Analysis Of Neil Gaiman's American Gods

Neil Gaiman in his book American Gods shows the old gods in many different versions of the gods than they were intended by those who created and originally believed in them. They are not the same as they once were, changed to either fit the new American culture better, or to fit the plot of the story to follow what Gaiman believes his story should be. The new gods, are not exactly changed, per se. Just ideas and idols embodied as gods. They are idols at least in the evangelical Christian faith, a staple faith in the American culture, since they are treated as gods in modern peoples lives, taking the place of the one true god. While the God and the creatures associated with the Evangelical Christian faith (angels, demon, God, the devil,

and so on.) People spend their time on their computers, not worshiping God. It is wrongly disproportionate. The old gods in the book are in America because of the immigrants who came to the new world seeking freedom, refuge, et cetera.

When they arrived, they brought their beliefs with them, and with that, their gods. The old gods are changed in very different ways, changes for example, in their names, character, and so on. Such as Mr. Wednesday, he is now known as Mr. Wednesday. When he was first created by the Norse people he was the king of the gods, the all-father, Odin, was the most well known of the over 170 names associated with him, from mercury to wōđanaz to even Óðinsdagr. The god in Norse mythology of a multitude of things: knowledge, sorcery, death, royalty, runic alphabet, healing, battle, poetry, frenzy, and the gallows. He was first derived from the roman god, mercury, in the 1st century. He then became widely accepted as a god among much of Europe, though he takes a much higher role in the Norse texts. A great majority of texts mentioning Odin, were Norse and from around the 13th century. Just as Odin was in the old European religions, Mr. Wednesday takes an particularly crucial role in American Gods, the role of the ringleader. He is preoccupied with gathering and joining the old gods into an army to finish the war that has begun with the new gods

of the modern world. In America he also, becomes a con artist which becomes readily apparent when it is exposed that he had been conspiring with his son, Loki, known in the beginning of the book as Shadows cell mate, Low Key Lyesmith. He also shows up as Mr. World, of the new gods. Shadow later finds out that Loki and his father had orchestrated his entire life, all the way from birth, including him meeting his wife, and giving him Herodotus while posing as his cell mate to plant ideas of in his mind.

He is a trickster in old mythology and hasn’t changed from that role in this book. As the leader of the new gods, and also in cahoots with Mr. Wednesday the leader of the old gods in their two-man plan to con everyone involved in the story. Whereas the new gods are simply the embodiment of idols in peoples lives who have come to life as gods, or are passing themselves off as new gods like, in the case of Loki. The first character we meet is the new god of computers, The Technical Boy, when he abducts Shadow in the attempt to send a message along to Mr. Wednesday. He is in the book to show how American culture has turned to computers in recent years, and now depend upon them quite heavily, hence his rise to power among the new gods. He is incredibly young compared to the old gods, and still considerably younger than most of the new gods as well. The Technical Boy his appearance is important in showing that though he is so powerful, he is still young. He appears in the body of a teen, even still battling acne as a young person would, he also embodies many of the stereotypes of a person very dependent on technology, a overweight, acne-faced kid, dressed in nerdy clothes,

with a conceited personality.