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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. Who do Mr. Town and Mr. Road interrogate about Shadow in Chapter 9?

2. Who does Shadow dream about when he goes to sleep at the very end of Chapter 9?

3. What advice does Johnnie Larch give Shadow before the latter leaves prison?

4. Where is Shadow when he wakes up after his night of drinking with Wednesday?

5. What weather change does Shadow create in this chapter with his thoughts?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to the Vikings in America at the end of Chapter 3?

2. What is Shadow Moon's role in Wednesday's scam?

3. Describe Shadow Moon's dream in Chapter 3.

4. Who are Mr. Ibis and Mr. Jacquel?

5. How does Essie Tregowen make her way to America in Chapter 4?

6. What is the full story surrounding Laura Moon's death?

7. How does Shadow deal with the approach of police on the scam in Chapter 5?

8. Describe Mr. Wednesday.

9. What new threat does Wednesday discuss with the old gods in Chapter 6?

10. How were the dead judged in ancient Egypt?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In many respects, the main character of Neil Gaiman's novel is America. In his understanding, the "melting pot" is a profoundly spiritual place because it has embraced so many different spirits. Write an essay on the topic of the novel as a treatise celebrating America's spiritual past. What faiths does the narrative encompass? What value does it assign each? Is one more important than the others? Do you think that Gaiman, a Brit, presents a largely positive or negative picture of America in AMERICAN GODS? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

The belief systems that Neil Gaiman dramatically explores over the course of his novel existed before the sexual was painted as sinful. As such, many of the modern interactions with gods are of a distinctly sexual nature. Write an essay about sex as a divine act in American Gods, focusing on three instances. Part 1) Bilquis is introduced to the reader as a prostitute in Los Angeles. What odd occurrence happens when she picks up a john in this early passage? What does this occurrence say about the nature of sexuality in that belief system? Should it be feared? Is it a passage to complete immersion into the divine?

Part 2) What is the role of the sexual in the passage involving the jinn? How does his encounter with Slim the salesman end in a religious experience? Do you as a reader consider this experience to be essentially positive or negative? How does sexuality bond this spirit and this man completely and in a transformative way?

Part 3) Describe the one distinctly sexual dream that Shadow has over the course of the novel. Who does it involve? How does Shadow decide to make love to this individual? What occurs in Shadow's waking life that intimates to him that this was more than a mere dream?

Essay Topic 3

In AMERICAN GODS, death is not necessarily an end. Because the plot deals in the eternal and the divine, characters die and then return to life for various reasons. Write an essay about death in AMERICAN GODS, focusing on three characters who pass back and forth between life and death. How does each character die? Does he or she choose death? If so, why? What brings each character back from death, and are they changed in some way?

Part 1) Laura Moon

Part 2) Wednesday

Part 3) Shadow Moon

(see the answer keys)

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