Section 485 – End

This section started with Shadow driving with Mr. Nancy to Florida to what I believe was just dropping Mr. Nancy back home. But before Shadow leaves they go out to get drinks and both end up singing along with songs. Then because Shadow is drunk he stays with Nancy for the night but he ends up having a dream about a buffalo man.

In the morning he talking with Nancy about how Shadow missed Wednesday even though he put Shadow through so much. He even asks Nancy if he though Wednesday would come back but I don’t think Wednesday will ever come back. They then talk about Czernobog and how Shadow will some how meet up with him and their deal will be fulfilled. Shadow then says “… it’s in the truck. I knew it was important but I didn’t know why” (Page 490). Then he up and leaves because the “the ice is melting.”

He is then back in Lakeside on the bridge over the lake looking out at the car on the melting ice. Nobody else was out there when he went out into the ice to the car. He tried to break the glass on the driver door because the car was locked but it didn’t work so he used the antenna on the car to unlock it. But he already knew he was right because of the foul smell coming from the trunk. Once Shadow got the trunk open he found a girl with have melted ice around her. This girl was a dead Alison McGovern which I don’t know if I had mentioned before but the girl had been missing for a while.

Then he fell into the water as the ice broke around them (March 23rd at 9:10 am). Shadow thought he was going to die like all the children in all the other cars in the lake but Hinzelmann saves him.

Shadow gets all warmed up at Hinzelmann’s house and finds about that he is also a god but his price for keeping Lakeside safe was killing a child each year so that’s why so many children have gone missing. As Hinzelmann continues explaining things Chad Mulligan overhears basically everything. He then ends up shooting Hinzelmann in self-defense and burns Hinzelmann’s house down obviously Shadow and him aren’t in the building.

Shadow ends up erasing the memory form Mulligan’s mind (I think?) But after that he tells Mulligan to go be with Marguerite. Which I think is very sweet and I hope they ended up with a happy ending.

Then Shadow goes to see Czernobog. Which ends up with him getting hit over the head like he was promised but Shadow survives and walks out.

Some final thoughts on the book were that it was actually pretty good though it got confusing here and there. I still pretty happy that I was right about Wednesday being Shadow’s father. Oh! But with being done with the book I looked up who Shadow’s Mom was and it the Moon Goddess? But I guess it makes sense why Shadow is named Shadow and how she had him with Wednesday. Also Shadow’s last name is moon, I never knew that until now.

Section 408-485

OMG!! The fact that I was right about Wednesday being Shadow’s father is crazy like well not as crazy but still crazy. Sorry but I was really excited about that. Anyways.

This section started off with Shadow still being tied to the tree and from what it seemed he could have been the one chanting “It’s easy, there’s a trick to it, you do it or you die” (Gaiman 409). Because it said that it only stopped with his mouth was dry but I don’t really know. But through the whole first chapter its the days that Shadow is slowly dying because he doesn’t have anything to eat or drink or keep him safe because he is tied to the tree. Though Laura does show up twice or technically one because the first time it was just Shadow’s imagination but when she does finally show up she wants water so Shadow tells her to go to the farm house. After that Shadow dies…

He ends up in a random place going down steps and sees Zorya Polunochnaya, the midnight sister. He hands her the coin she had given him in the beginnging and it then turned into a moon in the sky.

In front of him are two path, he picks the one with hard truths and pays the price of his name to go down it. The path starts by showing him his past and the reason he was in prison at the start. Shadow had beat up two guys and then stole money from the crash register but they couldn’t prove he was the one who stole the money so he was charged with assualt.

Shadow continues walking and sees his dying mother in a hospital bed when he was sixteen-years-old. He continues and travels back even farther into the past where Shadow and his mom are fighting about his dad because he wanted to know who he is but his mother said he was dead. Then he goes even farther back to a dance hall with a young verson of his mother dancing with Wednesday. Not staying long after that Shadow goes to be judged wheather his soul will be eaten or if he gets to rest. He gets to rest and goes to rest.

Laura goes to the farm house and gets water from the three women inside which the water brings her past body to her so she isn’t a rotting corpse but a fresh one. Then she gets a ride form Mr. Town. Later on she ends up kiling Town to show him what happened to his friends then she ends up delivering a stick to Mr. World for Town.

