Rhetorical Effectiveness in The Lighting Thief by Rick Riorden

In today’s society, we are exposed to countless amounts of compositions such as novels and films. However, when an individual reads a book or watches a movie, they subconsciously create connections to the plot as they relate it to their own lives. After the movie is completely watched one is able to sit down and ask himself, “Did I like that movie?” While an average person could give a simple yes or no answer, a professional in the field of reviewing movies and novels knows that the quality of the movie is directly related to its rhetorical effectiveness. If one were to attempt an analysis of a film or book’s rhetorical effectiveness, they would need to reference what is called the “Rhetoric Triangle” which is comprised of Ethos, Logos and Pathos. These three devices can be classified as tools for persuasion, thus, a great piece of work will have each of these tools. An excellent example of a novel that successfully incorporates each of these forms of rhetoric is titled The Lightning Thief and was written by Rick Riordan and published in 2005. Riordan made this book so successful through his vivid portrayal of a Greek mythological world hiding within reality all across America. The written genre of The Lightning Thief provided the foundation for Chris Columbus to create film adaptation of the novel in 2010. Chris Columbus’ film representation of the novel The Lightning Thief (2005), while proving to be disappointing in regards to the plot when compared to the novel, both representations were able to clearly create connections to Aristotle’s three ingredients for persuasion: Ethos, Logos and Pathos.

In recent times, Professor Jeanne Fahnestock has devoted her thoughts and efforts to understanding what she calls “The Appeals: Ethos,...

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...ece of work will successfully incorporate each of these forms of rhetoric. Another point that was made was that Rick Riordan’s plot in the novel was far superior to the film adaptation. The movie was simply missing and altering too much of the plot. So, why is the book better than the movie? There are infinite details within a novel that are commonly not transferred into the film adaptation simply because the movie would have an extremely long duration. The original book is more rhetorically effective because it has far more details than its film adaptation and therefore has more room to work with in regards to its appeals to the Rhetoric Triangle. Although the plot of the movie loosely resembled the details in the plot of the novel, both representations were able to clearly create connections to Aristotle’s three ingredients for persuasion: Ethos, Logos and Pathos.