American Gods
America’s Beliefs as Told Through American Gods
We believe in so many things. Even if they’re the wrong things.
What do people believe in? What is it that we put our faith in circa 2017? Do we pray to a pantheon, do we sacrifice to an omnipotent deity? These are the overarching questions asked by the fantasy novel American Gods written by Neil Gaiman. While the book was published in 2001, a many of its budding concepts of a world reliant on technology and dependent on interconnectivity were premonitions of the digital age we live in today. But what have we forgotten as we’ve gained an affinity towards this shiny, instant gratification? American Gods gives us these answers and more in a novel that’s become more than relevant in our connected …show more content…
We can side with the “old gods” and put power into spirituality and rituals and the powers that be. We can put it in “God’s” hands and be empowered by faith and not by sight. All of these leave us open to the wrath or scorn of another more powerful entity and takes away many responsibilities from us; the believer.
Or we can take the power, quite literally, into our own hands. We can search, browse, learn, tweet, text, snap and we have the ability to know everything. Any ounce of knowledge that we can possibly want is at our fingertips. All of the power can reside with us. Which can only be good if we know how to use it. Which, as I’m sure we all have had experience with, we absolutely don’t. We all ignored Uncle Ben’s advice and didn’t care that with great power comes great responsibility. We just take it, and run full steam ahead; regardless of the outcome.
I believe that American Gods is an amazing novel that provides us a great commentary on the state of our beliefs and the everchanging spiritual and material nature of human beings. It makes us rethink our zealotry for both our old beliefs and our devotion to our new ones while also making us ask the hard questions of ourselves. Believe what you want, but do it the right
We believe in so many things. Even if they’re the wrong things.
What do people believe in? What is it that we put our faith in circa 2017? Do we pray to a pantheon, do we sacrifice to an omnipotent deity? These are the overarching questions asked by the fantasy novel American Gods written by Neil Gaiman. While the book was published in 2001, a many of its budding concepts of a world reliant on technology and dependent on interconnectivity were premonitions of the digital age we live in today. But what have we forgotten as we’ve gained an affinity towards this shiny, instant gratification? American Gods gives us these answers and more in a novel that’s become more than relevant in our connected …show more content…
We can side with the “old gods” and put power into spirituality and rituals and the powers that be. We can put it in “God’s” hands and be empowered by faith and not by sight. All of these leave us open to the wrath or scorn of another more powerful entity and takes away many responsibilities from us; the believer.
Or we can take the power, quite literally, into our own hands. We can search, browse, learn, tweet, text, snap and we have the ability to know everything. Any ounce of knowledge that we can possibly want is at our fingertips. All of the power can reside with us. Which can only be good if we know how to use it. Which, as I’m sure we all have had experience with, we absolutely don’t. We all ignored Uncle Ben’s advice and didn’t care that with great power comes great responsibility. We just take it, and run full steam ahead; regardless of the outcome.
I believe that American Gods is an amazing novel that provides us a great commentary on the state of our beliefs and the everchanging spiritual and material nature of human beings. It makes us rethink our zealotry for both our old beliefs and our devotion to our new ones while also making us ask the hard questions of ourselves. Believe what you want, but do it the right