Change and Growth Theme Analysis

Americans, who come from a country that is relatively new (globally speaking), are known for constantly looking to the future rather than reflecting on the past. This focus on the future creates a culture of fast-paced change that the gods, since they derive power from peoples’ belief in them, must navigate in order to remain relevant to Americans. The novel shows many possible fates that the gods can suffer at the hands of time. Some become obsolete very quickly, like the god of trains, while others remain successful at the cost of their true nature, as with the goddess Easter, who still receives worship but is no longer remembered as the goddess Eostre. Other gods try to adapt, but cannot change quickly enough to keep up, as when Bilquis tries to use new technology, but ends up a casualty of the war between the Old Gods and the New.

Though all gods must adapt to survive, there is a generational and cultural divide among the “Old” gods who were brought by immigrants from other countries and the “New” gods that were conceived on American soil. The New Gods favor constant change in the name of progress, while the Old Gods try to relive the glory of their old lives in this new location. The New Gods love change above all, showing contempt for the past and erasing old traditions in favor of winning a constant stream of new worshippers in modern areas of influence. Technical Boy kills Bilquis while taunting her that she is a relic of the past, yet the very fact that he feels the need to kill her shows that the New Gods still feel as if the Old Gods represent some form of competition in the quickly shifting American culture. In contrast, the Old Gods are stuck in their attempts to cling to past glory and are thus unable to move forward in a changing America. They depend on reincarnation in America, hoping to repeat their previous success using the same tactics that worked in the old countries, as when Czernobog holds on to his old life instead of improving conditions for himself and his sisters in modern Chicago.

Since each of these perspectives is inadequate to ensuring the gods’ survival in modern America, Shadow must learn to blend these two approaches, which he does when he performs the death ritual at the end of the book. He reinvents this old tradition, keeping its spirit and parts of its form, but updating its content to include elements from modern life. Because Shadow blends aspects of the past with the breakneck change of the future, he is able to grow and change as a person without cutting himself off from the rich foundation of the past. Gaiman positions this blend of preservation and modernization as a new model for the gods, and the best way for them to honor tradition while still adapting to change. In fact, this tactic could be said to be the foundation of Gaiman’s book itself: Gaiman breathes new life into old legends and puts them alongside contemporary American culture in order to contextualize secular aspects of culture and belief within a long religious and mythological tradition.