Bringing Greek Mythology into American Story: a Formulaic Analysis of Rick Riordan’s the Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle

Abstract

This study discusses about Greek mythology which is brought into American story in the novel entitled The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan. The adventure events are represented through Greek mythology and it is combined to American culture. Greek mythology is the media to present American culture as the new formula of adventure story of hero story. American culture and Greek mythology are related to each other. Thus, I analyze it using formula theory by John G. Cawelti who presents the elements of adventure story and formula and culture. Formula cannot be seperated from culture because the story is about two different culture. The standardization of the story is needed to find the standard of the story based on the culture and the general rules of adventure story. Escapism as one of formula element is needed to know the contextual background and the purpose of the novel creation. American culture and Greek mythology will be analyzed using these elements of formula to reach the goals of this analysis. Qualitative research is used in this analysis bacause the object of analysis is a novel. There are two kinds of data in this research, primary data and secondary data. The primary data are taken from the narrative structure, statemnets and dialogues in the novel which are related to the research questions. The secondary data are taken from library and internet such as books, thesis, journals, e-books and websites which are related to the topic discussion. As the result, it can be concluded that the construction of adventure story and formula and culture are presented in the novel. Greek mythology is used to represent the hero as American superiority, because America does not have a mythological hero. It makes America creates a hero using Greek mythology because Greek mythology is the foundation of western culture. Riordan created a different superhero based on Greek mythology to show American superiority. Riordan also brings the issue in America. He creates some of the characters in the novel to represent LGBTQ community in America. It is done to make the reader respect to the existence of LGBTQ community, especially for the young readers. It can motivate the young readers as LGBTQ that they should be confident. The readers also can learn about Greek mythology through the story in the novel. It can be concluded that the idea of writing formula by Riordan presents the new construction of formula which can reach the popularity of the novel and the issue in American culture and society