveyard Book when he teaches Bod about the Graveyard and the world of the living. Silas also has access to the world beyond Bod’s reach, just as Bagheera does in The Jungle Book. This is significant because Silas chooses to keep a great many secrets from Bod, in contrast with Bagheera’s decision to share most information with his pupil Mowgli. Throughout Bod’s development in the Graveyard he is left searching for clues to the identity of the things that wish to harm him, because Silas chooses not to fill him in on the details of the danger at hand. This is in stark contrast to Bagheera’s choice to tell tales of Shere Kahn and speak about him openly to Mowgli, as the reader sees in the story “Kaa’s Hunting”. Silas continues to deliberately keep secrets from Bod throughout the story, and simply discontinues conversation when Bod asks about the identity of his hunters (Graveyard Book 210). In the end, both pupils are successful in conquering their respective threats, largely due to the teachings of their guardians, and the secrets shared or kept from them in their lessons. Mowgli uses his knowledge of Shere Khan’s lameness to defeat him (Jungle Book 121), but this victory is largely dependent on Mowgli’s knowledge of the surrounding landscape, just as Bod’s success comes from his familiarity with the Graveyard (Graveyard Book 285). Even though both students learn a great deal from their guardians, it is the knowledge they gain from their independent experiences that allows them to overcome obstacles in their lives.