How and why Neil Gaiman in American Gods and Rick Riordan in Percy Jackson& the Olympians have chosen to portray the Gods and mortals through classic mythology versus modern realism
In 2001, Neil Gaiman published American Gods; a book about a sombre man named Shadow who is employed by a mysterious conman called Wednesday, and dragged into a roadtrip-esque story across the USA, meeting strange figures and ‘American Gods’ along the way. Then, in 2005, Rick Riordan published The Lightning Thief; a book about a boy named Percy, who– after discovering his godly heritage– is sent on a roadtrip-esque quest across the USA, also meeting strange figures and Gods along the way. This book was then continued into a series called Percy Jackson & the Olympians. American Gods was geared to an adult audience, sometimes explicit, but Percy Jackson & the Olympians was destined for kids, the main protagonist being a teenager. However, both are linked by the fact that they take intentional inspiration from ancient beliefs– American Gods using a wide range of religions to inspire the Gods, while Percy Jackson & the Olympians stays focused on Greek mythology. So while in context, both books are written to take place in our modern society– with a fantastical twist– heavy inspiration is drawn from classic mythology; such as the hero’s quest, divine involvement, and fatal flaws. This is why this essay will show how and why Neil Gaiman in American Gods and Rick Riordan in Percy Jackson & the Olympians have chosen to portray the Gods and mortals through classic mythology versus modern realism. I will be approaching this essay by pointing out how these two authors have written classic mythology into their modern story, through archetypes, the monomyth, an element of titanomachy, and the incorporation of classic mythology as a fantastical theme. Then I will discuss their differences– those that allude to the genre of modern realism– such as the diversity of the characters, the Americanisation of the Gods, and the human aspect given to the divine. Once I have explained how Neil Gaiman and Rick Riordan have chosen to portray the Gods and mortals, I will then talk about why; referring mainly to audience, but also intention, and literary and personal background.
In relevance to certain archetypes stated by Carl Jung—psychological, subconscious roles originating from the collective subconscious of humanity and reflected through storytelling [Waude]—there are many elements of American Gods and Percy Jackson and the Olympians that reflect typical character roles in classic mythology.
One example of such is the Hero. The Hero originating from ancient myth (such as Greek) was often a half-divine character, with one human parent and one immortal parent. Especially in later myth, such as Arthurian legends, the Hero came to represent someone that showed great courage, morality, and cunning when faced with a superior evil or quest [source]. The protagonist in both books reflects this archetype. Percy Jackson, in Percy Jackson & the Olympians is a young teenager that embarks on several quests throughout and goes through many fights, all while often described as being afraid, he overcomes this fear. Furthermore, he shows great sense of morality in being self-sacrificing on multiple occasions, refusing the temptations of joining the side of the Titans (the “evil” side in this world), and being loyal to a fault. In the same way, the protagonist of American Gods, Shadow Moon, follows the same archetype. Although he is different in the beginning as he is portrayed as a rather boring, simple man, when put to the test he reveals immense loyalty by refusing to walk over to the New Gods, the “winning side”, because it would mean breaking his word Wednesday, another character. Not only this, but he shows bravery in hanging from the World Tree instead of Wednesday, a painful experience. This also alludes to his divine heritage (as Wednesday is later revealed to be Odin, and hanging from the World Tree is how he acquired his knowledge). Both characters are revealed to be half-human, half-god, following the classical Hero archetype.
Furthermore, this hero’s archetype is supported by others, such as the Mentor, or the Wise Old Man (or Woman). This character’s role is primarily to guide the others through their own experiences and knowledge, Because of this, they may seem separated, different from the rest of the characters, represented as a wise, older parent-type [Waude]. In Percy Jackson & the Olympians, this is Chiron, who introduces Percy to the fantastical reality of the Gods and advises him before his quest. In American Gods, this character role may be less clear, but ???. Other archetypes are Sidekick (Grover?), Trickster (Luke/Wednesday!!), woman (Laura/Annabeth?)
In addition to the classic archetypes seen in both books, there is also the Hero’s Journey; a popular template to define the journey the archetypical hero goes through. It is also known as the monomyth, and the basics of it is explained in The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell as: “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.” [Campbell, 23] Percy Jackson goes to a semi-normal high school until he is attacked by a Harpy, which leads to a chain of events that lead to him discovering the supernatural. Eventually he is sent on a quest, experiences many adventures, before winning a decisive battle against the god of war, Ares. He comes back and returns peace between the Olympian Gods and in his summer camp. In the same way, Shadow has just come out of prison, only to be introduced into the supernatural world by Wednesday. During the book he encounters many other supernatural characters, before surviving his hanging from the World Tree and using the knowledge he has gained from this victory over death to bring peace between the old and new Gods. This monomyth is used throughout many legends, such as the Argonauts and the Odyssey.
