Edward Richardson

Prof. I

ENG 111 05

10/16/17

Essay #3 Prompt #3

Percy Jackson Character Analysis

The book Percy Jackson The Lightning Thief by: Rick Riordan portrays a young boy as

he discovers that he is not the normal boy that he thinks he is. In reality, he possesses

capabilities beyond his belief. He becomes a hero. Within the novel, Percy learns to accept and

use these capabilities beyond imagination in an effort to save his mother. Percy undergoes

change from the beginning of the novel to the end in many ways. (Riordan, 2006)

Percy is a very troubled boy, as he has been to six different schools within the past six

years. (Johnson, 2007) He is diagnosed with ADHD. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

lacking attention and executive functioning skills: how to respond to social cues. (Slomine,

2005) and dyslexia which leads to poor speech and reading skills.(Conway 2008). Unlike the

other boys and girls around him, Percys family struggles financially, and because of all of these

issues, he has found it safer to become a loner. This enables him to be able to adapt to his

various surroundings and circumstances without standing out in the crowd.

Although Percy wasnt prepared for what the future held, he would soon be confronted

with many new problems in his life he will need to resolve. Due to learning he is a Demigod, his
character begins to change. Percy meets Annabeth, a daughter of Athena. Annabeth explains to

Percy that his diagnosis of ADHD, dyslexia, and his attention problems are all symptoms of

being a half-blood. Letters appear to fly off of what he is reading because his mind is trying to

interpret it into Greek writing. His ADHD and inability to remain still in a classroom are merely

just his battle instincts that are heightened since he is a half-blood. He also sees a lot more

around him than what a normal human would. As a half-blood, his senses are better than any

regular persons. He learns rather quickly he will need to be brave to accomplish the task. Percy

bravely confronts Ares and does not hold back. They end up in a fight with each other and Percy

wins after a hard-fought battle, Percy lasts long enough until an ominous force causes Ares to

retreat. The Furies had seen the fight, and recognized that Percy had not stolen anything. They

return to Hades with the helm of darkness as a peace offering of sorts. Now Percy and his

friends needed to get to Mount Olympus.

As a result, he becomes a leader while developing into a hero (Keczer, 2016) in his group

of Demigod friends. As stated by Keczer, ...different social groups can have different heroes in

the same culture (Keczer, 2016). Though he suffers from ADHD and dyslexia, these challenges

are overcome by him realizing he can no longer be a loner. Though it goes against his character

of being a longer, he changes and realizes he needs to help of others to accomplish his task that

will change the outcome for others. As a result, Percy is now viewed by others as trusting and

driven.

In all, Percy was an outcast who suffered from ADHD and dyslexia and didnt

even function properly in school at the beginning of the story. Through Percys many trials and

experiences, he comes to accept who he is a real hero. He comes to terms that he is a half-blood

who is the son of Poseidon. Percy also becomes much more aware of what his capabilities are,
and he has developed into a brave and courageous hero from all of the frightening battles that he

overcame in his journey.

During the research for developing this paper, I found the best solutions for my support in

journal articles. The articles expanded my knowledge of ADHD, dyslexia and character

development to become a hero. I did not realize dyslexia leads to poor speech and reading

comprehension. I always thought dyslexia meant you turned numbers around on your paper.

Surprisingly, the articles I read were both current publications and past publications with a few

changes to the definitions. ADHD now has executive functioning skills attached to the

diagnosis. Executive functioning skills are a major part of social interactions with your peers

and society. Those diagnosed with ADHD have trouble reading social cues and responding to

society.

Works Cited

Johnson, Vivian G. The Lightning Thief. Language Arts Vol. 84:1, 2007. Internet

Riordan, Rick. The Lightning Thief. New York: Scholastic, 2006. Print.

Keczer, Zsolt, et al. Social Representations of Hero and Everyday Hero: A Network Study from

Representative Samples. Plos One, vol. 11, no. 8, 2016, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159354.

Slomine, Beth S., et al. Differences in Attention, Executive Functioning, and Memory in

Children with and without ADHD after Severe Traumatic Brain Injury. Journal of the

International Neuropsychological Society, vol. 11, no. 05, 2005,

doi:10.1017/s1355617705050769.

Conway, Tim, et al. Neural Substrates Related to Auditory Working Memory Comparisons in

Dyslexia: An FMRI Study. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, vol. 14,

no. 04, 2008, doi:10.1017/s1355617708080867.