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The Myth Of The American Gods

Decent Essays

Some may ask, what is a myth. To the common person, a myth is a work of “fiction”: an untrue story made obsolete by modern society. A myth is a story that cannot be taken literally. For the sake of making the definition clear, a myth is a story; it is a narrative; it is what helps people make sense of a complicated world through different perspectives and experiences. Sometimes, these stories have lessons that people can interpret from the events of them. Gaiman certainly has written a myth: the myth of the “American Gods.” He has used past myths, those from ancient civilizations, to create a world full of gods. He has created a myth about what America is within the narrative of those gods. He has even modeled how religion plays out in this mythological America. Gaiman’s narrative introduces a somewhat complex system of characters; he has created a world in which the gods (not omniscient-creator gods) live among the people and cohabitate with them. The common person cannot tell a god apart from them; they can sense something different about them, as Laura and Sam both sense something different about Shadow from them. Laura, after she dies, claims that “Shadow may not be dead, but he most certainly is not alive” (Pg#). This shows that the gods are not explicitly known to be living among mortals, but mortals can sense something strange about them. Gaiman also creates a “myth” about the popular gods who have taken the place of the modern gods. These include the gods of Media

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