How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are." (4.22)
How confusing it must be for Percy to be a demi-god who doesn't know he's a demi-god. Especially when his innate powers can't help but show themselves from time to time (like when Clarisse ends up in the fountain in the front of the NYC museum). Compare the way Chiron and Grover handle Percy's knowing about his godlike powers to the way Dumbledore and Hagrid help Harry Potter understand that he is a wizard in The Harry Potter series.
Quote #8
"Yes. Read The Iliad. It's full of references to the stuff. Whenever divine or monstrous elements mix with the mortal world, they generate Mist, which obscures the vision of humans. You will see things just as they are, being a half-blood, but humans will interpret things quite differently. Remarkable, really, the lengths to which humans will go to fit things into their version of reality." (10.62)
Perhaps demi-gods like Percy have the toughest job. They have to exist in both the mortal and non-mortal world, and they have to understand the way in which their actions might be interpreted (in two very different ways) by both mortals and humans. That's enough to stress a person out!
Quote #9
"There you have it, America." Barbara Walters turned to the camera. "A man torn apart. An adolescent boy with serious issues. Let me show you, again, the last known photo of this troubled young fugitive, taken a week ago in Denver." (17.96)
It's funny that the mortal world chooses to see Percy as a fugitive and only later changes their minds. The fact that Barbara Walters reports on Percy shows us that he is national news, a subject of national concern. He's big news. What does the fact that humans choose to see Percy as a fugitive from the beginning tell us about humans and how they see the world? Could you say that Smelly Gabe creates his own "Mist" that he throws over the eyes of America?