Neil Gaiman's American Gods

Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is a fantasy story that combines a post-modern and mythical culture to show the power of the human mind. Different desires, questions, and superstitions led to masses creating their old gods. The same human needs are still entrenched in human consciousness, which leads to the creation of modern gods such as technology. Gaiman rebuilds and retells the story of traditional myths that were created to satisfy the human need, to create things deemed bigger than themselves. American Gods presents the theory that mythology is not as a result of a simple belief system downgraded to artless cultures but a creation of the human mind. Through these creations, Gaiman presents the need for mythology and beliefs as means to create different personalities and worlds. In the article “The road to our senses: Neil Gaiman’s American Gods,” Rut Blomqvist discusses the different cultures and Shadow’s personal view of the cultures as represented in Gaiman. According to the author, Gaiman allows the characters to have a mythical experience represented in uncertain dualistic pairs. However, despite being faced with the different types of mythical cultures, Shadow Moon chooses his own path and fails

Authors of both articles agree that the human imagination is an important aspect of the creation process. According to the articles the modern world as we see it, is a result of the needs that individuals have and see the need to fulfill them. Slabbert and Viljoen use shamanic properties to show the connection between Shadow and the different mythical cultures. Blomqvist, on the other hand, concentrates more on the different contemporary perspectives of modern cultures and the limitations that it brings. The two different views combine to show the power of the human beliefs in the creation of myths about their