American Gods: Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

The chapter opens with a quote from an “old song” in which a woman is taken to a cemetery in a Cadillac. Back in Jack’s Crocodile Bar, Mr. Wednesday continues to persuade Shadow to take a job with him. When Shadow protests that he already has a job, Mr. Wednesday flippantly says that Robbie Burton is dead. Shadow accuses Mr. Wednesday of lying, but Mr. Wednesday produces a newspaper to support his story. Shadow decides to eat his chili and burger first, fondly remembering the chili that Laura used to make, then reads the article that details the early morning car crash that killed both Laura and Robbie. Shadow can’t help but picture a possible reason for the crash, imagining Robbie driving drunk as Laura shouts at him to pull over.

Shadow sighs, realizing he really doesn’t have a job, and then pulls out a coin. He asks Mr. Wednesday to call the coin toss to decide if Shadow will take the job or not. Mr. Wednesday calls heads, and Shadow reveals without looking at the coin that he rigged the toss to make the coin come up tails. Mr. Wednesday laughs and tells Shadow to check. The coin is heads. Shadow thinks he must have fumbled when he tried to rig the toss.

Mr. Wednesday then welcomes Mad Sweeney, a tall man with ginger hair, to their table, and then goes to the bar to get the newcomer a Southern Comfort and Coke. Mad Sweeney opens a pack of Lucky Strikes and asks if Shadow works for Mr. Wednesday, to which Shadow sighs that he does. Mad Sweeney then claims that he is a leprechaun, making Shadow question why Mad Sweeney doesn’t have an Irish accent and isn’t drinking Guinness. As Mad Sweeney tells Shadow not to trust stereotypes, Mr. Wednesday returns with their drinks.

Mr. Wednesday brings Shadow a golden drink that tastes oddly sour and sweet, reminding Shadow of the beer inmates tried to brew for themselves in prison. Mr. Wednesday explains that it is mead, the drink of heroes and gods. Wednesday agrees that it tastes awful, then stares at Shadow straight in the eyes and tells Shadow that they have to seal their bargain in the most traditional way possible. Noticing that Wednesday seems to have one glass eye, Shadow listens as Wednesday lays out what Shadow is promising to do by working for him – mostly doing whatever Wednesday says. The last task includes holding Wednesday’s vigil in the unlikely event of his death.

Mad Sweeney warns Shadow that Wednesday is a hustler, and then the bar falls silent. Shadow comments that these strange lulls in conversation only happen at 20 past or 20 to the hour. Checking the clock, Shadow sees that it is indeed 11:20. Shadow drinks the rest of his mead in one gulp and Wednesday orders him another one. Shadow explains the conditions of his employment: he wants time to go to Laura’s funeral, he won’t hurt people for fun or for profit, he wants $500 a week, and he won’t go back to prison. Wednesday smiles his strange, threatening smile, and agrees that they have a deal. Wednesday spits in his hand and holds it out to shake. Shadow does the same, then agrees to have one last glass of mead to seal the deal.

Mad Sweeney puts “Who Loves the Sun” on the jukebox, and then notices that Shadow is doing coin tricks. Mad Sweeney does his own coin trick, reaching into the air and producing a large gold coin, then filling his glass with gold coins plucked from all over the table, tipping all the coins into his pocket, and making them disappear. Shadow tries to figure out how Mad Sweeney did it, but Mad Sweeney says only that he picks them out of the air. Shadow backs down and drinks his final glass of mead as Mad Sweeney toasts to their health instead of paying for his drink.

Mad Sweeney brings his coin trick back up, offering to fight Shadow for the secret. Shadow refuses, seeing that Mad Sweeney is clearly drunk, but Mad Sweeney continues to goad both Shadow and Wednesday, saying that Wednesday has hired a coward. Wednesday tells Shadow to deal with the problem and Shadow asks Mad Sweeney to leave. Mad Sweeney punches Shadow in the face, and Shadow knows that he can’t back down now. Having learned in prison that some fights were for show and that some fights were actually meant to hurt, Shadow asks Sweeney why they are fighting. Sweeney answers that they are fighting for the joy of it. Shadow knocks Sweeney down twice before Sweeney agrees that they are done and falls asleep on the bar floor.

