Shadow Moon is the main protagonist of American Gods. Shadow has many roles. Gaiman has created a character who, by all appearances, seems to be an average, somewhat uninteresting guy. As we read the novel, Shadow's character become more and more complex and we realize how he is the pivot on which the story turns. It is alluded to that he is a Shaman because he can do things like make it snow, he can see people who are far away in his mind and know what they are doing, he has conversations with a buffalo headed man when he is dreaming, and people tell him several time that he looks Native American.
Near the end of the book, while Shadow is hanging on the World Tree, he has a vision of Wednesday and his mother getting together. Through this vision Shadow discovers that he is Odin's son. Of all of Odin's sons it seems most likely that Shadow is Baldr, the "shining God" and the good son. Baldr is the son who's personality most matches the personality of Shadow. We know he is not Loki the mischievouse, because Loki also appears in the novel as Wednesday's co-conspirator in the staged war between the old Gods and the new Gods. Baldr was considered to be the image of perfection. Several times throughout the book Shadow catches Wednesday doing something Shadow would consider bad or unfair to someone, and he stops him, or lectures him about doing harm. Shadow proves himself to be very brave when he takes on the burden of hanging from the World Tree to perform Wednesday's vigil. In the end, Shadow is the one who figures out the two-man con and stops the war. It is also interesting that Shadow's last name is Moon because Baldr as known as the "shining one" and is associated with the day-time and the sun. Could this be a metaphor that Shadow's name is representing a shadow of what once was? As if the sun has set on the old Gods, and now they are in their moon phase?
In all the research I have done on this novel, one interesting thing seems missing. No one has spoken of Shadow's name as a metaphor for the obscurity of what once was powerful, but is now a mere shadow of it's former power. The old Gods Shadow has aligned himself with were once potent, and now they are a depleted of strength. Shadow chooses willingly to give his loyalty, even when it is no longer a matter of the obligation of his employment, displaying that the metaphor of his name directly represents the old Gods and their loss of influence. The combination of these symbols affirms this metaphor by distinctly highlighting that he is symbolic of something that was once powerful and great, and is now only a mere shadow of what it once was.
Something Shadow says to Easter when they first meet seems to solidify this observation. Easter asks Shadow "Why do they call you Shadow?" "When I was a kid,' he said. 'My mother and I...went from city to city all over northern Europe...I never knew what to say to the other kids so I would just find adults and follow them around not saying anything, I just needed the company I guess..." (272). This emulates that Shadow is doing the same thing with the Gods, and therefore the symbolism of the shadow directly applies to the old Gods. Shadow's last name is Moon. The moon reflects the light of the sun, but has no light of its own. The Gods need the light of humanity to sustain them. They are created by humans, and then forgotten by them. Wednesday tells Shadow that the American people “don’t sacrifice rams or bulls to me. They don’t send me the souls of killers and slaves, gallows-hung and raven-picked. They made me. They forgot me" (277). This novel points out that what people value changes and goes through phases, just like the moon.
Shadow seems to exhibit old-time values. For instance, he loves Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian, and often quotes from Herodotus' Histories. Shadow wants nothing more than a quiet simple life with his wife, but then she dies leaving Shadow alone. He exhibits great loyalty to Wednesday, consistently asserting that he gave his word to work for Wednesday and he will stick by it. When one of the new Gods, Media, ask Shadow to switch sides, she says to Shadow, "Look at it like this, Shadow: we are the coming thing. We're shopping malls-your friends are crappy roadside attractions" (156) Shadow absolutely refuses thinking to himself, "they might be dirty, and cheap, and their food may taste like shit, but at least they didn't speak in cliche's. And he would take a roadside attraction, no matter how crooked, how cheap, how sad, over a shopping mall, any day" (157).
Part of Gaiman's brilliance in creating Shadow's character is that Shadow's character seems to be flat and boring. Relatively early in the novel, when Mr. Anansi meets Shadow for the first time, Anansi tells him, "...I got to tell you, you don't look too bright. I got a son, stupid as a man who bought his stupid at a two-for-one sale, and you remind me of him" (113). But Shadow goes through great trials and is the pivot point of this novel. Everyone in the novel is centered around Shadow in some way. As we get to know Shadow we realize how complex he is. Sometimes it seems that the book is really about Shadow and his personal transformation, and the war between the Gods is just a backdrop for Shadow's story.
A few of the old Gods that show up in this novel include Odin, Anansi, Chernobog, Ibis and Anubis, Thoth, Bast, Wisakedjak, Shiva, Zorya, Easter, and Kobold. These Gods are Gods of the immigrants. Jesus and the Greek Gods are not represented in this novel.
Picture of Odin from: http://feelgrafix.com/946120-odin.html
"Myths inspire the realization of the possibility of your perfection, the fullness of your strength, and the bringing of solar light into the world. Slaying monsters is slaying the dark thing. Myths grab you somewhere down inside" (Campbell, 148).
The old Gods are our teachers in many ways. They are meant to teach us how to be good and virtuous, and many of them are meant to teach us what not to be or do. The old Gods are meant to empower us, and teach us of the ways of nature. They represent both the cruelty and the beauty of nature. Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty's book Hindu Myth is quoted in an introduction to chapter 17. Part of the quote is:
"The Hindu Gods...experience most of the great human dilemmas...they are symbols in a way that no human being, however "archetypal" his life story, can ever be. They are actors playing parts that are real only for us; they are the masks behind which we see our own faces" (138).
The New Gods are the the things we worship in contemporary society. The new Gods who show up in this novel are Media, Technology Boy, Mr. World, and several others. When Wednesday is giving a sermon to Shadow and the Old Gods explaining why they should all join the war, he say, “Now, as all of you will have had reason aplenty to discover them for yourselves, there are new Gods growing in America, clinging to growing knots of belief: new gods of credit card and freeway, of Internet and telephone, of radio and hospital and television, gods of plastic and of beeper and of neon. Proud Gods, fat and foolish creatures, puffed up with their own newness and importance.” (123).
In his plea to the old Gods, Mr. Wednesday has given us the most accurate and by far the best portrayal of the new Gods as they are explained by Gaiman. Mr. World is meant to represent the new world culture. It used to be that humanity was centered around small towns, villages or tribes. Now we have a global community. We are connected to that global community through our dependance on the internet and technology.
Artist interpretation of the new Gods from: http://emperornortonii.deviantart.com/art/American-Gods-24688575 Media and Technology Boy are in the center
This passage is significant because it explains one idea Gaiman is trying to express about the old Gods in this story. People are struggling to find meaning in this world, just like the Gods in American Gods. The Gods are consistent. They have always reflected the struggles of humanity, and the Gods in this story are no different. in Gaiman's story the Gods emulate the struggles of contemporary America just as in the past they may have reflected the struggles of the times.
The world is so big and multifarious, and our communities so large, we can no longer easily find relevance in our lives by becoming the town baker, or blacksmith. We are struggling as humans to be relevant in our culture, in our community. We are struggling to have lives that feel meaningful to us. So, in essence, the Gods of America as represented in Gaiman's novel are still representing humanity. The old Gods are struggling for adoration, love and recognition. They have become hedonists and con-artists. They have resorted to petty labor, prostitution, fortune telling and theft to get by. The only difference between them and us is that they have the power of Gods.