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. 

"It is Wednesday, my Dudes."

            All memes aside, this blog is going to be focused on the way that Odin is portrayed in Gaiman’s American Gods as the enigmatic and unsettling Mr. Wednesday. I would like to talk about how he is similar to the Odin we have read about so far, and how he might differ from him in some ways. In addition to that, I think discussing American Gods—especially the gods within the universe—would be incomplete without thinking about how a deity such as Odin is being used in the social and political contexts of today.

            From the moment of his introduction in American Gods, Mr. Wednesday has been surrounded by an air of mystery, and our clueless protagonist’s attempts at trying to unearth the answers to his (and also our) questions only raise more question marks. Although it is likely that by this point Shadow knows (or at least suspects) that his employer to be related to Odin in some way, there is still some sense of uncertainty. We are told to believe everything. Consequently, the countless parallels between the Odin of Norse mythology and Mr. Wednesday—most glaringly his missing eye, silver tongue, and two raven confidants—all point us to this conclusion.

            Mr. Wednesday is to his own admission a grifter, a hustler, a con man. He delights in what he does for the sake of it: “’Why are you doing what you’re doing?’ ‘Because I want to,’ said Wednesday” (pg. 2017). However, it is ultimately also how he survives. This grifter lifestyle echoes what we’ve read of Odin and the many ways he tricks, deceives, and outsmarts people using his quick wit, silver tongue, and no small amount of magic. While American Gods has thus far not featured the full-on transformative powers of seid (at least not explicitly) for Mr. Wednesday, there are several moments where his ability to get into character are described in a way that blurs the line between “really good acting” and “straight-up magic.” Lastly, his use of runes and charms is also mentioned; like many of the references and hints in American Gods, it is passed-off as a side-note or a trivial detail. In this example, it is tied to Odin’s sexual exploitation of women: “He was doodling with his fingernail in the spilled salt, making squat, blocky rune-like shapes. The waitress stood passively beside him, reminding Shadow less of a fawn and more of a young rabbit caught in an eighteen-wheeler’s headlights, frozen in fear and indecision. Wednesday lowered his voice, so much so that Shadow, only across the table, could barely hear him. ‘What time do you get off work?’ ‘Nine,’ she said, and swallowed. ‘Nine thirty latest.’ ‘And what is the finest motel in this area?’ ‘There’s Motel 6,’ she said. ‘It’s not much.’ Wednesday touched the back of her hand, fleetingly, with the tips of his fingers, leaving crumbs of salt on her skin. She made no attempt to wipe them off. ‘To us,’ he said, his voice an almost inaudible mumble, ‘it shall be a pleasure-palace’” (pg. 214). Like his practice of seid, his use of runes and charms as well as his views of women echo what we know of Odin from the Poetic Edda.

            The last thing I’m going to talk about is Odin’s role to play. I’m not talking about his role as a leader for the “Old Gods” in American Gods, but rather what he means to us today. If we go by the rules which Gaiman has set for us in American Gods, gods are defined by who believes in them, and what people believe about them. In light of the rise of Odinism and the appropriation of Norse mythology by hate-groups, we would expect Odin to reflect this new interpretation of the Norse deity. Our dear Mr. Wednesday would relinquish his hustler lifestyle in favor of hate-speech and white nationalism. This begs the question: would he be more or less powerful in this new form? I honestly don’t know. The redefinition and appropriation of runes by white supremacists would certainly shake up Odin’s understanding of how to actually do magic; then again, if a god’s power is determined by our belief in them, does this really matter?

Themes of Hinduism in American Gods

Hinduism is a broad term that encompasses the beliefs of many people. What exactly Hinduism means depends on the person you ask. In my studies of Hinduism, one memory sticks out, going to the Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple in Frisco Texas. While I was there talking to the representative of the temple, we got on the topic of “how many gods are there in Hinduism.” He replied with something like “268543843 gods. But, the number isn’t important.” In his belief the gods are innumerable and if you could count them the amount would constantly changing. Another belief is that there is a single god who can take infinite forms. Gods fall in and out of popularity and sometimes into obscurity. Later, he talked about how it doesn’t matter who or what you worship just that you don’t hurt anyone in the process.

Karya Siddhi Hanuman at Frisco, TX

Any god can be a Hindu god in the temple representative’s opinion. This belief touches on something similar to the metaphysics of “American Gods.” If you believe in something and worship it, purposefully or not, it is real. The new gods like Technology and Television come to mind. We worship them without realizing and we provide valuable sacrifices like money or time. In this light, you could argue that these are Hindu gods. We worship them with our attention and we mostly don’t hurt other while doing so.

            Many Hindu writings, like the Bhagavad-Gita for example, show that the gods can take many forms. In the Gita its Vishnu as Krishna but in “American gods” all of these gods have this ability. They use these forms to get close to humans and to impact their lives. Mr. Wednesday uses this to get close to shadow and to blend into the human world around him. Similar to how Krishna takes human form to influences and help those around him.

Vishnu as Krishna reveals his true self to Arjuna

            Eventually Kali herself, a popular and still worshipped Hindu god, comes into the book. (124) The description of her is, “something huge, a naked woman with skin as black as a new leather jacket., and lips and tongue the bright red of arterial blood. Around her neck were skulls, and her many hands held knives, and swords, and severed heads.” This description is strikingly accurate to illustrations of Kari all around her places of worship. Her fierceness and wrath are also characteristically accurate. In response to a question asking her what she would do if she was attacked, she says, “if they try such a thing, they will find me hard to catch, and harder still to kill.”

Modern popular Smashan Kali painting by Raja Ravi Varma

            The concept of Dharma is also at work here. This is also another concept whose definition is a little hard to nail down. The temple representative thought of dharma as the cosmic order but Sikhs and other Hindus may give you a different answer. The old gods are trying to maintain their rule against these newcomer gods. This could be thought of as them maintaining their cosmic order. The book keeps alluding to a coming storm. Storms being inherently chaotic makes the Dharma connection fitting.