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, Pathos and Logos.” According to the studies of
Professor Fahnestock, Aristotle is well-known for his intelligence, studies and discussions regarding the
“systematic understanding of logic, physics, astronomy, meteorology, metaphysics, theology,
psychology, politics, economics, ethics, rhetoric, and poetics.” Additionally, the Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy goes into great detail regarding Aristotle’s Rhetoric. As stated by this philosophical
encyclopedia, “the systematical core of Aristotle's Rhetoric is the doctrine that there are three technical
means of persuasion.” In this statement, the word “technical” implies two characteristics: First, technical
persuasion must be built on a method involving the knowledge of what it truly means to be persuasive.
Secondly, the technical means of persuasion must be prepared by the speaker himself and cannot
involve oaths, witnesses or testimonies as these examples are considered to be non-technical. Finally,
technical means of persuasion can exist in the character of the speaker, in the emotional state of the
reader/hearer or in the logic of the argument itself.
The “Rhetoric Triangle,” as previously stated, is comprised of Ethos, Logos and Pathos which
have become known as Aristotle’s ingredients for persuasion as they are all means of persuading others
to absorb the writer’s intended point of view. Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and is a means of convincing
someone of the character or credibility of the persuader. In order to appeal to Ethos, the credibility of
the character in the novel, for example, must be proven to those they surround themselves with. One
way to quickly appeal to Ethos is to ask the question, “What makes this person qualified to perform the
tasks at hand?” In addition to Ethos on the Rhetoric Triangle, Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and is a
way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating an emotional response. One example of
appealing to Pathos would be to say, "Better men than us have fought and died to preserve this great
nation. Now is our turn to return the favor. Fight for God and our country, gentlemen!" Finally, Logos is
an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason. One example of appealing to Logos
is to use logic, data and facts in an argument. For example, "The Honda Civic is better than the Scion TC
Coupe as the Honda Civic has been proven to have higher fuel economy rating, a tighter turning
diameter, more standard features and is better priced in comparison to the Scion TC Coupe."
Rick Riordan is the author of The New York Times #1 best-selling Percy Jackson & The Olympian
series. The first book of the series, titled The Lightning Thief, was written by Rick Riordan and released in
2005. The main character in this fictional epic and fantasy novel is named Percy Jackson. Percy is a sixthgrade student that, due to his dyslexia, is faced with the dilemma of failing out of his school yet again.
This, however, are the least of young Percy’s problems. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of
Mount Olympus become a reality rather than myth and each of them have seemed to have taken an
interest in Percy. For his own safety, Percy is taken to a camp hidden from the eyes of mortals called
Camp Half-Blood. Here he learns that he is what’s known as a half-blood: half-mortal and half-god. The
reason for Percy’s sudden reality check is that he is the prime suspect in the theft of Zeus’ source of
power: the master lightning bolt. Unfortunately, Percy and his friends from “camp” are tasked with a
quest and have only ten days to find and return Zeus’ lost property in order to bring peace to the
warring Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek gods. In order to succeed on his quest, Percy must
catch the true thief while simultaneously coming to terms with the godly father that abandoned him in
his childhood and solving the riddle of the Oracle, which warns of betrayal by a close friend.
Ethos, as previously mentioned, is an appeal to ethics and is a means of convincing someone of
the character or credibility of the persuader. In the original novel by Rick Riordan, Chiron is Percy’s
teacher and instructor while Percy is staying at camp half-blood. When Percy met Chiron, Chiron was
hiding his true form from Percy which caused Percy to develop some trust issues toward his new
teacher. Eventually, Chiron gained Percy’s trust when he armed Percy with a magical weapon and when
he revealed his true centaur form to Percy. This is an appeal to Ethos as Chiron is attempting to establish
his own credibility to Percy. Additionally, there is an appeal to Ethos during Percy’s tour of Camp HalfBlood. As Chiron walked Percy throughout the camp grounds, Percy was introduced to the camp’s
archery range, the weapon forges, the battle area, the obstacle course which involves lava, the concept
of capture the flag with a fighting twist and how the cabins were separated by godly parents. Through
his tour, Percy was able to see that everything he has been told pertaining to the gods had to be true
through the evidence all around him.
Additionally, Logos is an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason. In
this mythological novel, landmarks and monuments all over the United States in reality are connected to
mythological places. For example, Mount Olympus is located on the 600th floor of the Empire State
building. Also, a casino in Las Vegas that exists to tempt those who enter to stay forever as the building
is a time paradox where time seems to continue but is stopped in reality. These examples are perfect in
its appeal to Logos because it had this whole undiscovered world of Greek Mythology living right in front
of the mortal world in disguise. Finally, Percy’s mother told him to stay at camp half-blood so that he
could continue his demigod training and so that he would be safe from the monsters that exist to kill
half-bloods. Percy’s mother urges him to seek logic and become fully trained before attempting to
return home, far away from the safety of the camp’s shields.
Lastly, Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an audience of an argument by
creating an emotional response. In the beginning of the book we are shown Percy’s weaknesses in
school, especially his mother’s feelings towards his inability to succeed academically with the rest of his
peers. This causes the reader to connect to the story emotionally as they witness Percy struggle to live
up to the expectations of his parents. Additionally, throughout his life, Percy felt abandoned by his
unknown father. At camp he discovers that he is the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea. This appeals to
Pathos because at the end of the book, Percy completes his quest and goes to mount Olympus where he
is finally able to talk to his father. Lastly, hatred is emphasized in this novel through the personality and
actions of Hades. Hades, as explained by Rick Riordan, was made the god of the underworld through a
deceptive con by his brother Zeus. Hades is a prime example of a character being consumed with hatred
as he loathes the gods for his exile into the underworld and his eternal task of watching over the
underworld and keeping track of the dead’s punishment.
