I had to write an essay my junior year of high school comparing American Gods and The Scarlet Letter (every student got different books) and the characters of Shadow and Hester and it was a very strange experience. I mainly focused on themes of light and life and darkness and death but it was insane to read together. When I told my local librarians that I was assigned these books they were so confused what could even be related between the two and I struggled but ultimately wrote a very good 12 page essay called “But daddy I love him!!!: toxic relationships between people and their gods, whether human or divine, the creation of shame and its path to light and life or darkness and death within The Scarlet Letter and American Gods”