Shadow wakes up in the back of Wednesday’s car with a spectacular hangover. He wonders aloud what happened to his own rental car, but Wednesday assures Shadow that he made a deal with Mad Sweeney that Mad Sweeney would take the car back. Shadow has no memory of making a deal, and the entire night in the bar feels fuzzy and blurred in a mead-induced haze. Shadow finds a large gold coin in his pocket and plays with it while Wednesday drives, slowly remembering that Mad Sweeney showed him how to make the coin appear, but unable to remember exactly how.

Wednesday stops at a gas station to let Shadow clean up his injuries from fighting Mad Sweeney. Shadow wonders what Laura will say when she sees his black eye, then remembers that Laura is gone. Wednesday shuffles through a transaction at the gas station register, forcing the girl behind the counter to try and then cancel three different cards and give him back his cash twice, appearing like an old man confused by the vagaries of credit cards versus cash. It is only once they are back on the road that Shadow realizes that Wednesday managed not to pay for his gas at all.

Wednesday drives towards Eagle Point, heading for the funeral parlor where Laura’s memorial will be held. Shadow looks at the town that used to be his home, as they pull up to the House of Rest. Shadow goes in alone while Wednesday goes to get them rooms at the Motel America. Shadow manipulates his heavy gold coin as he walks into the dim funeral hall and to the room where Laura’s casket is being displayed. All of Laura’s friends and family are congregated in the room, but none greet Shadow.

Shadow writes his name in the remembrance book, following his signature with the date and “Puppy” in parentheses. He musters the courage to approach Laura’s body as a small woman dressed in black comes in. Shadow recognizes Audrey Burton, Robbie’s widow and Laura’s best friend. Audrey walks to Laura’s casket and Shadow follows her. Laura looks strange in death, still in a way that she never was in life. Audrey places a sprig of violets on Laura’s chest, then spits in Laura’s face.

Audrey starts walking out the door and Shadow follows her again. Shadow asks why Audrey spit on Laura, which Audrey deliberately misunderstands as a question about the violets, a flower that Audrey and Laura picked together as girls. Shadow asks again, an Audrey calmly explains that Laura and Robbie were having an affair and that Laura died while giving Robbie a blow job in the car. Audrey walks away and Shadow returns to the funeral parlor.

Shadow rides with Laura’s mother, Mrs. McCabe, in the hearse to the graveyard. Mrs. McCabe dislikes Shadow and sniffs at his black eye. Shadow simply answers “Yes” when Mrs. McCabe asks if he has been fighting. At the graveyard, there is a short service and Laura is lowered into the ground. Shadow throws his gold coin in with the dirt, says, “I’m sorry,” and then starts to walk back into town.

As Shadow walks to the Motel America, Audrey pulls up and offers him a ride. Shadow refuses, even though it’s snowing. Audrey follows him, creeping along in her car and grumbling about Laura’s betrayal. Shadow refuses to take her bait, saying that he will always love Laura more than he hates her. Audrey angrily stomps on the gas pedal and drives away. Shadow keeps walking, thinking about Low Key calling a graveyard a “Bone Orchard,” and a dream Shadow once had about an orchard made out of skeletal trees. Shadow trips in the dark, falling in the mud. As he gets up, he is grabbed from behind and a wet rag smelling of chemicals is forced over his mouth.

Shadow wakes up with his hands tied behind his back and a raging headache in the back of a limousine. A fat young man (later revealed as Technical Boy) sits across the aisle and two men sit beside Shadow. Shadow asks to be dropped off at the Motel America, and the young man orders one of the other men to hit Shadow, warning him, “Don’t fuck with me.” The young man then asks about Wednesday’s game plan, but Shadow has no answer. The young man takes out a hand-rolled cigarette and lights it, filling the car with the smell of burning electrical parts. Shadow watches the young man smoke as the limo’s lights glint off his neon green eyes.

The young man (Technical Boy) tells Shadow to tell Mr. Wednesday that Mr. Wednesday is in the “Dumpster of History” while people like him “have reprogrammed reality.” Shadow agrees to do this, and then asks to be let out. The young man stops the limo, giving Shadow one last threat that they will “delete” him, then comments that his cigarette is made of synthetic toad skins with synthesized bufotenin (a hallucinogen). The people next to Shadow cut the ties on his hands as Shadow clambers out of the car. The young man calls out an apology about Shadow’s wife, and then Shadow walks back to the Motel America without further problem.