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  • Essay / Greek Mythology in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

    Greek Mythology in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan focuses on Greek mythology and interprets it in a story for children. Throughout the story, there are many references and adaptations to mythological tales, and each is represented in a different way. Riordan writes this story as if Hercules, Zeus, and Poseidon still existed today, and this would be the effect they would have on people today. Percy Jackson is the main character of this story, who is a demigod, who mortals are after. His name is short for Perseus and his father is one of the three great gods, Poseidon. He has dyslexia and ADHD, which Riordan may have deliberately added to the character, to show that he is supposed to be a hero and is not doing well in school. This shows that school is not what he is good at and that he is destined to be a hero and save people. The character Grover, who plays Percy's best friend, parallels a satyr who is human from the waist up and a goat from the waist down. and is a companion of the God of Wine, Dionysus, who we later learn is the director of Camp Half-Blood. As a reader, Grover is portrayed as a very concerned friend throughout the beginning, however, we know that he is more than that, and it is his job to protect Percy from any harm that may come to him. Grover himself shows some signs of heroism, especially towards the end where he offers to sacrifice himself so that Percy can save his mother (Riordan, 2005, p.316) "He can torture me until I die, but he won't have me forever. .' and as a reader, Grover may seem a bit stupid and clumsy, but it makes us admire Grover and forces us to rethink our opinions about Grover.The main mythological...... middle of paper... ...you don't realize it until you analyze the text and look at it. I believe Riordan does this, because these are the places where today's Gods and Heroes would be found. In big cities, where young children aspire to go, which makes the story much more accessible to an audience who doesn't know much about the myths and can't interpret the story, and also gives you a modern perspective of mythology. Overall, Riordan uses different mythological characters to create a modern adaptation of the story of Perseus. Riordan does it in a way that younger audiences could understand and even relate to today. The main point Riordan is trying to get across is this idea of ​​heroism and using children's imaginations to achieve it. However, he doesn't just use Percy to be portrayed as the hero, he also uses Grover and Annabeth who both help Percy in his quest..