The Journey to Magic told by Coins

Shadow is a very quiet character in American Gods, recently released from prison with nothing to lose, considering his wife recently passed away in an accident. He has a bit of an obsession with coins, especially when he learns about coin tricks when he spends his three years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. These coins keep popping up throughout the book, suggesting they are more than they seem. I think these coins show a progression of Shadow diving deeper into this mythical world that is suddenly surrounding him when he returns from prison.

            It begins with Shadow learning about these coin tricks while he is in prison, which indicates that he is different than other men. Shadow was chosen by Mr. Wednesday for particular reason, showing this man had something that other people did not. I think this starts with the desire to learn these coin tricks, showing that Shadow harbors a need for perfection and knowledge. His life is totally changed after going to jail, which was normal before. When released, Shadow was exposed to this world with mythical creatures and magic.

            He is then teased with a golden coin by Mad Sweeney, who himself isn’t described as fully human. Sweeney continues this allusive idea of coins, of which he grabs a bright and large gold coin from midair. This is the beginning of Shadow’s deal with Mr. Wednesday, locking him into work for this mysterious man who he knows nothing about, other than that he is not normal. He is given the gold coin by Sweeney after having a fight in a bar, which he eventually throws into his late-wife’s grave. This symbolizes his induction of some sort into this world that seems to be very dangerous, especially since he is simply a human without any powers of any kind (or so we think).

            Shadow continues his journey into this insane realm of creatures and dream-like experiences. Mr. Wednesday takes him to visit his friend, Czernobog, along with his family Zorya Utrennyaya, Zorya Vechernyaya, and Zorya Polunochyaya. All the Zorya’s are sisters, who have an ability to tell fortunes, in varying levels of honesty. Shadow interacts with each sister, but is most curious about Zorya Polunochyaya, the midnight sister who only comes out at night. She shares with him the duties her and her sisters hold, speaking of their task involving protecting the universe from whatever monster is hidden in the stars. At the end of their conversation, she reaches up to the moon and takes out a large silver dollar coin out of thin air. Shadow spends time trying to figure out how she hid it, when in reality he has been placed into a magical world that no longer follows the regular rules of Earth. This silver coin shows Shadow continuously falling into this world where magic is possible, even though he would have never thought it before.

            These magic coins keep popping up throughout the novel, and I assume they will continue to as Shadow becomes more involved in this alternative universe with magical creatures and mythical powers.