What is the theme for chapter 8

The main theme in chapter eight of Percy Jackson is edification. It is evident from the chapter that Percy is on a road to self-discovery and learning. The first activity that Percy undertook at the camp was to learn ancient Greek as depicted in the statement below;

Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird . . . Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least, no harder than English. After a couple of mornings, I could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache.

Archery is another art that Percy was taught at the camp. Chiron tries to teach Percy archery despite the fact that the latter is not good at it.

Chiron tried to teach me archery, but we found out pretty quick I wasn't any good with a bow and arrow.

Additionally, Percy tried to learn wrestling and foot racing but eventually realized that he was not good at both activities. Learning at the camp was unending for Percy who also undertook sword-fighting lessons from Luke as evident in the statement below;

Thursday afternoon, three days after I'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor. We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor.

However, all this time Percy was even more eager to learn who his father was. Not even the other campers knew who his father was and they were all as eager to find out as evident in the statement below;

I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching me, trying to decide who my dad was, but they weren't having an easy time of it.

Eventually, at the end of the chapter, Percy is able to learn that Poseidon was his father. Percy and the other campers are able to establish this after a hologram of green light and a trident occur in the sky above them at the end of the games;

By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.

Chiron describes the sign as that of “Poseidon . . . the Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God.” Thus, from these words, Percy is able to learn his true identity and establish Poseidon as his father. Thus, Percy is able to learn new things in his life making edification a key theme in the chapter.