There is a whole bunch of talking with Shadow and other gods that he has met throughout the section while he is still in the nothing place but then he is revived by a goddess. Then it switches between where Laura is and where Shadow is, Laura is fighting World while Shadow is riding a thunder bird. After that bird lands in a parking lot he finds out that everything happened because Wednesday had planned it because he need his son to what I believe was to gain more power.

But at the end Shadow finally helps Laura rest by taking the coin he had given her off the necklace she wore. That coin from Mad Sweeny was keeping her alive the whole time but without it she died right away.

I feel like the main theme in this section of rebirth and still a bit of grief. Though everything in this section was pretty cool and yet still crazy. I can’t wait to see how the book ends.

Section 335-407

This section started out with just a kind of random chapter but it brought Sam BACK! OMG! I’m really happy about that. She a really cool character. Turns out she is actually related to Marguerite Olsen with is Shadow’s neighbor but she is coming to Lakeside to spend time with her sister and nephew though she did want to meet Shadow because at this point she didn’t know it was Shadow.

There is a really short chapter about Laura getting a job in Jacksonville, Florida but there is nothing to exciting about it.

Marguerite invites Shadow over for dinner which is at Six. So there is time to kill before that happens. he talks with Chad Mulligan which is the sheriff there. He talks about his second cousin who’s, husband had died not to long ago, was coming to see him or something. And its so sad that I didn’t think about this part at all because later into this chapter it surprised me. Just a random add in they call second cousins “kissing cousins”, it’s weird I know.

Wednesday calls Shadow talking about how hard it is to get all the forgotten gods rounded up for the war things he was planning. And with how hard it is he basically said he would rather die than continue doing it. Which uh to be honest kind of sad with what happens later in the section. But he does say that the people after Shadow and Wednesday called for a truce then hangs up.

Okay I know this isn’t how it would be in the book but I thought it was a cool picture. Shadow brought wine and a potted plant to dinner at Marguerites. Before they eat he teaches Marguerites son a coin trick and then he meets Sam for the second time. Obviously she is consfused why he is there but is also scared because she was questioned by the guys after Shadow because they were saying he killed to guys when he was captured a while back but his wife killed them.

Sam and Shadow then go out for a drive then go to get drinks at a bar BUT Shadow’s dead wife’s best friend is there and makes a whole scene about him faking who he is while also telling everyone that he is a killer. SHE IS ALSO CHAD’S SECOND COUSIN. Thats why she is there. Sam tries to help Shadow by calling the woman names but also by kissing him but its described as it wasn’t for Shadow but for the other people and Sam didn’t like Shadow like that anyhow. Anyways Shadow is taken to the station where he is put in holding while they wait for the higher ups to come and take him.

This is where he witnesses Wednesday’s death on the tv while the guard watching him is asleep. This is also the part where I had a huge what if moment. The “what if” was what if this is all in Shadow’s head? Like it was just a weird feeling of deja vu that I had and I questioned if it would all end how season four of the show “You” ended. I dont know it just felt really weird.

Good news though Shadow actually gets picked up by Czernobog and Mr. Nancy who are pissed off about what happened to Wednesday. Then they go all the way to the center of the United States of America which is in Smith County, Kansas to get Wednesday’s body with a whole bunch of other forgotten gods. At the end there is whole thing about Shadow getting Wednesday’s vigil I dont really know what that was about but I will figure that out soon enough.

There is still a theme of grief but there is also a bit of revenge/anger because of Wendesday’s death.

Section 258-334

This section of my book had the big theme of grief as there were many people who were feeling it but it could also be seen. But to start Shadow is back in Lakeside for a while before Wednesday comes in basically yelling at Shadow for the dream he was having saying “I know what you were dreaming. Everybody damn well knows what you were dreaming. Christ almighty. What’s the point in hiding you , if you’re going to start to f*cking advertise?” (Gaiman 269). Which I didn’t really understand why he was so mad about Shadow having a random dream but I guess with whatever powers the gods have or just Wednesday he could see/ feel the dream.

After that Wednesday took Shadow to San Francisco to meet with a few people one being a goddess but nothing really important happens and I don’t really have a comment for that part of this section.

Then there is a cool like filler chapter about slavery and how this guy sold his niece and nephew because they were twins but these kids as they were growing up were told stories about gods which they went on to remember. But the short story goes on to talk about what slavery was like for them and how their lives went on in America.

Next Shadow is driving to South Dakota to meet up with more guys with Wednesday which once again nothing really happens kept for them talking but there was a really cool part where they go to what Wednesday calls “behind the scenes” but they were skipping through time to get to the place they wanted to go.

