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Alex
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Lea Ann
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P.
So far, Laura seems to me to be one of Shadow's personal goddesses. He deified her, and posthumously she failed him as a saviour. She comes back as a fallen god-like figure to aide him through his journey. It is known that ancient gods and goddesses were symbols of natural catastrophes and even human thoughts and emotions.
Laura was a type of demi-god in life, and was fully deified after her death through shadows reverence of her, but fell and became a shattered version of herself, just like all the other deities. A human being can be the inspiration for a god; the same way jesus christ is viewed as the mortal version of the almighty himself in christianity.
Laura was a type of demi-god in life, and was fully deified after her death through shadows reverence of her, but fell and became a shattered version of herself, just like all the other deities. A human being can be the inspiration for a god; the same way jesus christ is viewed as the mortal version of the almighty himself in christianity.
Anna Maria anonimia
Don't ask! Don't you see the book is written on purpose to make you feel stupid for 'not getting' references and meanings? This is the main point of this work: not to entertain, not to explain, not to create beauty, not to pass a message. Just to annoy the reader that dares have questions and a taste.
Doug Wykstra
She comes back from the dead because of the gold Leprechaun coin Shadow throws in her grave.
From a narrative standpoint, she has two functions: She gives Shadow an initial reason for going along with the gods' plans (because one of them might be able to bring her back to life), and she serves as a corpus ex machina, occasionally appearing to get Shadow out of jams when there's no other way to save him.
As far as her greater significance, I like a lot of these responses, particularly Lea Ann's part about sacrifice. That makes a lot of sense!
From a narrative standpoint, she has two functions: She gives Shadow an initial reason for going along with the gods' plans (because one of them might be able to bring her back to life), and she serves as a corpus ex machina, occasionally appearing to get Shadow out of jams when there's no other way to save him.
As far as her greater significance, I like a lot of these responses, particularly Lea Ann's part about sacrifice. That makes a lot of sense!
Andrew
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Sydney Erickson
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Laura
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Gbolahan
She had no significance.
No one knows why she came back from the dead.
There was no point of having her in the first place.
No one knows why she came back from the dead.
There was no point of having her in the first place.
Sebastián González Sierra
She's maybe a deus ex machina. But, simbollically, I think she is the thing keeping Shadow from moving on.
Kate
This wouldn't dare to be a book about America without a Dead Girl. Laura coming back, in my eyes, was Gaiman's take on the worn-out trope of a woman serving her man only in death, her absence the inciting incident that begins the real story.
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