Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief
Chapter One:
We meet the protagonist, Percy Jackson. Percy tells us he is a half-blood. He goes to a school called Yancy Academy in upstate New York. He gets into trouble a lot. He is dyslexic and has ADHD. His best friend is Grover and his favourite teacher is Mr Brunner, the Latin teacher. There is a bully named Nancy Bobofit and a scary maths teacher named Mrs Dodds.
They go on a field trip to the museum. He gets in trouble when Nancy blames him for pushing her into a fountain. Mrs Dodds takes him inside and turns into a monster and tries to kill him. Percy vaporizes Mrs Dodds with a pen that is actually a sword. She vanishes and no-one remembers her. Everyone says she never even existed.
Our main character, Percy, is not exactly the “model” student. Yet, the author does an effective job at making him a “likeable” character. Describe this paradox.
The author makes an amazing job making us feel bad for Percy - he tries to do the right thing but things always seem to go wrong. He genuinely seems like a nice guy.
It was unexpected that Percy would be bad on the trip to the museum because he said “ This trip, I was determined to be good.” -page 3. That’s why when he ‘allegedly’ pushed Nancy Bobofit into the fountain I was shocked.
Chapter Two:
Percy struggles after the museum trip. He keeps thinking about Mrs Dodds and no one else remembers her. He finds studying for his exams difficult. He goes to ask Mr Brunner for help but overhears Mr Brunner and Grover talking about him. He gets kicked out of Yancy and takes a bus back to the city with Grover. The bus breaks down and they have to get out. Three old ladies are sitting on the side of the road knitting massive socks. The old ladies are staring at Percy. Grover gets really nervous. One of the ladies (middle one) snips the yarn, which freaks Grover out even more. They get back on the bus and keep going back to the city.
In this chapter, the author does a very good job in building a tone of suspense and danger.
How does he do this?
(use examples from the text)
He does it by making everyone around percy behave weird “When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn’t exist. But I knew he was lying.” -page 16. That is how the author naked a good job in giving a tone of suspense and danger.
Details: Grover and Mr Brunner talk about Percy so they can save him “....worried about Percy, sir.” -page 19. “Now let’s just worry about keeping Percy alive until the next fall—” -page 19 “Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me.” -page 28
Chapter Three:
Percy leaves Grover at the bus station and goes home to his mother’s apartment. His step father ‘Smelly Gabe’ doesn’t like him. Percy and his mother borrow Gabe’s car and go to the montauk beach and stay in a cabin. Percy asks about his father but his mother doesn’t tell him much. A storm hits. Percy has a dream about a horse and an eagle fighting on the beach. Grover arrives in the night and they have to leave urgently. They get in the car and begin quickly drive away. Percy sees that Grover isn’t wearing pants, and he has goat legs.
Chapter Four:
Percy has questions for both Grover and his mother, but they arwe driving too quickly for answer. They are being chased by something. The car crashes and Grover is hurt. Percy and his mother get out. Percy sees that the monster chasing them is the Minotaur from Mr Brunner’s stories. Percy’s mother tells him to run but he says he wont leave her or Grover behind. They try to carry Grover but the Minotaur attacks. Percy’s is turned into golden dust and disappears. Percy fights the Minotaur. He beats the Minotaur and rips its horn. When Percy wakes up, he is in a farm house being looked after by a strange girl.
Chapter Five:
Percy wakes up and finds out he is at a summer camp called Camp Half-Blood. Percy finds out that Mr Brunner is there but that his name is actually Chiron. He is also meets the camp director, Mr D. Percy is told that the greek gods are actually real and that his father is one of them but no-one knows which god it is. Percy learned that Mr D is actually Dionysus ( A greek god) and Mr Brunner/Chiron is a centaur. He learns that Grover is actually a satyr and he meets a girl named Annabeth.