Finally after all of that Shadow is in Lakeside again sadly the girl is still missing but time still goes on. At one point Shadow’s dead wife shows up once again and they talk for a bit. One big thing to take from it was when Laura says “You’re not dead, But I’m not sure that you’re alive, either. Not really” (Gaiman 326). Which begs the question if Shadow is a god as well and also makes me question still if Wednesday could be Shadow’s father as Shadow never actually met his father.

And lastly there is a short interlude bring Bilquis back, which is the girl from the first section that absorbed a guy, and it just talks about how her life is going as a forgotten goddess. Sadly the chapter ends with her dying from getting ran over by this random guys limo who sings “your were an analog girl, living in a digital world.”

Section 3 – Pages 171-257

Shadow is now in Cairo, IL and some of Wednesday’s friends take him in while Shadow is waiting on him to show up. Shadow gets to experience a day in the life of a funeral home director, like just picking up the dead bodies and then bring them back so they can prepare them for the funeral. Though he also got to see the prosector, Mr. Jacquel, at work when he first got there.

After telling both men that he will work for his keep which is the night before he gets to experience the job, Shadow is in the bathroom cleaning up. This part, even with it being small, showed the big idea of mental health because while Shadow is shaving he thinks about how easy it could be just to end it right there. But ends up taking a step back from that ledge when the small cat in the house came into the bathroom even though the door was shut. This just shows how something so small can help someone in times that are pretty rough.

Later in the section Shadow wakes up from having a weird dream and goes out for a walk where he see Mad Sweeney, the guy that said he was a leprechaun, and he says he needs the coin back he gave to Shadow at the start of the book because it wasn’t his to give. Sadly Mad Sweeney ends up dead which is sad but he had to coming for him because he did not think when he gave the coin to Shadow.

Wednesday finally shows up and they have a small thing for Mad Sweeney dying which talked about the girl that brought him with her when she came to America. It was just her believing that the leprechaun existed. But not to long after that Wednesday sends Shadow off to Lakeside, WI where he is to live under the name Mike Ainsel. He is there by himself for a while getting use to the freezing cold and then Wednesday takes him to Las Vegas. When they were coming back from Las Vegas Shadow tells Wednesday that he wants to help Laura be alive again and not in the weird middle world she seems to be in but Wednesday did not know anything to help.

Its just crazy to me that Wednesday is bouncing Shadow around so much but I mean it is pretty normal because he is an errand boy for him though now thinking I feel like Shadow should be with Wednesday more because in the beginning he Shadow would also be like a body guard but who know.

Section 2 – Pages 94-170

At the start of this section Wednesday takes Shadow to a bank and says that they are going to rob it. Surprisingly Shadow doesn’t fight with Wednesday on this act even though he had a strong opinion of not wanting to go back to jail. I was pretty surprised by Shadow doing this with Wednesday because of his strong opinion but he really started to play into his character that he was suppose to be while Wednesday robbed the bank.

After getting their money they had to the House on the Rock which from what I recall was just a place full of different machines all carnival like in a way. While they were here it kind of confused me because it jumped between different descriptions of machines and what they did but everything go a bit clearer when they made it to this huge Carousel room. Wednesday and Shadow were with two other men and they all got on the Carousel even though there was a sign that said no to touch it. I believe that each animal each man picked had to do something with their character and had some meaning behind it.
“Wednesday climbed onto a golden wolf. Czernobog climbed onto an armored centaur… Nancy, chuckling, slithered up onto the back of an enormous, leaping lion…” and then Shadow takes a while to pick on but then “he climbed on the back of a creature with an eagle’s head and the body of a tiger, and held on tight.” (Gaiman 115).

When they were done on the Carousel they went to meet with a while bunch of others and Nancy told a weird story to the huge group of people. Wednesday then comes out and goes on to take about how gods (Like everyone there) are losing people who believe in them and that new gods are coming in taking their places and saying they should fight to get their worshipers back. This led to me to think that maybe Shadow will play an important role if they do fight these new gods but it also made me wonder if the stories that are in-between the chapters are gods that have lost worshipers and are trying to be normal or are new gods in America. Which now thinking about it is cool to see these different stories.

Later in the section it got a bit serious because Shadow gets kidnapped though this part was really confusing for me because I wasn’t really following along but it shows just how like serious some people are about gods and figuring out what Wednesday is planning.

