Godliness vs. Humanity Theme Analysis

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. 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. 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. It also shows that while gods may have outsize powers, in important ways, they’re not so different from the mortals who worship them. 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.

Percy first begins learning about the Greek gods and goddesses in school. In school, the gods and goddesses are just characters in stories to Percy, and so they seem fundamentally unknowable. This has to with the fact that as far as Percy is concerned, the gods and goddesses are entirely fictional. It also stems from the fact that in the stories, the gods and goddesses are mere archetypes, not necessarily fully fleshed-out individuals. 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. 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. 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. 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. In other words, even if one doesn’t believe in the gods themselves, the gods’ sway over Western culture is impossible to ignore.

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. While he initially follows his friends at Camp Half-Blood as being as reverent as possible of the gods and goddesses, his quest helps him to see that the gods aren’t just beings to be revered—in important ways, the seem almost human and thus can (and in some cases, should) be treated or thought of just like any other person. This is most telling when Percy, Grover, and Annabeth enter the Underworld. They feel wildly unprepared to take on Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guards the gates of the Underworld—but they soon discover that the stories about Cerberus didn’t exactly get his personality right. He may be a fearsome beast, but he also loves rubber balls and clearly doesn’t get enough playtime or exercise. By playing with Cerberus, they learn that he’s not just a terrifying monster—he’s a dog, first and foremost, and he might not be so mean if someone were to give him the attention he wants. The same thing happens when Percy meets Hades: Percy can tell that while Hades might be the keeper of the Underworld and is therefore thought of as an evil deity, he’s not all that bad. He simply yearns for recognition from his brothers Zeus and Poseidon, and in an ideal world, he’d like to get out of the Underworld now and then—a desire that Percy can understand entirely. Most importantly, Hades follows through on his promise to return Percy’s Mom to him when Percy returns Hades’s helmet, something that solidifies Percy’s conception of Hades as a decent, if somewhat scary, guy.

Through these experiences, Percy doesn’t begin to view the gods as any less powerful or important, but he does begin to recognize the necessity of not seeing them just as otherworldly, divine beings. They may be that, but they’re also parents learning how to be parents, lovers figuring out how to see each other behind their spouses’ backs, and siblings constantly negotiating their relationships to each other. Through this, the novel makes the case that even the most terrifying and powerful entities are, at the end of the day, human—and should be treated as such: with respect, dignity, and compassion.