View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. In Chapter 12, what does Wednesday call the realm behind the normal world where the gods can be seen in their true form?

2. Why is Agasu's arm cut off?

3. Which of the following characters does not die at the end of Chapter 18?

4. Where does Shadow drive Mr. Nancy at the beginning of Chapter 19?

5. Which god negotiates the return of Wednesday's body in Chapter 14?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What is backstage?

4. How does Czernobog take his prize from Shadow in Chapter 20?

5. Why have children been disappearing for years in Lakewood?

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

7. How does the war begin in Chapter 12?

8. How does Shadow's journey in Chapter 16 end?

9. What does Shadow experience on the tree on the first day of the vigil?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

AMERICAN GODS is riddled with references to tricks and scams. These tricks - from grifts, to coin illusions, to an essential scam at the heart of the plot - reflect the untrustworthy nature of the old world gods. Write an essay about these scams, in three parts:

Part 1) Wednesday is a man of illusions and scams; he represents untruth. Write a paragraph about his various schemes, citing specific examples. Why does he scam others? What does he gain over the course of the novel? How does this connect with his true persona of Odin?

Part 2) What is the essential scam of AMERICAN GODS? What is the purpose of all the hardship and killing? Write a paragraph about the truth behind the lies spun in the name of a great battle. Contrast this truth with the reasons the more honest characters have chosen to fight.

Part 3) Write a summation paragraph dealing with the notion of the trickster god. Which trickster gods are represented in the novel, and who do they trick? To what extent are the the new gods less devious than the old ones?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,144 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample