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Grover
Percy’s mom is a beautiful woman with long brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. Her story is tragic: her parents died when she was little, the uncle who raised her was distant, and his death kept her from finishing high school or attending college. Mom had a brief fling with Percy’s dad, but they never got married—instead, she married Percy’s stepfather, Smelly Gabe, when Percy was little. Mom is extremely kind and generous, so Percy doesn’t understand why she puts up with Gabe, who’s cruel to her. Mom works in a candy shop and makes sure to bring home blue candy whenever possible as an inside joke between her and Percy. She adores Percy and never makes him feel bad for getting expelled. Early in the story, the Minotaur seemingly kills Mom in its attempt to kill Percy, but Percy later discovers that Mom is being held in the Underworld by the god Hades. Percy adores his mother above all else, so although he agrees to go on the quest to help Poseidon, he secretly hopes that he’ll be able to save Mom. However, once Percy reaches the Underworld and comes face to face with Mom, who’s frozen, Percy realizes that he won’t be able to do this: he doesn’t have the tools to save Mom as well as his friends Annabeth and Grover. Knowing that Mom would be furious if she knew Percy turned over a friend and let the gods go to war on her behalf, Percy agrees to leave her behind. When Percy returns to New York, he learns that Hades returned Mom home as well, after receiving his helm. Once Percy reunites with Mom, he makes a shocking and horrific discovery: Gabe isn’t just cruel, he’s physically abusive. Mom insists that she’s trying to leave, but she needs to do it on her own terms and not let Percy get rid of Gabe for her. Percy leaves her Medusa’s head to petrify Gabe. Mom eventually does, and she uses the money from the sale of her “first sculpture” (Gabe) to pay for her first term of college.
Mom/Sally Jackson Quotes in The Lightning Thief
The The Lightning Thief quotes below are all either spoken by Mom/Sally Jackson or refer to Mom/Sally Jackson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
“I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud.”
I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.
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Chapter 7
Quotes
“That’s the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens.”
“You mean sometimes it doesn’t?”
Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. “The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and don’t always...Well, sometimes they don’t care about us, Percy. They ignore us.”
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Chapter 10
Quotes
“You should be grateful, Percy. Your stepfather smells so repulsively human he could mask the presence of any demigod. As soon as I took a whiff inside his Camaro, I knew: Gabe has been covering your scent for years. If you hadn’t lived with him every summer, you probably would’ve been found by monsters a long time ago. Your mom stayed with him to protect you. She was a smart lady. She must’ve loved you a lot to put up with that guy—if that makes you feel any better.”
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Chapter 19
Quotes
I felt like my heart was being ripped in two. They had both been with me through so much. [...] I had spent thousands of miles worried that I’d be betrayed by a friend, but these friends would never do that. They had done nothing but save me, over and over, and now they wanted to sacrifice their lives for my mom.
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Mom/Sally Jackson Quotes in The Lightning Thief
The The Lightning Thief quotes below are all either spoken by Mom/Sally Jackson or refer to Mom/Sally Jackson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
“I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud.”
I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7
Quotes
“That’s the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens.”
“You mean sometimes it doesn’t?”
Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. “The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and don’t always...Well, sometimes they don’t care about us, Percy. They ignore us.”
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10
Quotes
“You should be grateful, Percy. Your stepfather smells so repulsively human he could mask the presence of any demigod. As soon as I took a whiff inside his Camaro, I knew: Gabe has been covering your scent for years. If you hadn’t lived with him every summer, you probably would’ve been found by monsters a long time ago. Your mom stayed with him to protect you. She was a smart lady. She must’ve loved you a lot to put up with that guy—if that makes you feel any better.”
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19
Quotes
I felt like my heart was being ripped in two. They had both been with me through so much. [...] I had spent thousands of miles worried that I’d be betrayed by a friend, but these friends would never do that. They had done nothing but save me, over and over, and now they wanted to sacrifice their lives for my mom.
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