Where is sacrifice portrayed in the novel American Gods?

Sacrifice is portrayed in a variety of ways in the novel American Gods. The god characters in the story survive on the sacrifices that humans make to them, willing or otherwise. One example of an unwilling sacrifice is the child sacrificed each year to Hinzelmann in Lakeside, Wisconsin. Even though the sacrifice is instigated and carried out by Hinzelmann himself, the townspeople’s unknowing complicity in it effectuates it as a sacrifice. Another example of sacrifice unwillingly given by humans is Wednesday’s grifting, which is a means of extracting small, unwitting sacrifices from his human victims.

The most powerful sacrifice in the book, however, is not from the humans to the gods – it is Shadow’s sacrifice of himself to Wednesday, which has unintended results. Shadow, Wednesday’s son, agrees to stand vigil for Wednesday by hanging for nine days from the World Tree, Yggdrasil, or perhaps just an approximation of it, and having his side pierced by a spear. Shadow dies as a result of his sacrifice, but after a trip through the land of the dead, he is resurrected by Easter. Thus, Shadow’s sacrifice leads not to Wednesday’s rebirth, as Wednesday intended, but to Shadow growing more powerful.