Retrospective: Gaiman’s ‘American Gods’ a great American novel – A Tribe Called Geek

The Great American Novel. 

It’s a concept that many writers strive to achieve. Specifically, it refers to a novel that captures the American spirit and distills it to a form readable by a majority of Americans. There is a list of books that scholars debate over earning this title. 

They say You can’t judge a book by its cover, but this one IS iconic.

One, however, that doesn’t get discussed enough is Neil Gaiman’s seminal 2001 work: American Gods. 

Perhaps it’s because it openly claims to be a fantasy. Perhaps it’s because Neil isn’t an American citizen. Perhaps it’s because it illustrates how deeply America was influenced by Native Culture.

However, I think that those are the very reasons that it’s an excellent example of not just the Great American Novel but has a claim for being a Great Native American Novel.

The Story

The novel begins with our main character, Shadow Moon, being released from prison early so he can attend his wife’s funeral. This is just the first of several life-changing blows that utterly dash his dreams of returning to a normal life.

Instead, he becomes bodyguard to the mysterious Mr. Wednesday, joining him on a cross-country road trip that mixes crime, business, and pleasure. Shadow meets various associates of Mr. Wednesday, each of whom is revealed to be a modern incarnation of an ancient god.

Mr. Wednesday is trying to band the old gods together against more modern psychopomps to ensure that their lifestream of belief continues. This comes to a head in a grand battle of new and old that hinges upon the decisions of one ordinary man who stumbled into a realm of gods and monsters.

The novel digs into several heady concepts, like the power of belief and how different cultures handle it. The gods of this world grow stronger or weaker with belief and lack thereof. They are literal psychopomps; anthropomorphizations of spiritual concepts.

In the modern era, the European Gods have begun to wane as their various religions have lost believers. The novel’s most significant point of contention is that there is a finite amount of belief in the world. When a God has none left, they are forgotten, and it’s like they never were.

At its heart, this is a conflict over resources and a group of itinerants fighting against a newer, invading group. It’s the European gods’ first time dealing with this, and they’re angry about having to defend their home against “upstarts.” However, there’s another group that has some experience with this.

So, what of the Native American “Gods?”

Interestingly enough, the Native American characters involved in the book aren’t treated as Gods. Neil Gaiman doesn’t make the mistake of assuming they work in the same way as European gods did. 

While he doesn’t get everything right here, it’s clear that he did an incredible amount of research and did his best to write something respectful.

Instead of Gods, they’re treated as “Folk heroes” or “Culture heroes.” As Whiskey Jack (one of the Native characters, using a corruption of his more traditional name, Wisakedjak) says, they were like gods, except they were allowed and even expected to be wrong sometimes, as that taught the better lesson. 

As the character puts it, Native Americans didn’t create gods or worship their spirits. They made figures they could learn from. He says of Coyote (who does not appear in the book but is stated to be another character): “He made love to Porcupine Woman and got his dick shot through with more needles than a pincushion. He’d argue with rocks, and the rocks would win.” 

Nobody would worship someone that stupid.

Based on some other mythology from around the world, that may or may not be true. However, what is true is that in American Gods, it’s shown that the Native American spirits are hanging on better than the European gods, based on how people believe in each group.

Neither group is without their forgotten spirits, but the Native spirits have managed to hang on to their belief sources.

Why the Native ‘gods’ endure

Through several mortal characters of indigenous descent, it’s implied to be because the Indigenous spirits have closer ties to their people and because even the Native Americans who don’t actively practice their belief systems still believe, on some level, in the stories and lessons that were taught by these spirits.

The idea is that the lesson was important, and the teacher remembered alongside it. This concept says something incredibly interesting about how Native American belief systems worked and the importance of passing them on.

Despite not being the book’s focus, the Native characters and beliefs are still integral. One of the other Native spirits that continues to interact with the plot is a Bison-headed being whose name is unimportant and represents the land itself. He (as he does identify himself using masculine pronouns) functions as a guide Shadow throughout the story.

This being teaches Shadow about the nature of these beings at crucial moments. Shadow dreams of Thunderbirds throughout the novel, which is crucial to his success. He would have been captured by opposing forces without the mortal indigenous characters he meets.

They are not the only characters. In fact, they are a slim minority of the characters overall. Still, they get their moments to shine in a cast full of characters. Even in this ensemble cast written by an Englishman twenty years ago, Indigenous characters are treated as whole, unique, and interesting people.

This cover artist understood.

In conclusion: A love letter to America

American Gods, the novel, represents an immigrant’s view of America and Native Americans.

It showcases an America built by all the people who have come to this land — both in peace and war. It shows an America that has made its mythology from all the pieces that have created its tapestry. 

Oddly, the novel is, at its heart, a love letter to America. It demonstrates an understanding of what it took to create this country and uses the metaphor of gods-as-beliefs inherent in its fantastical story to show that, regardless of everything else, Native Americans were foundational to the very best aspects of this country.

Moreover, no one is made into a flat archetype in this book. Even the spirits, which could very well be turned into caricatures, are instead made into round, dynamic characters full of wisdom that can stick with an individual for decades without being treated as “wise old Indian” stereotypes.

It is a book about America that not only includes Natives but treats them as equals and an utterly integral part of the nation that grew upon their land.

While it may not be THE Great Native American Novel, American Gods is definitely one of the Great American Novels and — ultimately — a fantastic novel about Native Americans.

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