Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief is a modern retelling of The Greek Legend of Perseus. They have similar plot lines and themes. Percy Jackson is a version of the Perseus story it just takes place generations later. Due to the fact that they take place in different times they have different challenges.
They follow the same path so they have similar events. For example, Percy fights medusa to get one of the pearls so he can get in and out of the underworld to save his mother (Columbus PercyJackson). But, Perseus went to kill medusa for a wedding present for the king. He was sent so that the King could get closer to Perseus’s mother because Perseus was the only thing protecting her from the King( D’Aulaire 116). Also, They both encounter the…show more content… For example, Percy Jackson and Perseus fit in the Prodigy category. They are both demigods with Fathers that watch over them and make sure they are safe. When percy was fighting Annabeth and was pretty well beat up, Poseidon sends him a message (through his mind) to tell him to go to the water which heals him (Columbus PercyJackson). Zeus does a similar thing to protect Perseus in the Legend of Perseus. “ Zeus gently steered the chest to the shore of an island, and a fisherman who was casting his nets hauled it in” (D’Aulaire 116). Another thing they have in common is the fact that their fathers were one of the big three. “ When he learned that Zeus was the child’s father he did not dare to lay hands on him” (D’Aulaire 115). When percy went to the camp and Chiron showed him his cabin, he figured out that he was the son of Poseidon (Columbus PercyJackson). This makes them both sons of the big three (Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon), by them being sons of such powerful gods, everyone is expecting them to be outstanding and they have to live up to that. Making them a prodigy. You could also argue that they are both misfits, but I would say that the Prodigy is the best…show more content… The theme that best fits both of these stories is the underdog. They are both the underdog because no one expects them to win. They face these impossible challenges, and they still come out on top even with the little experience they have. “Looking into the mirroring shield, Perseus swooped down, and with one stroke he cut off the Medusa’s head” (D’Aulaire 118). When Percy faced Medusa the same was true for him. He had no experience when he set off to find Medusa and the fact that no one had beat medusa before made him an underdog (Columbus PercyJackson). And then there is the fact that they were both so young when they fought they’re monsters, no one expected an adult to defeat these monsters much less a teenager. Perseus was the underdog when trying to defeat the sea monster because everyone fled after the sea monster and no one expected to win againsts the monster. Also, you could argue that the theme is Brains over Brawn because of how creative they are when they defeat the monsters.
Percy Jackson is based on the Perseus legend (with a few changes to make it modern) and that becomes very evident when looking at them side to side. You can see this because of the events, hero archetypes, and the themes they share. There are just too many similarities for them to not to be related. The evidence speaks for itself. Percy Jackson is a modern retelling of The Greek Legend of
