| Summary: | 碩士 === 華梵大學 === 外國語文學系碩士班 === 101 === Gods brought to America by immigrants from all over the world and other native American gods, are all facing the same fate of losing their power in a commercialized world, where the media competes against these old-world deities for believers. In light of Baudrillard's theory of consumerism, the paper reviews and analyzes the system of the "producing-consuming" cycle in which gods have become objects and signs that are offered to be consumed by human beings, yet ironically the protagonist who refuses to be manipulated is symbolically named "Shadow"--signifying the dilemma or the lack of free choice in a consumer society. In Chapter One, I will introduce the main concerns of this thesis briefly, and then summarize the plot of American Gods in relation to Gaiman's representation of the consumer society in the novel. In Chapter Two, I want to bring the focus to our protagonist Shadow, and the purposes and the influences of the journey will be discussed. In Chapter Three, I will conclude the thesis by an interpretation of Shadow’s refusal to play god as a Baudrillardian "total indecision" in a society of excessive consumption.
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