Neil Gaiman employs vignettes quite successfully within American Gods. His interludes, particularly those of a historical digression, provide context for the development of various gods in America, as well as their difficulty in assimilating and flourishing. Common throughout all four historical digressions are themes of sacrifice and abandonment.
The first vignette, A.D. 813, illustrates the establishment of gods in the new world. Norsemen sail to North America, calling on the All-Father to keep them safe. Once established, their bard sings of Odin around the campfire. The Norsemen then meet a native, a “scraeling… dressed in furs” with “small bones braided into his long hair” (68). They entertain and feed him before sacrificing him to their god: “…they carried him at the head of a procession to an ash tree…where they put a rope around his neck and hung him high in tribute to the All-Father…” (68). While their singing to Odin drew the Grimner’s attention, it was the sacrifice that brought him to the new land. The day after the homage, “two huge ravens landed upon the scraeling’s corpse…[and] the men knew their sacrifice had been accepted” (68-69). The blood and sacrifice strengthened Odin’s tie to the land. Though the Norsemen all die in an attack by natives, the religion, though abandoned, is not entirely forgotten. When Leif the Fortunate arrives later, his gods await him.
The second historical vignette, dated 1721, also illustrates the arrival of gods, but goes further to address their struggle to survive. Celtic beliefs arrive to North America in the back of a faithful Cornishwoman’s mind. Readers grow old with the Essie the main character, a woman banished twice from her homeland, bartering her body for second cha...
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...ents itself in this interlude. Like the others, it ties a god to the new land through sacrifice, and presents the death of god(s) as result of a lack in, or abandonment by followers.
The last vignette offers more detail concerning the origin and death of a god, than any other within American Gods. It suggests that a god is the figment of a hallucinogenic craze, or a figment of the mind. Like the other vignettes, it proposes that the sacrifice of a believer ties a god to a new land. It implies that the successful transplant of a god depends on the similarities between the old world and the new, and it insinuates that the existence of one jealous god (possibly referring to monotheism), precludes the addition of another during assimilation. Essentially, the last vignette offers a reflection on all of the previous historical digressions, as well as the main text.
Vignettes/ Case Illustrations As an intern at Eggleston Family Service, I was assigned to oversee children in foster care and their adjustment to their placement. One of my cases was unique from the others because it involved a teenage boy that was close to emancipation. He was 17 years old and eager to leave the foster care system. He told me he was tired of moving from placement to placement and wanted to be independent. The problem was that he did not have a plan for emancipation.
In “Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson”, the author writes about her time in captivity in 1682. This document is considered an autobiography, as it was a firsthand account of the author. She is trying to show the brutal tactics used by the Native Americans. They would ut...
In 476 AD, centuries of amassed knowledge in science and philosophy, literature and the arts lay in peril of destruction alongside the physical Roman Empire. Thomas Cahill's book How the Irish Saved Civilization sheds light upon the role of the Irish people in the conservation and rebirth of civilization and the Western tradition after the fall of the Roman Empire. It is here that Cahill opens his book and after a brief description of classical civilization, that we are given a look at another people, far different from the Romans and Greeks- the vibrant and intriguing Celts. How these people came in contact with the civilized world and how they assisted in pulling the West out of the Dark ages is, then, the paramount of Cahill's argument.
In “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson,” Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan mother from Lancaster, Massachusetts, recounts the invasion of her town by Indians in 1676 during “King Philip’s War,” when the Indians attempted to regain their tribal lands. She describes the period of time where she is held under captivity by the Indians, and the dire circumstances under which she lives. During these terrible weeks, Mary Rowlandson deals with the death of her youngest child, the absence of her Christian family and friends, the terrible conditions that she must survive, and her struggle to maintain her faith in God. She also learns how to cope with the Indians amongst whom she lives, which causes her attitude towards them to undergo several changes. At first, she is utterly appalled by their lifestyle and actions, but as time passes she grows dependent upon them, and by the end of her captivity, she almost admires their ability to survive the harshest times with a very minimal amount of possessions and resources. Despite her growing awe of the Indian lifestyle, her attitude towards them always maintains a view that they are the “enemy.”
Zuckerman, Michael “Pilgrims in the Wilderness: Community, Modernity, and the Maypole at Merry Mount”, The New England Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Jun., 1977), pp. 255-277. The New England Quarterly, Inc.
Mary Rowlandson was captive under King Phillips’s wife’s sister, and varying other Algonquian masters from February 20, 1676 through May 2, 1676. She recorded her narrative “as the war was slipping away from the Indians” (Calloway 93) and published it with popular acclaim. In the context of this tumultuous time, “it would be a grave mistake to ignore the clear indications that this narrative was intended primarily as a record of the author’s spiritual practices and to assume a specific existential and moral stance in the world” (Ebersole 20). Rowlandson’s intentions for the narrative no doubt “served religious and political aim...
Clements, Victoria. Introduction. A New-England Tale. By Catharine Maria Sedgwick. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God: Creative Mythology. New York: The Viking Press, Inc., 1968.
Westerkamp, Marilyn. Triumph of the Laity: Scots-Irish Piety and the Great Awakening, 1625-1760. New York: Oxford UP, 1988.
The ancient mythology of Ireland is one of its’ greatest assets. The glorious, poetic tales of battles, super humans, demigods and heroes ranks among the best of ancient literature. The book of the Dun Cow, (Lebor na huidre), was written around 1100 and contains stories from the eighth and ninth centuries. The Book of Invasions, (Lebor Gabala), tells how the mythical ancestors of the Irish, the God-like Tuatha Dé Danann, wrestled Ireland (or Erin) from misshapen Fir Bolg in fantastic battles. The Fir Bolg were traditionally linked to Gaul and Britain so the analogy between them and the invading English was complete.
Since the first storytellers, religion has played an important part in developing both character and plot. From Ancient Greece to Egypt to Judaism to Christianity, the basic stories of human origins have stood the test of time. Classic books such as The Great Gatsby, The Stranger, and Lord of the Flies are full of religious parallels and imagery. Conceptually, main characters of each work--Gatsby, The Stranger’s Meursault, and Lord of the Flies’ schoolboys attempt to be Christ-like figures, but whose demise is ironically brought about by their own sins.
Kelso, D. H. (2005, May 18). Williams Bradford. Retrieved February 28, 2011, from Pilgrim Hall Museum - Americac's Museum of Pilgrim Possessions: www.pilgrimhall.org/bradfordwilliam.htm
Because of their Puritanical beliefs, it is no surprise that the major theme that runs throughout Mary Rowlandson and Jonathan Edwards’s writings is religion. This aspect of religion is apparent in not only the constant mentions about God himself, but also in the heavy use of biblical scriptures. In their respective writings, Rowlandson and Edwards utilize scripture, but for different purposes; one uses it to convey that good and bad events happen solely because of God’s will, and the other uses it, in one instance, to illustrate how it brought him closer to God, and, in another instance, to justify his harsh claims about God’s powerful wrath.
The Vikings have garnered attention over the years not only for their raiding and trading, but also for the Paganist gods and religion. Similar to many other ancient civilizations, the Vikings leave behind many myths containing tales of their gods and their beliefs. Marvel’s 2011 film Thor serves as an introduction to Norse gods and mythology, but it does fall flat in term of accuracy and detail in certain areas. Despite various large and small-scale changes to its overall plot and characters, Thor has been well-adapted to portray Norse myths as best as possible within an existing Marvel franchise.
Criticism. The. New York: Norton, 1975. Fox, Robert C. "The Allegory of Sin and Death in Paradise Lost." Modern Language Quarterly 24 (1963): 354-64. ---.