The Theme Of Shadow In Neil Gaiman's American Gods

Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is in a modern society, but with a twist. The twist is that there are a bunch of Old and New Gods, which all range from Norse to Egyptian ones to just plain old made up ones, like “Mr. World” and “Media” and “T.V Lady.” The main argument here is to believe and discovering oneself. To show this theme throughout the story, the main character Shadow his constantly visited by the buffalo-man in his dreams, that give him advice throughout his travels. The one thing that sticks out most to Shadow is the piece of advice that he tells him is to “Believe”. Shadow is constantly met with Old Gods who give him valuable lessons in life as well as helping him in his journey to stop the coming war between Old and New Gods. Although there are some hints of magic within this piece, they are brushed off to the side by Gaiman as dream-like moments from Shadow. Shadow starts off normal getting out of a prison, but then is suddenly thrown into a fantasy-like scenario. Overall, Gaiman is showing a connection between his readers and the world he creates in his novel.

Some common elements and subjects is the made up factor

She loses her marriage prospects when her boyfriend falsely claims to have deflowered her before marriage. Leesha's reputation is ruined and she becomes an apprentice to the village gatherer, a sort of medicine woman with knowledge of herbs and potions. She uses this knowledge of herbs and potions to fight off demons. On the other hand Rojer's house wards fail when he was a small boy. His family is killed by demons, but he escapes with a traveling jongleur a kind of bard who entertains villages with songs and tricks. Rojer becomes the jongleur’s apprentice and becomes a master fiddle player. He can control the demons with his fiddle playing skills, which help calm the demons down and control them. The three of them finally meet paths and set out to be humanity’s hope against the