American Gods show how Gods who were once all high and mighty reduced to commoners. They suffer mentally, physically, emotionally, even economically. Every God, deity or legend that came to or created in America. They are reduced to common life and work just their worshippers. Without the faith and the worship of their worshippers, who will they survive? Reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman was a very entertaining read. It talks about a man named Shadow moon whose wife dies while he was in prison. Though he was released early it doesn’t cover that fact that he has no one to go home to. This leads him to Mr. Wednesday AKA Odin who leads him in to the world of Gods and Deities. Only to see that they are no more human than the rest of us. Only
that some may still have some tricks still up their sleeves. Let’s start with one of their…I mean our struggles to survive in America. Money. Why would a God need money if he has people worshipping them hand and foot? Oh wait? There are no many worshippers so they have to get jobs just to live somewhat of a normal life. The God I want to talk about is named bilquis. Men would sacrifice themselves to her so that she can feed upon their praise…. In a manner of speaking. She was an ancient goddess of love, reduced to a play toy for lust for quick cash. But if she is lucky some poor fool will praise her and she can get her sacrifices to sustain her for a while. We can also assume that her living condition are not up to her standards as well. Probably slumming it up in that hotel she consumes her victims in. we can also guess that without proper sacrifice she might get old or worse diseased from all the men she sleeps with. This could be emotionally damaging even for a god. So that’s just one god with all the baggage of the human world. Who else is working 9 to 5 to make ends meet. Let talk about Czernobog the Slavic God which in literal translation means the Black God. Because his hair is black. Once a great warrior from where he is from reduced to a retired cow slaughterer. He was responsible for knocking out the cows with his sledge hammer. Now is living off a pension from his work living with 3 sisters, the Utrennyaya sisters. And by reading the text you can see that he is all talk and no bite. He even tried to talk all tough to Shadow before they were about to play a game of checkers. “If I win, I get to knock your brains out. With the sledgehammer. First you go down on your knees. Then I hot you a blow with it, so you don’t get up again” (Gaiman, 2017). Obviously reading that makes it seem as though it’s just an old man baring his chest. Which is a sad thing to see from such a once strong and powerful god, now with grays and wrinkles in his face and hair. Now let’s talk about two other gods who seem to find the perfect job that first right into society. Mr Ibis AKA Thoth the god of wisdom also known as the inventor of writing and Mr Jacquel Also known as Anubis. They both are a part of a family funeral parlor in Cairo Il. Which I found interesting they live in a place they were worshipped. But they seemed to be the most comfortable with their profession. You don’t read much complaining. But you would read about how Mr jacquel miss the old days, “ Back in my day, we had it all set up. You line up when you die, and you answer for your evil deeds and for your good deeds, and if your evil deeds outweighed a feather, we'd feed your soul and your heart to Ammet, the Eater of Souls” (Gaiman 2017). So in a way it more on the side of emotional longing. Treating death as it used to be. Judging you and sending you where you belong. I guess you can say they both miss the good old days. “In my own vision of myself, I am a scholar who lives quietly, and pens his little tales, and dreams about a past that may or may not ever have existed. (Gaiman 2017). So they are good financially but deep down nothing beats the feeling of being a proud and revered god who had the final judgement in your end. According to Mark Hill “Gaiman closely examines American characters and ideology through his use of Gods appropriated from other culture recast in Americanized mold” (Hill, 2005). When you think of a god you don’t think of a love god as a prostitute, a retired meat packer as a sledgehammer warrior, or the god of the dead and the god of wisdom working at a funeral home. Because their GODS! Without the worship and the praise of their beloved worshipers they are no different than us. They become us.
made him anathema and out of the curse of his exile there sprang ogres and elves and evil phantoms...”
He starts to believe that what is happening to him is not what the “real” God would do. He starts to question why God is letting these terrible events happen to him, and even starts to question if God is even real. “For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent.
I like the way the author, Rick Riordan, made mythology come to life in “The Blood of Olympus”. The book brings an interesting spin on Greek and Roman mythology. Besides the mythology, I really like the character Percy, who used to be the main character in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I also personally enjoyed how well written the book was. Altogether, I liked the mythology, Percy, and the well written story that the author Rick has created.
The myths which prove the contradictory behavior of the gods, acting as both benefactors and tormentors of man, can readily be explained when viewed in light of the prime directive for man, to worship the gods and not “overstep,” and the ensuing “Deus ex Mahina” which served to coerce man to fulfill his destiny as evidenced by the myths: “Pandora,” “Arachne, and “Odysseus.” Humankind and it’s range of vision over the gods beauty and power portrayed them to be benefactors but unseemingly it depicted their affliction towards humans.
