71 pages • 2 hours read
Rick RiordanThe Lost Hero
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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Dreams
Early on in the book, Clovis explains to Piper and Jason that he knows a lot about mythology and the gods because he spends so might time sleeping and dreaming. His words turn out to be prescient: each of the characters gains important information about their allies as well as their enemies in dreams.
In dreams, it seems the barriers between the mortal and immortal words are thinner; both gods and giants can communicate through them. However, dreams rarely provide all the necessary information. Messages from dreams must be inspected for clues before real-world action can be taken.
Myths
This book contains modern reinterpretations of many myths. While the gods resemble the gods of classical myths, they have also made a home in New York. Likewise, the backstories of fictional characters like Medea and King Midas get new twists: Medea claims that the anti-feminist sentiment of her time gave her a bad rap, while King Midas laughs at the idea that he would ever repent. As the novel retells and reinterprets ancient Greek and Roman myths, it encourages that it, too, be decoded.
Decoding
Dreams, prophecies, and symbols all must be decoded to be properly understood. From the significance of Jason’s proclivity for all things Roman, to the meaning of Lupa’s words when she calls Jason her “saving grace,” to Rachel Dare’s prophecy, meanings are not usually on the surface of things. Saving the world depends not on charging forward blindly, as Coach Hedge would like to do, but on assembling all the pieces of a puzzle.
Greek Versus Roman Culture
Jason is a Roman demigod, and while the main motivations for the conflict between Greek and Roman demigods remain unclear in this book, the differences between the two cultures crop up many times. Roman gods are described as harsher and more warlike than their Greek counterparts. Roman demigods are raised by wolves, while Greek demigods are raised by a centaur, Chiron. These differences in nature and nurture have great significance, which are further explored in the other volumes of the trilogy.
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