Greek Gods and Demi God: Finding the Truth about One's Self

In the book The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan is a book about a Greek demi god named Percy. To fully understand the whole book and series the reader should read it, but basically it’s about a boy who has special powers because his dad is Poseidon and he is a demi god, which basically means he is half god. In the spin off of the series, there are two camps specialized for demi gods. One is Greek and one is roman. Just like in the time period when Greek gods and myths turned into roman ones. There is a bunch of conflict in the book between both camps they both think they want to destroy one another. The book mainly focuses on getting Percy’s memories back.

           

Throughout the book Percy becomes more confident in his surroundings. At first he was self-conscious because he did not know anyone at the new camp and had no recollection of being part of another camp. He hated the fact that he had no idea who he was. Imagine the confusion of not knowing who you are and where you come from. He wanted to know every little detail about himself and he had no idea what his favorite color was. Being the new kid in a place is always hard; it’s even harder when no one knows who you are even yourself. New customs, new people, and a new place are what Percy was met with. He was regarded silently with suspicion because of his shirt and non-existing origin. If someone appeared at my doorsteps with no idea who they are I would also be taken aback. Percy was self-conscious but as the book progressed he became confident and sure about who he was even when he didn’t have a lot of memories of himself.  For example, in chapter 2 he enters the camp as an intruder then in chapter 3 the reader catches a glimpse of how everyone else in the camp views Percy. He was not welcomed, in fact many people in camp wanted to get rid of him because the campers and counselors believed he was not worthy of being a roman demi god. Percy at the middle of the book in chapter 15 he steps up and risks his life over and over again in order to save his friends during their quest. He doesn’t care anymore if he is someone important or not because he knows who he is. He is a kid who is loyal to his friends and is strong-willed and determined.  He is someone to be looked up to not only by campers but by counselors too.

           

This book may be a book read by 6^th graders, but a 8^th grader can gather enough details to have symbolic and powerful messages interpreted into it. This book is really fun to read but it also helps the reader learn. As the readers read they learn about roman and Greek gods, their names, stories, legends and myths. Not many people are informed about the awesome creatures Hercules used to battle of who Zeus is. It may not seem relevant but even the gods are symbolic. Each one has their strengths and their fatal weakness just like us. Percy himself did not have confidence in himself because he did not know where he was from but he learned to accept himself and do what he believed he should do. The power of finding ourselves is strong and powerful at least one time in our life everyone will question who they are and they are going to have to learn to believe in themselves and not care about be judged or picked on. Percy Jackson is someone who is fictional but everyone can learn something from him, his personality and his actions.