Mythic Fiction and Contemporary Urban Fantasy

     I read Neil Gaiman's "American Gods." In this story, he reinvented several myths combining Odin and Loki, the Egyptian Gods Horus and Anubis with new gods he created. The main character is Shadow who is married to Laura. When the story begins, Shadow was in jail and is happy because he is getting out soon and he will be reunited with his wife. A few days before he gets out, his wife and best friend are killed in a car accident. He meets with a strange man name Mr.Wednesday and they start to travel all over the country. Shadow learns that Mr.Wednesday is the God Odin who has come back to life. and Wednesday tells him he is recruiting an army of old gods because there is going to be a battle with the new Gods.

    The old gods are not too powerful anymore because not many people believe in them today. The author used the New Gods to make these story relevant to the Contemporary world. The New Gods represent modern life, for example, the internet, social media, and modern transportation. The New Gods have a group called The Black Hats who spy and do their dirty work. The leader of the Black Hats is Mr.World and he symbolizes globalization. One of the Old Gods who is a leprechaun give shadow a magic coin and he throw it on his wife's grave. He did not mean to do it, but he brought her back half-way back to life as a kind of zombie. The New Gods capture Shadow but Laura rescued him and Mr.Wednesday hide Shadow with an Egyptian God named Mr.Jackal who is really Anubis. It is kind of funny because the God of the Dead is running a Funeral Parlor. The New Gods Trick Mr.Wednesday at a meeting and killed him. The Old Gods want revenge and plan a battle at Rock City. In the meantime, Shadow is stabbed by a spear and dies. He goes to the Land of the Dead where he learns that he is Mr.Wednesday's son. The Old God Easter brings Shadow back to life. The last part of the story, he realizes that Loki is actually Mr.Wrold and he and Odin have planned this battle because it would restore their power. Shadow stops everyone from creating too much chaos, so Odin and Loki died. This new myth makes sense because there is a battle going on between the old way of life and the new way of life, and modern life does feed on chaos.