According to Gerard Wood, Columbus was attracted to The Lightning Thief for its originality. He
explains, "I think Rick Riordan tapped into something quite unique, comparing the world of the ancient
Greeks with the underbelly of contemporary America." One main difference in the film adaptation in
comparison to the book is that Percy was a twelve year old sixth grader in the book but was seventeen
in the film. Columbus states, "In the book, he was twelve years old. It was just much more fun to make
him seventeen. With that age, we could play with Percy and Annabeth and their relationship." Another
noticeable difference between the film and the novel regards Percy’s godly powers. In the movie, Percy
quickly discovers and seems to master his power quickly. Critic Gerard Wood is displeased with this
information difference and says, “forget years of training to develop and master his powers: one
moment he has no powers, the next it is all at his command.” Unfortunately, Columbus also left out all
of the plot information regarding Ares, the god or war, whose character played a key role in the betrayal
of the gods on Mount Olympus and would later introduce the greatest evil of all: Kronos.
Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone of the character or
credibility of the persuader. One way that the movie appeals to Ethos is with the actions of Percy’s
mother. Her current boyfriend is abusive, angry, lazy and an all-around pathetic individual but she
remains by his side. Percy’s mother stayed with this man in order to protect her son from wrath of the
gods and the hunger of monsters as neither could sense Percy’s demigod blood over Gabe’s odor. She is
credible because she sacrificed her happiness for her child’s safety. Additionally, Percy’s father was
absent throughout his entire life up until the ending of the movie. With sadness in his eyes, Percy’s
father, Poseidon, explained to him that the reason the sea god could not directly be a part his own son’s
life was because of the laws that governed the gods, specifically that gods were not allowed to be in
direct contact with their demigod children. Because of his explanation, Poseidon gains credibility as a
father figure in the mind of Percy.
Logos is an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason. In the film, Percy
learns that he is the son of “The Big Three,” which means he is the son of one of the three most
powerful gods. Since his father is one of the most powerful gods, that makes Percy one of the most
powerful demigods. Because of his tremendous undiscovered power, he is more easily sensed by
vengeful gods and deadly monsters that exist all over the world. Additionally, an appeal to Logos is
made when Chiron speaks with Percy alone on the shore. Chiron tells Percy that although going to the
gods first would be a brave action, he implores Percy to seek reason. Chiron tells Percy that without
proper training he will surely be killed as the Minotaur and the demons that serve hades are just the
beginning when it comes to the dangers that lurk outside the safety of Camp Half-Blood. Finally, the
Athena cabin is known for their gift of coordinating an unbeatable battle strategy. An appeal to Logos is
seen as the Athena group lists their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and creates a plan for victory.
Lastly, Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an audience of an argument by
creating an emotional response. This form of rhetoric is shown throughout the movie and seems to be
the best tool used in grasping the attention of the targeted audience. An appeal to Pathos is made
through the underworld plot in general because Percy’s mother is being held hostage by Hades, god of
the underworld. In efforts to save his mother, Percy leaves the safety of the camp’s protective shields
and goes on a quest to save his mother and receive the master bolt. The audience is able to connect
emotionally to this scenario because of the love each of us shares with our parents. While in the
underworld, another appeal to Pathos is made through the actions of Hades. The demigods are filled
with fear from the treats and power of Hades. This is a strong appeal to Pathos because fear, like love,
can be either extremely motivating or extremely disheartening. Finally, an appeal to Pathos through love
is made throughout the movie as the audience witnesses a development in the relationship between
Percy and Annabeth. Poseidon and Athena are the godly parents of these two demigods, but
unfortunately both of these godly parents hate each other. In the words of Annabeth, “I have strong
feelings for you, Percy. I just have not decided if they are positive or negative yet.” This shows that there
can either be great love or great hatred between these two demigods. In the end, it is obvious to the
audience that their relationship will soon blossom to great heights.
In conclusion, both Rick Riordan’s book The Lightning Thief and its film adaptation show
strength in their uses of Aristotle’s “Rhetoric Triangle.” As previously assumed, the quality of the movie
is directly related to its rhetorical effectiveness. This assumption is proven correct through the
successful uses of Ethos, Logos and Pathos throughout the novel and its film adaptation. Furthermore, it
was previously stated that a great piece 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. 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.
Work Cited
Rick, Riordan. The Lightning Thief. New York, New York: Disney and Hyperion Books, 2005. Print.
Rapp, Christof. "Aristotle's Rhetoric." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2 May 2002. Web. 27 Jun
2013. <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/ >.
Fahnestock, Jeanne. "The Appeals: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos." Tripod. Web. 27 Jun 2013.
<http://members.tripod.com/butler_s/f2002-1002/appeals.html>.
Wood, Gerard. "Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief." Science Fiction World. 09 Feb
2010. Web. 27 Jun 2013. <http://sciencefictionworld.com/films/fantasy-films/472-percy-jackson-a-theolympians-the-lightning-thief.html>.