Percy's efforts to find the lightning bolt in Rick Riordian's The Lightning Thief

This thesis attempts to analyze Rick Riordian's novel entitled The Lightning Thief. This novel tells about Percy who is accused as the lightning thief by Zeus, the god of sky in Greek mythology. He must find the lightning bolt to be free from the accusation. This study focuses on Percy as the main character. The purpose of this thesis is to describe Percy's characterization and his efforts to find the lightning bolt. Besides that, it is also to reveal the effects of Percy's effort through the story in the novel. Based on the discussion above, this thesis applies hierarchy of needs by Abraham Maslow and new criticism as supporting theory. This thesis applies the descriptive qualitative method in conducting the research. The result of this study shows that Percy is characterized as kind, loyal, brave and tricky. Percy has fulfilled all his needs from the lowest needs to the highest needs. He can find the lightning bolt and successfully proves that he is not the lightning thief. The impacts of Percy’s success to find and return the lightning bolt are: Percy is free from the accusation as the lightning thief and he is more confident to live in mortal world. Besides that, the war can be avoided, Percy can save his mother.