Percy's Themes

Loneliness is a terrible thing. No one ever wants to be lonely. Unlucky for Percy Jackson, the main character in “The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan he’s kind of an outsider. This is why loneliness and isolation is the main theme of this book, although there are other themes. The biggest theme in the book is isolation and loneliness because he was dyslexic and got expelled from every school he ever attended. Then once he found out he was a demigod which is a kid born of a Greek God and human that made him different even more. Due to being a demigod he also had to stay at a camp that was only demigods were allowed. Even though he was just like all the other demigods he wasn’t. He wasn’t because he was a son of the “Big 3”. This means he was a son of Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades. Percy is a son of Poseidon. He is the only son or daughter born of the “Big 3” since WW2 which is when they took the oath to not have any more kids because they were to powerful. So Percy was different and didn’t fit in the mortal and Greek God world. The second theme is love. Percy’s mother is captured by Hades Minotaur and is kept in the Underworld. Percy must battle some of the most powerful things known and unknown to man. But one thing is straight he loves his mom and his mom loves him. As Mrs. Jackson is being disintegrated by the Minotaur her last words are “I love you Percy, good luck”. Percy gets offered a part on the dark side but doesn’t take it because of his love towards his mother. In return Percy’s mothers love towards him is what fuels him to conquer evil and save his mother. Rick Riordan first took interest in Greek Mythology as a young boy due reading “Lord of the Rings”. He said he loved it so much that he read it ten times. This lead him to study Greek Mythology in high school and college (Riordan). Which then lead him to pursue his dream of being a full time author (Riordan). He got a huge idea of the book Camp Halfblood from where he taught in the summer, a summer camp. The events throughout his early years are what lead him to such a great book. The theme of isolation and loneliness is just like “The Outsiders”. Ponyboy and his group of friends are greasers. They’re outside of the click called the Soc’s which are the rich kids. All the kids pick on them because there poor and their hair has more grease then a Pizza Hut pizza. The Lightning Thief connects to The Outsiders because Percy is different from the other kids. Just like Ponyboy, he is different but only cause of how much hair grease he uses. Loneliness is not only a theme but the lifestyle. Because of isolation all the other themes tie into together, hand by hand.