Death

Death is usually a motivator for many of the texts’ characters. The characters seem to want to avoid death at all costs or acquire vengeance for the death of a loved one. In stories like “Black Dog,” Shadow Moon’s fear of death as well as his frustrations with his father cause him to stand up to the Black Dog and save his life. Also, in "January Tale," it is apparent that the motivation for fighting the temporal war is to avoid death.

Shadow has more knowledge regarding death than most people, as he has seen that it is not always absolute due to the divine nature of some of the world’s inhabitants. The non-absolute nature of death is also symbolically explored in “The Sleeper and the Spindle.” The victims of the sleep plague are not dead, but they act as if they are. When...