Clearly, he sees the evils that he has suffered as part of a larger plan; furthermore, he attributes good fortune and punishment to the work of God and in my opinion, he sees God using him for a much greater purpose.
How did people revere their gods differently among three civilizations? Did they worship with the same general intent? What were gods’ role(s) in people’s lives? A brief exploration into the religions of Egypt, Greece, and the Hebrew people may bring insight to these questions. Although the main idea of higher beings remains constant throughout societies’ religion, their form of presence in people’s lives varies. I will present the relationship between the leaders and the gods, as well as resemblance to monotheism and systems of government.
At first glance, it seems that the abhorrent destiny of the main character is at the mercy of mischievous and cruel gods.
Allen Moore’s sordid depiction of twentieth century life presents a complex world, where the distinction between a virtuous hero and a villainous wrongdoer is often blurred. In stark contrast to the traditionally popularized portrayal of superheroes, whose unquestionably altruistic motives ultimately produce unrealistically idealized results; the realistically flawed characters of Watchmen exist in a multi faceted world characterized by moral ambiguity. America’s imperialistic ambitions have long been justified as an expression of American idealism. Much like the portrayal of superheroes in popular culture, America’s intervention in foreign affairs was portrayed as the result of a clearly defined problem, where American intervention was necessary and consensual. The Watchmen exist in an American reality that does not depend on them as the archetypal hero as demonstrated by the fact that their presence is not necessary to the survival of the world. Collectively the characters of Watchmen parallel the tumultuous relationship that as a superpower the United States of America has with the rest of the world.
...fighting his feelings about not seeing Jesus. He feels that he is lying to God and himself by getting up and being saved even though he cannot see Jesus. Even though the reader knows that he truly is being saved from sin. He is doing something good for himself. Therefore, we can see that he truly does not understand the meaning of God. He is a child on the verge of adulthood. He has every right to be confused and misinterpret religion because he is learning. Religion is metaphorical and imaginative; it is what you believe it to be.
Throughout Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, gods are presented as remarkably human in almost every way. While it is assumed that gods are divine entities incapable of human transgression, they are portrayed with all the flaws of mortals in The Iliad. The gods are a manifestation of human emotions consequently helping to explain the behavior of the humans in The Iliad. The actions of the heroes are what determine their fate, not divine intervention. Ultimately, the humans in The Iliad have inherent characteristics that provide the driving force behind their actions: the gods simply act in concert with them, allowing the human beings to exercise free will of
The novel Good Omens is a satirical rendition of Armageddon in almost all aspects. The story begins with the coming of the Antichrist, brought into the world as a human infant though it is anything but. An angel and a demon, Aziraphale and Crowley respectively, and rather good friends considering their rather checkered past, have teamed up to ensure that The End is, in the very least, late. They take roles in molding the child to see both the sides of good and evil, trying to make it so that the boy will not be able to choose a side wholeheartedly when the time comes. However, when the boy is supposedly meant to start showing his powers, they realize that all their hard work had been wasted, and that this boy was an entirely normal human child. The genuine son of Satan was, in actuality, Adam Young, and was misplaced at birth into the care of two very normal parents in a very normal little hamlet in South East England. Adam grows up “not [as an] Evil Incarnate or Good Incarnate… [but] a human incarnate” (366). He is as human and innocent as an eleven year old can be; still finding himself and his three best friends provoking terror and irritation amongst their more elderly or respectable neighbours, though that is more excused as a preadolescent quirk rather than wicked. Wicked happens to be what Newton Pulsifer, a relatively newly dubbed Witchfinder Detective of Witchfinder Sargent Shadwell’s Witchfinder army, is looking for. He is given the task to search through newspapers and anything of the sort to find evidence of anything remotely witchy, which happens to be precisely what Anathema Device, actual self-proclaimed witch and descendant of the most accurate and useless psychic in history, can be found doing. Admittedly, she is ...
...he can no longer live in the natural world, he must live among the gods.
We have seen how America and Ancient Rome are similar. The first similarity lies in society. The deterioration of art, of entertainment, and the prevalence of crime are the first three parallels. The second similarity is in the government. Governmental corruption is at least as prevalent today as it was during the decline of Ancient Rome.When examining the various parallels, the two nations seem nearly identical. However, the great difference lies in America’s foundation in God, and it is the difference that could very well be America’s saving grace.
http://www.pentheon.com/articles/o/odin.html 1 page, accessed April 7, 2004. Created on March 3 1997, Modified Feb. 12, 2004. Encyclopedia Mythica 1995-2004
...he may have done something wrong in his relationship with Maud, and he too is being punished as Adam was in the bible.