“The telephone to Shadow's apartment was silent and dead. He thought about getting it connected, but could think of no one he wanted to call. Late one night he picked it up and listened, and was convinced he could hear a wind blowing and a distant conversation between a group of people talking in voiced too low to properly make out. He said, "hello?" and "who's there?" but there was no reply, only a sudden silence and then the faraway sound of laughter, so faint he was not certain he was not imagining it.”
In this eerie passage from Neil Gaiman's book, the protagonist experiences a mysterious and unsettling occurrence with a disconnected telephone in his apartment. The suspenseful atmosphere created by the author leaves readers on edge and intrigued by the unknown forces at play.
In this passage from Neil Gaiman's novel "American Gods," the protagonist Shadow experiences a sense of isolation and disconnection from the world around him. The description of the telephone in his apartment being "silent and dead" reflects Shadow's own feelings of emptiness and lack of meaningful connections. Despite the potential for communication, Shadow finds himself unable to reach out to anyone because he feels no one would want to hear from him. This sense of isolation is further emphasized by the eerie experience of hearing a faint wind and distant conversation on the phone, only to be met with silence when he tries to engage. The laughter that follows, so faint that he questions its reality, highlights Shadow's uncertain and lonely state of mind. Through this passage, Gaiman explores themes of loneliness, communication breakdown, and the blurred line between reality and imagination.
This quote from Neil Gaiman's work evokes a sense of mystery and solitude. Consider the following reflection questions to delve deeper into this passage:
In today's world of constant communication through social media, texting, and video calls, the idea of a silent and dead telephone line in Shadow's apartment may seem outdated. However, the feeling of isolation and disconnection that Shadow experiences is still very relatable in our modern digital age. This passage serves as a reminder of the importance of human connection and the impact of loneliness, even in a time when we are more connected than ever before.
“He could not feel her near him in the darkness nor hear her voice touch his ear. He waited for some minutes listening. He could hear nothing: the night was perfectly silent. He listened again: perfectly silent. He felt that he was alone.”
“During the night two porpoises came around the boat and he could hear them rolling and blowing. He could tell the difference between the blowing noise the male made and the sighing blow of the female.'They are good,' he said. 'They play and make jokes and love one another. They are our brothers like the flying fish.”
“Mary Lou suddenly realizes that Mack calls the temperature number because he is afraid to talk on the telephone, and by listening to a recording, he doesn’t have to reply. It’s his way of pretending that he’s involved. He wants it to snow so he won’t have to go outside. He is afraid of what might happen. But it occurs to her that what he must really be afraid of is women. Then Mary Lou feels so sick and heavy with her power over him that she wants to cry. She sees the way her husband is standing there in a frozen pose. Mack looks as though he could stand there all night with the telephone receiver against his ear.”
“Harrison knew how to date. He made plans to go to dinner at restaurants where they could drink margaritas and hear each other talk. He took her to movies and then to a diner for grilled cheese. He always paid. He called when he said he would, and held the door for her. The first night she stayed at his apartment, he woke up early and came back with two cups of coffee.”
“He thought of asking her, but for no reason he could name, the silence between them seemed too hard to break.”