The Lightning Thief Conflict Essay

The Role of Conflict in The Lightning Thief
The novel The Lightning Thief, written by Rick Riordan, tells the story of a 12 year-old boy named Percy Jackson, who struggles with school, bullies, and supernatural powers. The story takes place in modern-day New York and is narrated by Percy Jackson. Percy Jackson lives in an apartment in Manhattan, New York with his mother, Sally Jackson, and his stepfather, (Smelly) Gabe. Percy goes to Yancy Academy, a boarding school, where he shares a dorm with his strange friend, Grover Underwood and puts up with Nancy Bobofit, the bully. Throughout the story, Percy deals with repeating conflict including his struggles with school, bullies, nature, and supernatural powers at work around him, making this story a tense and exciting adventure.
The conflict begins in the first chapter when Percy and his friend Grover are on a class field trip to a museum.

During the bus ride, Percy and Grover are pelted by sandwich pieces by Nancy Bobofit. It is all Percy can do to restrain himself from hitting Nancy, but Percy has already been threatened with suspension if he does anything mildly annoying outside of school. When they arrive at the museum, they are given a thorough tour of the museum by Mr. Bruner, their history teacher who seems to enjoy Greek and Roman mythology. After the tour, the class eats lunch outside, overseen by Ms. Dodds, the pre-algebra teacher. During lunch, Mrs. Dodds asks Percy to follow her. They end up in the Greek and Roman exhibit in the museum. She tells Percy to confess what he has stolen and he will suffer less pain. Percy hasn’t stolen anything (besides a candy stash) so he is confused. When he says he is not sure what she is talking about, Ms. Dodds changes into a monster. When this happens, Mr. Bruner enters the room and tosses Percy a pen, but when it lands in his hand, it’s a sword. Percy takes a wild slash with the sword and vaporizes Ms. Dodds.
At the end of the school year, Percy arrives home to his apartment.

He finds out that he and his mom are going to Montauk for a vacation at the beach. In the middle of the night, a severe thunderstorm sets in and Grover arrives in the middle of the night saying that something is following him. He looks at Percy’s mom and she tells Percy and Grover to get in the car. As they speed down the road, Percy asks his mom where they are going. She replies that they are going to a summer camp where Percy’s original father would want Percy to go. When they near their destination, their car is blasted off the road by lightning, knocking Grover unconscious. It is during this time that Percy realizes that they are being chased by the Minotaur, a monster half man and half bull. The Minotaur grabs Percy’s mom and seemingly kills her, dissolving her into a flash of light. Yelling in rage, Percy defeats the monster by ripping off its horn and stabbing it in the gut with its horn. Percy then drags Grover over the hill, and collapses on the porch of a house at the foot of the other side of the

hill.
When Percy wakes up, he finds out that he is at the summer camp called Camp Half-Blood, and that the Greek gods and mythology are real. He additionally learns that King Zeus is missing his lightning bolt and that Percy is responsible for stealing it. Subsequent to learning this, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are issued a quest from the mysterious oracle at camp, to find Zeus’s lightning bolt and return it to him safely.
Throughout Percy, Grover, and Annabeth’s quest, conflict arises repeatedly including fights with monsters, gods, and fights among themselves, making their quest to save Zeus’s lightning bolt tense and exciting at every turn. Riordan’s strong characters, rough conflict, and occasional comic relief will keep readers on the edge of their seats, eager to find out whether or not Percy and his friends will find and return the lightning bolt. Without these characters or these conflicts, The Lightning Thief would not be as extraordinary as it is.