Percy, however, must come to terms with the fact that the gods he thought were just characters are actually real beings with thoughts, feelings, rivalries, and alliances all their own. In other words, even if one doesn’t believe in the gods themselves, the gods’ sway over Western culture is impossible to ignore. Chiron, a centaur who posed as Percy’s Latin teacher at Yancy, insists that the Greek-style architecture that crops up all over the Western world is a testament to the staying power of these stories.

By tying Greek mythology to Western civilization as a whole, the novel makes the case that even if this particular polytheistic belief system no longer holds sway as religion in the present day, it nevertheless is alive and well in terms of culture. Though it started in Greece, it later traveled to Rome and in Percy’s present day, Mount Olympus is on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building in New York. Because of this, it’s a major shock for Percy when he stumbles upon Camp Half-Blood and learns that the Greek gods he thought were just stories aren’t just alive and well Mount Olympus has traveled from place to place as the epicenter of Western civilization has moved over the years. It also stems from the fact that in the stories, the gods and goddesses are mere archetypes, not necessarily fully fleshed-out individuals. This has to with the fact that as far as Percy is concerned, the gods and goddesses are entirely fictional. In school, the gods and goddesses are just characters in stories to Percy, and so they seem fundamentally unknowable. Percy first begins learning about the Greek gods and goddesses in school. This in turn begins to explain why the stories of Greek gods and goddesses are so relatable, and why these stories have persisted for millennia. It also shows that while gods may have outsize powers, in important ways, they’re not so different from the mortals who worship them. By humanizing the gods in this way, the novel is able to make the case that it’s extremely important to recognize a person’s (or a god’s) humanity, offer them respect, and treat them kindly.

From Medusa’s roadside fast food restaurant and sculpture garden to Dionysus’s obvious displeasure at being forced to run Camp Half-Blood and remain sober, all the gods and monsters read as distinctly human-just with magical abilities and a great deal of power. Though The Lightning Thief by its very nature concerns gods, Riordan nevertheless goes to great lengths to humanize (and add a humorous aspect to) every god, goddess, and mythical being in the novel.

The lightning thief by rick riordan