Chapter Six:
Chiron is thousands of years old and is a trainer of heroes/heroines. Percy learns that all the kids at camp half-blood are demi-gods or 'half-bloods'. This means that they are half god -
one of their parents is a god and the other is a mortal human. Each god has a cabin for their
children at the camp. Percy is put in cabin Eleven which is Hermes' cabin because he is
'undetermined' (they don't know which god is his father). Annabeth shows Percy around the
camp and he meets Clarisse. Clarisse is the camp bully, and her father is Ares, the God of
War. Clarisse tries to beat up Percy but somehow the toilets explode.
Core:
Chiron seems to present more unanswered questions than he answers in this chapter. Find examples of ambiguity and/or missing information
In chapter 6 there are a number of times when Chiron seems to avoid directly answering Percy’s questions or he seems to know more than he’s telling us. One example is on page 77 when Chiron says “..... the unfortunate… ah…. fate of your mother.” By using punctuation and using the word ‘fate’ instead of ‘Death’, the writer makes it feel like Chiron knows more about what has happenned.
Another example is on page
Chapter Seven:
Rumours about Percy and the bathroom incident with Clarisse spread like wildfire. Percy continued to be shown around camp half-blood by Annabeth. Annabeth tells Percy to talk to the Oracle. Percy begins to learn more about the camp and the rules. Percy watched the campers put some of their food into the fire as an offering for the gods. Percy offers his dinner to the fire and says “Whoever you are, tell me, please.” Luke steals some toiletries and a sleeping bag for Percy.
Core:
This chapter ends with percy finding some comfort in his new surroundings. What factor contributed to his new sense of well-being?
At the end of the chapter, Percy thinks about how this place seems to be OK - he begins to feel like it is home (p. 106) “I felt like I was home” and “I wish I’d known how briefly I’d enjoy my new home” - Percy saying he enjoys it here is a sign that he is comfortable.
Comparing this moment to earlier in the chapter (p. 94) when he says “That’s it! I want to go home now.” when he is introduced to even more strange creatures, making him question if everything is real. Also during this chapter, Percy begins tp have more conversations with people like him, particularly Annabeth and Luke, which it makes it seem like he is making friends. Until now, Percy said that his only friend is Grover.
Language:
How does the author effectively use descriptive words and phrases?
The author used descriptive language on page 100 when the author wrote “tracing her finger across the rail as if drawing the battle plan.” I thonk the author tried to show us a better image of annabeth and what she was thinking about. Another time when the author used was on page 100 when the author wrote “everybody was talking and horsing around” I think the author tried to show that everyone was playing around and being silly.
Chapter Eight:
Percy takes classes at camp like archery, sword fighting and canoeing. He isn't good at
anything except canoeing. Luke teaches the kids sword fighting. Percy isn't very good. He gets tired and pours water on his own head and suddenly gets a surge of energy and beats Luke. But then Luke beats him
Again. The whole camp plays capture the flag. Percy is ambushed by Clarisse and some other kids from cabin 5. They attack Percy and wound him. Percy steps into the water and his wounds
heal - he also becomes stronger, beating Clarisse and the other kids. Percy's team wins
capture the flag - they used Percy as a decoy to keep Clarisse busy. Percy is angry at
Annabeth for using him like this. A hellhound attacks and badly hurts Percy. Chiron kills it
and says someone in camp must have summoned it. The campers watch as Percy's wounds
heal again in the water and a sign appears over his head, a trident. He is claimed by
Posiedon, the sea god, and his father.
Chapter Nine:
Percy moves into cabin three and is the only one there. Poseidon is one of the Big Three
And isn’t meant to have any half blood children. Grover come to get Percy, telling him Mr D and Chiron want to speak with him. Percy learns that Zeus is angry - someone stile his lightning bolt and he thinks it was Percy. Chiron tells Percy to speak to the Oracle - a mummy in the attic who give Percy a vision of his quest and a cryptic message. Chiron tells Percy he will need to speak to Hades in the underworld.