Literary Criticism of American Gods

  The novel, American Gods, written by Gaiman and published in 2001, has met with some good criticism, claiming that the novel inspired faith in one's self in a modern society where people are overwhelmed with self doubt, and yet surrounded by a world of opportunity. In the article "Sustaining the Imaginative Life: Mythology and Fantasy in Neil Gaiman's American Gods", written by Mathilda Slabbert and Leonie Viljoen who are from the department of English at the Universities of Stellenbosch and South Africa respectively, the novel American Gods is discussed and the main thesis is that mythology is the foundation for artistic expression in poetry and literature, which lies in a world where people's connection to faith and belief is a gap that's vast and ever-growing. They use the protagonist Shadow as an example of mythology being the foundation of Neil Gaiman's novel, because he is like man becoming a shaman throughout the plot. They support this by showing from the book that Odin initiates him in the old shamanic traditions by him flying in an airplane through lightning strikes, and him drinking mead in a bar with odin, being able to perform magic by making it snow, him being isolated in a small town, and being a piece maker between the old gods and the new gods. The novel also inspires the notion of belief, as Odin tells Shadow that he must believe in order to survive. It is through Neil Gaiman's intertwining of belief, mythology, and fantasy that he presents a novel that inspires in us a belief that we can get passed the plight of self doubt, while living in a society with the means of accomplishing anything.