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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. From what period is the Lakeside book of minutes that Shadow purchases in Chapter 11?

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

3. Who kills the technology god?

4. What city is Shadow going to at the end of Chapter 19?

5. What bad news about herself does Laura tell Shadow in Chapter 15?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. What is backstage?

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

Part of Neil Gaiman's agenda in writing AMERICAN GODS is to illustrate how the traditions of today's popular religions have their roots in the ancient pagan faiths. He does this by craftily presenting these similarities baldly but without author's commentary. Write an essay about two of these examples:

Part 1) Early in the novel, Gaiman tells the story of Vikings who came to America. What traditional story of Odin do they bring with them? What iconography is so central that they reenact it in celebration of the god? To what Christian iconography is this similar? In what way does this create a comparison between Odin and Jesus Christ?

Part 2) Midway through AMERICAN GODS, Shadow and Wednesday go to San Francisco to speak with the goddess Easter. What connection does she draw between her divine traditions and the Christian celebration named for her? How are the two connected? What argument does Wednesday make to Easter regarding her presence in the Christian holiday?

Essay Topic 3

The mythos created by Neil Gaiman includes a backstage world, one that exists concurrent with our own. Write an essay about his world, examining its connection to humanity. How does it appear in relation our mortal existence? How do the old gods look in this backstage world? What about human beings? How are they affected by this backstage world? Is the backstage connected in any way with the afterlife?

(see the answer keys)

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