Another example of a link between Percy Jackson & the Olympians, American Gods, and classic mythology, is the concept of a titanomachy. In greek myth, this is known as a fight between a majority of the Titans (the old generation of Gods) and the Olympians (the newer Gods). Percy Jackson & the Olympians takes this as a literal concept: the series follows a larger plot as Percy and many other characters attempt to fight against the same Titans as in original greek myth. However, American Gods takes a different approach, by only taking the concept of old Gods fighting the newer generation. Another difference concerning these two books is that—while both clearly represent Gods that are not perfect and pertain to many human characteristics like pride, volatility, and greed—Percy Jackson & the Olympians takes the side of the Olympians, portraying the Titans as morally evil, craving only destruction and power. American Gods, however, is more nuanced: although the protagonist takes the side of the old Gods, this is clearly only through loyalty and personal distaste for certain of the new Gods. The new Gods are the usurpers.
So, both in the fictional world itself and through storytelling methods like archetypes, the monomyth, and a more specific concept like titanomachy, classic mythology is used to structure plot, world and characters in both books.
However, these are books set in the 21st century, oriented towards modern readership that often prefers realistic stories to mythical legends. Realism, in literature, can be defined as “an approach that attempts to describe life without idealization or romantic subjectivity.” [The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia®] In this case, both books use modern realism to portray their characters
The first example of this can be seen with the characters themselves. Many of the demi-Gods in Percy Jackson & the Olympians are clarified as having issues like ADHD and dyslexia, because of their divine heritage, which is not something usually observed in children’s fiction. Furthermore, Percy Jackson is from a lower-middle class background with a difficult home-life; his mom struggles to raise him, trying to save up enough many to pay for a degree while they live with his abusive step-father. They are described as living in a small, smelly, messy apartment. Another character, Annabeth Chase, is said to have run away from home at a very young age because of fights with her family. Almost every demigod Percy meets is raised by a single parent, and many feel “abandoned” by their other (godly) parent, which leads to deep psychological issues—conveyed as the main reason why many of those originally heroic characters end up with the ‘evil side’, the Titans. These social-economic issues are casually explored throughout the series, and often play a realistic role in how the younger characters are defined in terms of personality and motivations. In American Gods, it is not mentioned what type of socio-economic background the main character is from. However, American Gods explores racial diversity in a way that Percy Jackson & the Olympians—although present—lacks. For instance, although not outright explained, Shadow is described as having “cream-and-coffee skin” [Gaiman, pg?], is asked whether he has any Indian heritage because he “looked like it” [Gaiman, pg.?], and has dark hair (although there are conflicting descriptions of his eye colour). It is therefore possible to assume Shadow is at least of mixed heritage, as we know his divine father is white. Shadow is not the only one: in contrast to Percy Jackson & the Olympians, which only takes its fantastical influence from Greek mythology, American Gods uses a collection of different religions and beliefs. It views, in fact, America as a nation of immigrants: practically all of the Old Gods are half-forgotten Gods that only exist because of the lingering beliefs from the time of their initial believer’s immigration to America. Examples of this include Anansi, a figure from West African and Caribbean folklore, Easter, a Pagan goddess turned into a Christian festivity, or a subplot in the book about a woman who immigrates to America and through her continuing belief, resurrects a piskie. This also means that in both books, the Gods are not shown as being authentically American Gods. Instead, they are borrowed and developed from pre-existing religions and beliefs. These diversities—socio-economic, ethnic and religious, as well as immigration—are logical when considering the lens of modern realism through which these books are written through, as they reflect the immigrant history and current living situation of many American citizens.
Another element specific to the American Gods are the New Gods. Although this is not linked to realism, it clearly reflects the modern context of this book, as these New Gods are personifications of new beliefs. New beliefs like Media, the Internet, and Transport, all things that are specific to the 21st century in terms of improvement and how involved they are with our daily life. A majority of the conflict in American Gods happens between the Old Gods and the New Gods, because these new Gods are quickly rising in power due to the rise in people dedicated to them, believing in them, in contrast to the older ones, who are becoming forgotten with time as their followers die out. In Percy Jackson & the Olympians, the Gods are set into a modern context instead: to go to Mount Olympus to visit the Gods, one must take an elevator to a non-existent floor of the Empire State building. Procrustus, a figure from Greek mythology who was said to either stretch out his victims if they were too short or chopping off limbs if they were too long for his bed, owns a fancy waterbed shop in Los Angeles and is nicknamed “Crusty”. Hermes, a Greek god, is portrayed similarly to a postman for his classic role as a messenger between the Gods and the mortals, as well as the inventor of the Internet. A very important thing to point out as a consequence is that in both cases, the Gods exist because of what the mortals believe them to be. Unlike classic mythology, the Gods are not independent of the mortals: the Gods in Percy Jackson & the Olympians supposedly moved from Europe to America because they followed the shifting mortal beliefs. In fact, American Gods goes even further to imply that all these divine characters only exist because mortals believe in them. This aspect of religious evolution due to intense modernization shows that both books reflect that belief and current mythology is only temporary, a concept that relates back to modern, more progressive views on religion and sociology.
