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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. Why is Agasu's arm cut off?

2. Which seemingly mortal individual turns out to be a god in Chapter 14?

3. What news does Marguerite Olson bring to Shadow when he returns to Lakeside in Chapter 12?

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

5. Before leaving Mr. Nancy, Shadow remembers that Ganesha told him to do what?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What is backstage?

4. What divine message does Shadow recall in Chapter 19?

5. How does Laura Moon kill Mr. World in Chapter 18?

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

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

8. Why does Easter not want to join Wednesday's campaign, and how does he convince he to?

9. What betrayal occurs in the ranks of the new gods at the end of Chapter 17?

10. What major plot development does Shadow witness from his jail television in Chapter 13?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

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

Neil Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS posits a world in which the gods of all cultures that have crossed the pond to America live among us and with knowledge of each other. Simultaneously, these gods are in competition with new gods comprised of secular aspects of daily life that we as a culture worship. Write an essay laying out the rules by which these gods live. From what do they draw their power? How do they carry on their divine work in the modern era? What do they fear? What do they yearn for? How, in the end, can a god be killed?

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