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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. Whose body does Shadow find in the trunk of the raffle car in Chapter 20?

2. Under what charge does Chad Mulligan arrest Shadow in Chapter 13?

3. What does Shadow do on the tree to steel himself at the beginning of Chapter 15?

4. Why does Atsula die before reaching America with her tribe?

5. In what form does the search engine appear in Chapter 12?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does the war begin in Chapter 12?

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

5. What is backstage?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Write an essay about the role of dreams in Neil Gaiman's novel. Shadow has a dream nearly every chapter. Who are the recurring figures in these dreams, and what messages do they deliver? Describe how these dreams serve to foreshadow events and drop clues for the reader? At any point, does the dream logic find its way into the waking hours of Shadow's life? How does Shadow as a character react to these dreams? Does he question their validity?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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