This book also portrays modern realism not just through physical and cultural elements, but also through godly characterizations. For instance, Zeus is portrayed as extremely proud and volatile, Hermes as a particularly bad parent, Wednesday is a conman, and Mad Sweeny kills kids to protect his town. Although the Gods in classic mythology are not perfect either, the actions of the Gods in both books are often not excused. In fact, they are portrayed negatively or disapproving by the protagonist: Percy and several other characters criticises Hermes and Zeus, and Shadow often stops other divine characters from taking immoral actions, bringing the Gods down to a definitely imperfect status despite their divinity. This rough characterization of the Gods develops these characters in a human way; a way that is more relevant to modern realism than classic mythology because it reflects how—if the fantastical elements in both books were real—the Gods could be, as realistically the line between good and bad is often grey instead of black and white, so it is more relevant for the Gods to be imperfect beings, much like mortals.
So, both American Gods and Percy Jackson & the Olympians contain many elements of modern realism to engage the audience. Although modern realism and classical mythology may seem contradictory, they are used as juxtapositions in both books. In Percy Jackson & the Olympians, by starkly contrasting Greek mythology with comical elements of modern life, or in American Gods, by showing a challenge between the Old Gods and the New, both authors manage to emphasize the history and the source of their fantastical aspect. Furthermore, by combining realistic characters, both god and mortal, with a fantastical element of legend and mythology, the reader is more easily drawn into books because they are able to recognize aspects of their own reality.
This notion of audience is what leads into the next part of this essay: why have Neil Gaiman in American Gods and Rick Riordan in Percy Jackson and the Olympians have chosen to portray the Gods and mortals through classic mythology versus modern realism? Although a big part of this is simply entertainment, there are several other notions in which these two books differ from classic mythology in a way that can be related back to these books’ intention towards a larger audience.
First of all, it is important to not forget about the author’s enjoyment of their own book as a reason for its roots in classic mythology. Rick Riordan is an English teacher who had only previously written adult fiction, developed Percy Jackson & the Olympians as an entertaining bedtime story for his son, and then had it proof-read by his students [Riordan]. Neil Gaiman is a well-known author and wanted to write an adventurous road trip-esque story as he explored the US [Gaiman]. But it is nonetheless possible to consider choices made in terms of the characters as evil or good or neither, their background and heritage, the mythological set-up of a world set in reality, and the structure of the plot according to the Hero’s journey.
One thing to consider is the happy ending that happens in both books—especially since we have already established that both character journeys fit into the monomyth of a Hero’s journey, and are therefore more likely to end with a finished story that has gone full circle—and compare this to classical Greek mythology. In American Gods, after having convinced all Gods to stand down from a war between them, Shadow travels and meets another embodiment of Odin (or Wednesday, as he knew him), and makes his peace. In Percy Jackson & the Olympians, all the characters who have shown a good moral compass are rewarded, and everything returns to normal. This, of course, is opposite to Greek mythology, where the unfortunate endings outnumber the good ones: Orpheus loses his wife despite almost having led her out of the Underworld, the nymph Echo fades away until there is only her voice, Icarus’ wings melt and he crashes into the sea, only to mention a few. So while the happy ending of both of these books doesn’t fully fit into the mold of modern realism—where endings can vary depending on the optimism or the pessimism of the author—it doesn’t fit into the classic myth either. This is probably because of the audience: happy endings are often more satisfying to a reader than an unhappy one, and once finished, the reader more likely to be left feeling more content than if it had been the opposite.
Modern realism in the form of diversity could be classified as another reason why, as it allows the audience to relate back to the characters, and they may see themselves and their experiences in them. In the same way, the dependency of the Gods on mortal belief may be more attractive to a reader than vice versa, as it implicates that the society the reader leaves in is the reason these powered beings exist, and how their society is shaped reflects back onto divine beings.
But then why is classic myth used—apart from its fantastical implications into the book? The morally good hero: these characterizations of a protagonist are conscious choices. Percy Jackson & the Olympians is aimed towards a very young audience, who would have more difficulty understanding a morally gray character. And in both cases, the audience is more easily entertained by the Hero archetype, as it allows the audience to find the character agreeable through their moral goodness, which leads to sympathizing as the character goes through the Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s Journey itself not only relates back to the previous point about happy endings, but it also shows that the Hero can overcome any challenge when morally good.