Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in American Gods, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Mythology, Belief, and Community
Change and Growth
Life, Death, Desire, and Sacrifice
Deception
Plurality and the Power of the Individual in America
The Sacredness of American Land
Summary
Analysis
Marguerite calls her sister, Sam, telling her about her new next door neighbor who does coin tricks and the strange disappearance of Alison McGovern. Sam asks more about the neighbor, fishing to see if Marguerite is interested in him, but Marguerite says that her neighbor seems too melancholy. Hearing the sadness in Margeurite’s own voice, Sam says that she is coming to visit. They end the phone call laughing about Hinzelmann’s tall tales.
The familiarity Shadow felt with Marguerite is explained by the fact that she is Sam’s sister. As such, Marguerite’s tragedy with Sandy was actually the loss Sam was referring to when she sympathized with Shadow. Though Lakeside initially existed as an oasis apart from the main plot of the novel, it is now becoming integrated into the rest of the events, as Sam plans to come to Lakeside, not knowing that Marguerite’s neighbor is Shadow.
Themes
