IXL | Analyze passages from The Lightning Thief: Part 1

Read the following passage from The Lightning Thief. In this excerpt, Percy, the narrator, talks about going to a rented beach cabin with his mom (but without Percy's stepfather, Gabe).

Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.

I loved the place.

We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.

As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.

We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine.

We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.

I guess I should explain the blue food.

See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.

How does Percy's mom most likely feel when at the cabin?

She feels frustrated by its shabby condition.

She feels a sense of comfort and ease.

She feels overwhelmed with emotion.

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Read the following passage from The Lightning Thief. In this excerpt, Percy is talking with his friend Annabeth after fighting a tough battle on their quest.

I was pretty much in shock myself. The explosion of bus windows still rang in my ears. But Annabeth kept pulling us along, saying: "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."

"All our money was back there," I reminded her. "Our food and clothes. Everything."

"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight—"

"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?"

"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine." [ . . . ]

We sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry.

After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to me. "Look, I . . ." Her voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."

"We're a team, right?"

She was silent for a few more steps. "It's just that if you died . . . aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over. This may be my only chance to see the real world."

The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind us, leaving us in almost total darkness. I couldn't see anything of Annabeth except a glint of her blond hair.

"You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?" I asked her.

"No . . . only short field trips. My dad—"

"The history professor."

"Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is my home." She was rushing her words out now, as if she were afraid somebody might try to stop her. "At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not."

If I didn't know better, I could've sworn I heard doubt in her voice.

Which of the following themes is developed in the passage?

Family has an extraordinary influence on who people become.

Facing challenges is an important part of developing one's identity.

A person's response to failure can either lead to further failure or to success.

solution

The details in the passage support this theme:

green checkmark, Facing challenges is an important part of developing one's identity.

Annabeth is eager to experience challenges in the real world and to see if she is actually prepared to fight monsters. She has been training for this her whole life, but she seems to be doubting her abilities. So, seeing what she is capable of in battle will help her to develop a stronger sense of self.

These themes are not developed in the passage:

red X symbol, Family has an extraordinary influence on who people become.

The passage briefly mentions Annabeth's dad, but it does not suggest that family has an impact on who people become.

red X symbol, A person's response to failure can either lead to further failure or to success.

Responding to failure is not discussed in this passage.

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Not feeling ready yet? These can help:

G.2Draw inferences from literary texts

Q.2Identify supporting details in literary texts

F.5Analyze the effects of figures of speech on meaning and tone

B.2Determine the themes of short stories

B.New!Determine multiple themes of short stories

C.2Compare and contrast characters

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