American Gods: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

The Greg Brown excerpt suggests that the gods are now “in the dark” of despair after Wednesday’s death, but they are also “in the dark” about Wednesday’s entire plot. Alviss, the King of the Dwarves in Norse Mythology, shows how Odin’s death galvanizes many of the gods who were previously unwilling to enter the fight. Wednesday had to sacrifice himself so that the battle would be fought at all. Czernobog’s dream foreshadows the idea that Czernobog and Bielebog really are the same person, coming out at different times – especially significant next to a mention of spring, as the change of the season controls Czernobog/Bielebog’s aspect. Czernobog’s mention that gods are hard to kill hints that Wednesday might not actually be completely dead.

Gaiman includes another scene at a diner, highlighting another quintessential but often overlooked American tradition. Czernobog is right to think that the New Gods may try to trick them again, but the center apparently is truly a neutral location – enough to pacify even Czernobog.

Finding the geographical center of the United States seems to be a misplaced desire to find the “soul” of America, as Wednesday had previously mused. Instead of unifying Americans, this small park in the middle of nowhere actually scatters them more by creating a place where no one wants to go, instead of a place where everyone wants to gather. Gaiman shows that finding the center of America is a fruitless effort, as America’s identity and “soul” are ever-shifting.

Czernobog is sustained by blood sacrifices, a steep price for a god to ask, especially in modern times when violence of the sort that Czernobog enjoys is seen as barbaric. Czernobog is able to revive himself on the fumes of past sacrifices, explaining that the memory of blood is one of the strongest forces. Again, sacrifice is extremely powerful, but does no good when it is given for the wrong reasons. Shadow seems to be two steps behind Mr. Nancy and Czernobog, who have already thought through the relative merits of going to the center. It seems that the center of America is fundamentally unfriendly to gods, as something about the nature of American land is resistant to the gods’ power. This is the only place where all the gods can be neutral, but it is nonetheless a risky place.

In contrast to the New Gods’ sleek car, the Old Gods’ VW bus looks pathetic and out of touch, another sign that the Old Gods are hopelessly outmatched. Wednesday’s place in the 5th room is significant, as it is the exact center of the hotel, next to the center of America. Meanwhile, Shadow is in room 9, a number significant to Odin—it’s the number of days he hung on the tree, as well as the number of runes he learned, acting as a subtle reminder that Shadow promised to sit Wednesday’s vigil.

The grey wolf is most likely representative of Geri or Feri, one of Odin’s wolves. Shadow’s dream includes an older incarnation of Odin, one who has not been driven so mad by lack of power. He gives Shadow the basics of Odin’s vigil. As the gallows god, this incarnation of Odin demanded incredible sacrifice from his people (and there is indeed evidence of human sacrifices to Odin in ancient Sweden). The Swedish Odin makes it clear that Wednesday could be revived if enough blood were spilt in his name.

After all Shadow’s talk about being bad at misdirection, it turns out that he is the distraction. Wednesday needed someone else to make him look credible, as all his cons are two-person affairs. The nine days on the tree are separated into three sets of three days, recalling the significance of threes in the Norse creation myth.

The New Gods obviously love fast food, as a new trend in America. Both the New Gods and the Old Gods agree on the rules of the ritual for handing over the body, showing that there are some things that all the gods agree on, even if they claim to be complete opposites. Shadow has to learn all these rules as the human “ambassador” to the gods.

Mr. Nancy sees gods as fundamentally jealous, unable to share worship or space without hurting one another as they all compete for the same resource of human belief. Yet Wednesday’s death has become such a defining moment that the Old Gods continue their fight for the sake of their pride. As the god of civilization, Mr. Town naturally hates the disorder that an escaped convict like Shadow creates. Shadow gives one of the few references to Jesus and Christianity in the novel—in a story of redemption. Like the thief, Shadow can prove to be a hero despite his background.

The New Gods again use any methods they can to convince Shadow to join them, though Shadow is not swayed by their tricks and empty promises. Their very insistence on recruiting Shadow shows that they are not as secure in their position as they seem, just as Technical Boy’s breakdown while away from technology shows that the New Gods can be as easily stripped of their power as the Old Gods were.

Low Key, having disappeared at the beginning of the novel, now reappears to reveal one of the biggest surprises of the book. Despite living together for three years, Loki was never honest with Shadow, and Shadow never realized that his cell mate was actually a god. Loki’s comment that Shadow “needed help” suggests that the gods have been manipulating Shadow’s life for far longer that he suspected. And given Loki and Odin’s history—legend tells of Odin throwing Loki out of Asgard, the home of the Norse gods—it’s not entirely surprising that a trickster god like Loki would choose to betray his kind and fight for the other side.

Gaiman describes this scene with mythic language, making this part of Shadow’s journey seem like an old legends. Though the gods are in an abandoned hotel, it has the atmosphere of a church, again highlighting the idea that the truly divine places in America are not the organized houses of worship, but the places where people feel the call of belief.

Yeats’ line “the Center cannot hold,” a reference to an unspooling of reality at the apocalypse, suggests that the center of America cannot maintain itself with the number of gods gathered here – something will have to give way. Czernobog again brings up the necessity of sacrifice, as there is a price for every action. But the New Gods focus on meaningless platitudes that connect death and life in one balance. Meanwhile, Technical Boy seems to have gone crazy, but manages to remind Shadow of the Herodotus quote from the beginning of the novel, while leaving out the part that makes this quote purposeful. As Technical Boy says it, no one can ever be happy. Oddly, the New Gods seem to be following Loki’s orders, though Loki claimed to be just their chauffeur.

Gaiman has already shown that Shadow keeps his promises, unlike the gods. By taking Wednesday’s eye, Shadow commits to following the same path that Odin took, hanging on the tree as a sacrifice to earn wisdom.

As Shadow drank Wednesday’s mead and pledged to hold his vigil, Shadow now has to honor that promise by the rules of the Norse gods. Yet even if Shadow had not done so, it would still be traditional, according to the old legends about Odin, for someone to hang for Odin after he died. These rules are the pattern of mythology that makes stories retain their meaning in all the times and places they are retold. Shadow knows that Odin’s vigil may kill him, but he has decided that keeping his promise and finally making a bold choice are worth it. A living person would feel strongly enough about something to die for it, and Shadow wants to prove (mostly to himself, but also to Laura) that he is truly alive.

Significantly, Shadow is not agreeing to potentially die for Wednesday because he doesn’t care about his life—rather it’s because he finally does care. His sacrifice to Odin is thus more meaningful, as Shadow really does have something to live for. Yet Shadow still doesn’t see how his sacrifice will fit into Wednesday’s larger plan. Unlike most of the locations in the novel, the farm where the world tree stands is not an identifiable place in America.

In Norse mythology, the World Tree (also called Yggdrasil) is a magical ash tree that connects all the world, both the mortal and godly realms of the nine worlds that make up the Norse cosmology. The Norns are the women who protect the tree, in some legends standing for the past, present, and future, and in others simply acting as guardians over the powerful forces housed in the well at the tree’s base (but also roughly corresponding to the Fates of Greek mythology). At the tree, Shadow is adamantly making his own choices, even going against what other people tell him to do for the first time in the novel.

Shadow’s nakedness makes him more vulnerable, showing that he is baring his entire being during this sacrifice. Rather than hanging Shadow by his neck, ensuring certain death, the Norns tie Shadow carefully so that he has a chance of surviving this experience. In order to properly perform the vigil, Shadow has to be willing to die, but he does not actually have to perish.