Section 1 Pages 3-95

In the beginning it starts of with Shadow, the main character, still in prison but in a few days will be let out get out because he has had good behavior. Its cool to see how it was for Shadow in prison before he is released because you could get a feel about his mood towards being stuck in there but also to see how he interacted with the others. To be honest though I’m happy it Neil Gaiman didn’t write too much about him being in prison still because it was decently boring to read.

But Shadow is then brought to the wardens office by a guard that said Shadow basically gets under his skin because of how quiet he is which I thought was slightly funny. When Shadow enters the warden’s office he is told that his being let out the same day later in the afternoon then is told that his wife was dead. He doesn’t have a reaction to this information until a few days later I believe which surprised me how long he basically stayed in shock. But that is still a little later because Shadow has to meet Mr. Wednesday first.

Shadow meets Mr. Wednesday first on a plane in which he wasn’t actually suppose to be on that plane but he had missed the other because he had fallen asleep. Anyways when Shadow is talking with Mr. Wednesday he is a little cautious about actually talking because he obviously doesn’t know the man and also doesn’t want to get kick off the plane for being upset. Though Mr. Wednesday does give him a job offer, which I know is one of the main parts of the story but was weird because Mr. Wednesday seems to know everything about Shadow like he somehow isn’t human and or is a godly creature/figure. Though not so surprisingly late Shadow accepts the job offer.

But also there was a random guy that came in while they were at a bar/restaurant who said he was a leprechaun which he fought Shadow I also thought that was really weird. But whatever. BUT after all that he goes back home to his wife’s funeral to find out that SHE WAS CHEATING ON HIM WITH HIS BEST FRIEND!! Which was a wild turn of events. But he was also told by his best friend’s wife so ugh… that’s also crazy. Then again I skipped over the part of what I believe was just a random chapter in the middle of chapter one and two where a women just absorbs a some guy but I don’t believe it matters all to much. ANYWAYS, after the funeral the two guys (Shadow and Mr. Wednesday) stay at a hotel and Shadow sees his wife as a ghost to which they kind of just talk nothing all to crazy about that. Then they go to some apartment building I believe which is home to four people, all Russian, and stay there. Nothing really happens there expect for Shadow playing checkers with Czernobog (The only guy that lives there). They both win a round so Czernobog has to go with Shadow and Wednesday to do whatever they are gonna do and What I thought was really crazy was Czernobog gets to use a sledgehammer to beat Shadow over the head once… I understand they really wanted the guy to go with them but the fact that’s going to be hanging over his head for a while in the book will be crazy. I still just think it was stupid he went with that for Czernobog term for if he won… Not smart because he could actually die. But I’m starting to like the book a bit more!

I added the picture of the night sky with stars because near the end of my section Shadow was sitting on the roof with one of the girls who lived with Czernobog and she talked about how her and her sisters are based of what their culture believed. Her older sister, Zorya Utrennyaya, is the morning. Her second older sister, Zorya Vechernyaya, is the evening. And lastly, Zorya Polunochnaya the girl, is the night or midnight. Which I thought was really fascinating.

My book is American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I picked this book because it sounded interesting when Mrs. Johnson recommended it but also because when I read the back of it the part about the character Shadow being locked up in jail for three years and is just being let out also piqued my interest. I also picked the book because it was a quick turnaround as he wanted to restart is life with his wife but both his wife and his best friend had die in an accident. I’m looking forward to see how the story goes in the book but also to read something new. Though with it also being something different from what I actually read makes me a little nervous the book will be bad and I won’t have fun reading it. But to ensure that I do finish the book I will push my way through and try to read as much as I can when I can.

Anger: Pg. 110 when Proctor is yelling about Abigail is anger because he is very upset with how Abigail is acting like Mary Warren is using witchcraft and isn’t telling what he believes is the truth. The anger causes him to tell everyone about his affair with her because no one is really believing him over the pretending Abigail.

Pg. 80 is another place where anger motivates Proctor because he is upset his wife was taken away and accused of witchcraft. This causes him to threaten Mary Warren if she didn’t tell the court the truth.

de las Casas’ text could have possibly changed the mind of his main audience by showing the Christians how the Indians were being treated so they have the heart to try helping the Indians while also changing how they treated them at the same time. There are many different ways de las Casas shows the treatment one being, “more than two million souls taken captive, and have sent them to do hard labor in the mines, labors that caused many of them to die” (90). de las Casas writes of the treatment in hopes that it may hit the Christians deep in their heart so they many help change what is going on.