Essay Example on Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief: Literary Analysis

Any author of reading material will always try to appeal to the readers from any generation. Readability and fun are supplements to the majority of the literary works. The book, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan, is based on Greek Mythology and narrates a story about Percy Jackson, a young teenager. The author employed several literary devices, styles, aspects etc. However, this essay will seek to highlight its literary analysis by focusing on such literary work as title, setting, character, first-person narration, tone, diction, and use of sharp details; as used by the author.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The title: The book's title can refer to someone who has stolen lightning. However, we find Percy, the main protagonist, showing up in the Underworld with his backpack carrying Zeus's stolen master bolt. Later, we understand that Luke had taken the Hades's helm of darkness and the master bolt. Thus, the "lightning thief" is Luke. The author uses this aspect of theft to keep the readers throughout the central conflicts revolving around the theft of Zeus's master bolt.

Setting as a literary device is very vital when depicting the environment or world where the characters find themselves in. Rick Riordan, the book's author, utilized a variety of setting aspects to have some fictitious places incorporated with reality. It induces a sense of mystery to the readers; thus, the story becomes more enjoyable. The setting starts at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts in Manhattan; a densely populated borough in New York City, where Percy Jackson - the protagonist - faces his first challenge. Mrs Dodds, his teacher, turns into a Fury, also known as a Kindly One, who has to be defeated or else Percy dies. The protagonist defeated Mrs Dodds after Mr Brunner, his teacher, gave him a pen which turned into a sword for slaying the Fury. However, he started doubting himself when no one is seemingly not remembering the teacher at all. He found out that there is something wrong, especially when Grover, his bad-lying friend, seemed to be aware of what is going on, though he is trying to cover it up. The setting is then moved from the museum to a fictional place called Yancy Academy, where the protagonist is enrolled. In this setting, the protagonist finds out that Grover and Mr Brunner are keeping secrets from him. Percy and his mother (Sally), along with his friend Grover, went to the Camp Half-Blood, a place for demi-gods. On the way, they are ambushed by a Minotaur. Minotaur captures Sally and dissolved into a golden light, as his friend Grover is knocked unconscious. After observing his mother disappearing, Percy, in a fit of rage, attacks and slays the beast with its broken horn. Percy drags Grover into a farmhouse in Camp Half-Blood and passes out screaming for help. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a tent where he is being healed. He learns he is a demi-god and his father is Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. Rick Riordan then moves the setting to Los Angeles where Percy, Grover and Annabeth find the entrance to the Underworld battling monsters along the way. The author now changes the setting is from reality to fiction; as Percy and his friends travel to the Underworld to get back Zeus's master bolt. Percy, at this point, finds out that Hades' Helm of darkness is also missing and he believes Percy took it. Percy then flees from the Underworld with his friends where he finds that Ares is the culprits behind the thefts and challenges him to a duel to obtain the items. He then returns the items after winning the duel, and Hades sends his mother home. The setting continues in Camp Half-Blood, where he learns that Luke is the mastermind behind the thefts. Luke poisons him after he disagrees with joining him. The environment ends when Percy wakes up in Camp Half-Blood and is given a choice to go home or stay at the camp (Riordan, 2010).

Character as a literary device: Rick Riordan created a variety of characters in the story. The characters which he chooses are very memorable, and the reader tends to like them immediately as they quite accurately represent the Greek mythology. Among the characters notably presented are as follows: There is Perseus Jackson, mostly called Percy, who is the main protagonist in the story. He is the son of Sally Jackson and Poseidon - Greek god of the sea. He travels to the Underworld with his friends to save his mother and prevent an all-out war between the Greek gods. The second character is Sally Jackson, who is the mother of Percy. The Minotaur kidnapped her and given to Hades god of the Underworld to force Percy to come to the Underworld. Another character is Annabeth Chase, who is a friend to Percy too who accompanies him to the Underworld to prevent the war. She is the daughter of Greek's goddess of wisdom - Athena. She helps him battle a variety of monsters from Camp Half-Blood to the Underworld. She dreams of being an architect in future. Another character is Grover Underwood, who is a best friend to Percy and is a magical beast called a satyr, who is half-goat and half-human. Grover's goal is to become a searcher, to look for the god Pan (Riordan, 2010).

First-person narration's literary aspect: Percy Jackson is telling us the story of his 6th-grade year and the summer that followed that year. He 'warns' the readers that the story he is going to narrate is 'a dangerous one'. He describes everything, including his life's welfare and his feelings about other characters. To the readers, it seems like Percy's diary is being read.

Tone: Percy's tone is hilariously sarcastic and ironical a bit. This is seen from the book's Table of Contents, with such titles of chapters as "We Get Advice from a Poodle" and "I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom." (Riordan, 2010). For instance, the phrase "I Become Supreme Lord..." is declarative, then, "...of the Bathroom" is a more declarative lead; thus, surprisingly takes the readers and catches them off-guard.

Diction as a literary style: Rick Riordan mostly employs the use of simple words in the story. Typically, the readers targeted are no more than 12-years-olds. Therefore, phrases and wordplays are relatively elementary. Any older reader with more reading experience could find the choices of words to be just intellectually insulting.

Another aspect of Rick Riordan's literary work is that it is sharply detailed. He aims to have the readers induced with abilities to understand and imagine everything happening as precisely as he saw it. Therefore, a lot of details have been presented, which describes the setting on wherever Percy goes. Moreover, Percy, at some point, was brief in his narration. For instance, there is a moment when says: "Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal." From this statement, the readers are visualizing him ditching Grover at the terminal. The readers understand Percy's feeling of guilt since he uses the terms of the situation as "confession".

Works Cited

Riordan, R. (2010). The lightning thief. White Plains: Disney Hyperion eBook.