American Gods Reflection

American Gods
An Observational Reflection

Upon completing your statement/composition on American Gods, I ask you to reflect on both your work and the novel. The aim is to produce a few thoughts for you to carry forward into our continued course work, all the way to the end. For this companion task with the statement, provide a short response (couple or three sentences, for example).

1. What is the value of this novel: In this regard, why is it important to expose readers to situations which may make readers uncomfortable?

Exposing readers to uncomfortable books let the readers begin to feel comfortable around different styles of writing. It also allows the readers to view from a drastically different viewpoint, which is important for life.

2. What is the value of this novel: In this instance, why expose readers to characters which are not “perfect”, or for a different track all-together, what do you consider the danger of moral relativism?

Creating characters that are not perfect allows us to better relate to said characters. For example, no one can understand Superman, because he cannot lose and is invincible. On the other hand, people can relate to Batman because he has been emotionally and physically broken.

3. What is the value of this novel: In this regard, what do you consider, if any, the noteworthiness of ideas you found new or original, if not even innovative?

I enjoyed that Wednesday was not necessarily a “good guy”. He wanted to prolong his existence for as long as possible and seemed like a disgusting being. Even with this, I found myself rooting for him throughout the novel.

4. If you could tell the writer your opinion of the text, what would you state? Please be elaborative, not merely “it’s spiffy” kind of responses!

This novel is extremely interesting and provides great commentary throughout. The side stories are also just as good as the main story (such as the prostitute or djinn stories).

5. What do you feel you have learned this novel, from the in-class prompts, and from this reflection?

I have learned that there are many things that we do not know of. Behind every civilization, there are a great number of cultures that were forgotten for the sake of progress.