Harry Roldan Jr. Roldan1
English 220
Daniel Stokes
4-18-17
American Gods Essay
Murder, voluntary manslaughter, rape, theft, arson, and fraud. What do these crimes have in
common? There has been an increase of these crimes in recent years. Although it is not explicitly
said throughout Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods it can be concluded that America is in a
moral decay. Some of the characters in his novel are good examples of how America today is in
a moral decay which I agree with and will provide evidence throughout the essay to show the
reader that it is true.
The novel has a few examples of how America has been in a moral decline. The first example
is Bilquis who is a god and is subject to being a mere prostitute and having to devour men
through her vagina as a way to survive. Another example is The Technical Boy who is a new god
of internet and computers and Media who is the goddess of television. These three gods are
prime examples from the novel of how America has been in a moral decay, with Bilquis the
author shows us that a once proud and powerful God has been subjected to prostituting herself in
America. Media and The Technical Boy show the reader how America has decreased in morals
in that America now worships such trivial things those two Gods represent unlike how we use to
worship things such as knowledge, adventure, medicine, and etc which shows a vagrant
disregard of morals. According to Neil Gaiman ““There are new gods growing in America,
clinging to growing knots of belief: gods of credit card and freeway, of Internet and telephone, of
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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. “They are aware of us, they
fear us, and they hate us,” said Odin. “You are fooling yourselves if you believe otherwise.” .
Neil Gaiman’s point is that Americans have stopped worshipping important things such as
honesty, family values, and medicine. The Old Gods in the novel were afraid of the decay of
morals in America because with it they knew it was inevitable for them to be forgotten just like
the basic moral values Americans use to have.
In recent years there have been countless clear examples of moral decay in America that can
be seen in everyday life. Evidence from articles have shown that there has been an increase in
crimes in recent years from when the articles recordings began. According to the National
Review “The Decline of the Family: Nearly half (48 percent) of American children are born to a
