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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what resident of Lakeside is Sam Black Crow related?

2. What is Laura certain of as she sits next to the dead Shadow in Chapter 17?

3. What god do Wednesday and Shadow meet in San Francisco?

4. What woman visits Shadow on the tree on the second day of the vigil?

5. In what southern state is Rock City located?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Shadow's interaction with Zorya Polunochnyaya in Chapter 16?

2. What does Shadow experience on the tree on the second day of the vigil?

3. How does Shadow Moon interact with the camp of the new gods in Chapter 14?

4. What is Loki and Wednesday's plan for the battle?

5. What is backstage?

6. What connection forms between Wututu and Agasu when they are taken to America?

7. What do Mr. Nancy and Shadow do in Chapter 19?

8. What transformation does Laura Moon undergo in Chapter 17?

9. How do Sam Black Crow and Shadow connect in Chapter 13?

10. How does the war begin in Chapter 12?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

AMERICAN GODS represents a fusion of ancient gravitas - the gods - and modern day kitsch - their place in America. Write an essay about the marriage of these two disparate existences: the divine and the modern. To do this, choose three locations in the novel that have both cultural significance in America and divine significance in Gaiman's mythos. What is this significance? How do the characters find themselves in these places, and what divine realities do they uncover there? How does this typify the marriage of divine and kitsch?

Essay Topic 2

Laura Moon is perhaps the strangest and most ambiguous of characters in AMERICAN GODS. The reader is introduced to her as an adulteress and a corpse. Write an essay about her as a character. What reason does she give for her infidelity? How does death affect the way that she interacts with the living, particularly Shadow? At what point in the novel does Laura decide to take action to help Shadow? How does this affect the reader's attitude toward her?

Essay Topic 3

Coins play an important role in the novel. They are more than merely metal indicators of monetary value: they are powerful symbols. Write an essay about coins as a symbol in the novel, focusing on their value to three characters. What function do they serve beyond their monetary significance? Do they offer strength? Protection? Some other strange power? What happens when they are given or lost?

Part 1) Shadow Moon

Part 2) Mad Sweeney

Part 3) Zorya Polunochnyaya

(see the answer keys)

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