43 pages • 1 hour read
Rick RiordanThe Chalice of the Gods
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Ganymede’s Chalice
Percy spends almost the entire book searching for the chalice of the gods. It becomes a central symbol of his success on his quest. It also connects to the theme of Embracing the Passage of Time. The chalice will make anyone who drinks from it immortal, so it could be very powerful and dangerous in the wrong hands. Ganymede thinks that one of his enemies has taken it. He suspects former divine cupbearers Hebe and Iris. It turns out Geras, the god of old age, has stolen the chalice to prevent new people from becoming immortal. Percy can only get the chalice back by embracing old age and accepting that growing old and dying are a privilege. Aging makes it possible to grow as a person and to have meaningful new experiences, which is something the gods cannot do.
Ganymede’s predicament is tied to the chalice. If he were to fail to get it back in time for Zeus’s feast, he would probably lose his immortality and have to return to normal human life. Even though he is miserable working as the divine cupbearer, Ganymede refuses to even consider becoming human again. One of The Challenges of Being a Demigod that Percy constantly deals with is that he lacks autonomy. He has to complete quests for gods who are, more often than not, completely ungrateful. He considers leaving the chalice with Geras and forcing Ganymede to lose his immortality. Even though Percy believes that mortality is better than immortality, he decides that he values Ganymede’s autonomy. Zeus chose Ganymede’s fate for him, so “[i]f [Percy] chose to wreck his life for his own good, without his permission, [he] wasn’t much better than Zeus” (241).
Iris’s Staff
Before she took on her current role as the goddess of rainbows, Iris was a messenger goddess. She has a staff called a kerykeion that once allowed her to travel quickly, but she has not used it in a long time. Although Iris does not want her former job back, she remains nostalgic about it; Embracing the Passage of Time is difficult for her, as it is for many of the Greek gods. In exchange for information, Percy and his friends have to clean the staff in the river Elisson. Cleaning the staff is just one of the many Challenges of Being a Demigod. Nobody gives Percy any clear instructions, and he receives few thanks for completing quests for Iris or for any other god. He is expected to take on immense personal risk and usually sustain some kind of serious injury to do things the gods could easily do themselves.
For Percy, the staff is ultimately a symbol of The Power of Friendship and love. He uses it to generate rainbows that distract the fearsome serpents that are chasing Grover and Annabeth. Just as he thinks all hope is lost, he imagines telling Annabeth how much he loves her, and the staff transforms him into a rainbow and transports him to her. It is easy for Percy to get caught up in his quests and to take all the responsibility for himself, but it is essential for him to remember that he is not alone. His girlfriend and his best friend are crucial in his adventures, often saving his life.
Percy’s Demigod Powers
As a son of Poseidon, Percy has several magical powers. He is an exceptional swimmer who can control and summon water. He can also breathe underwater and communicate with marine animals and horses. His powers are a motif that illustrates The Challenges of Being a Demigod. Percy must learn when it is appropriate or necessary to use his powers. Percy alludes to several times when he has lost his temper and caused plumbing systems to explode. He has to take care not to be too good at swimming when he is at school so that nobody becomes suspicious of his abilities. In many ways, Percy is an ordinary teenager, but he has to shoulder much more responsibility than most 17-year-olds.
Percy’s powers come in handy when he has to clean Iris’s staff. He is able to flood Elisson’s river, cleaning it and the staff at the same time. His actions force Elisson to respect him and to allow him and his friends to escape. As a struggling student who has ADHD and dyslexia, Percy sometimes feels like a failure and wonders if he will be able to graduate from high school. His powers are an important reminder that he is, in fact, a powerful and capable boy with skills most people could not dream of possessing.
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By Rick Riordan
