Memory Quotes in The Lightning Thief

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember…something about my father. A warm glow. A smile. (3.99)

Percy's memory is more powerful than the lies his mom would have him believe. There are some memories that you can't erase. Percy constantly must choose between thinking of his father as this warm glow or as a cold, indifferent god.

Quote #5

I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class. (5.83)

The gods and immortals are able to manipulate the human world in big ways. Chiron alters the course of Percy's life by becoming Mr. Brunner and by magically becoming a member of the Yancy academy. He manipulates Percy's memory of how things actually happen. Percy is immune to the Mist that generates when gods and monsters interact with the human world.

Quote #6

"What will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals—they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come so-o-o far." (5.121)

The gods have a totally different understanding of memory by virtue of the fact that they have lived for so long and will live for so long. Their perspective on life is vastly different from a human's perspective. A human only really knows what has happened in his or her own lifetime. Is memory important to the gods? Do they care much about it?