The Heroes of Olympus Book 2
The
Son of Neptune
By Rick Riordan
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RICK RIORDAN
Richard Russell Riordan Jr. better known as Rick Riordan is
The New York Times bestselling American author of the Percy Jackson and
Olympians series. Born on June 5, 1964, Rick Riordan grew up in Texas. He
attended the Alamo Heights High School, graduating in 1982. For higher
education Rick enrolled at the University of Texas in Austin double majoring in
English and history. After graduation from the university in 1986, Rick Riordan
chose teaching for a career. For 15 years Rick taught English, history and
Greek mythology at various middle schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and in
San Antonio. In 2002, he was presented the St. Mary’s Hall’s first Master Teacher
Award for his exceptional teaching services.
Rick began to enjoy writing from an early age. He made many
unsuccessful attempts of publishing his short stories in teenage years. At
school, Rick was appointed the editor of the high school newspaper. It was not
until graduation from college and teaching in San Francisco that Riordan took
writing seriously.
Riordan’s son, Haley who was diagnosed with ADHD and
dyslexia held a keen interest in a subject his father taught, Greek mythology.
Then in the second grade, Haley would often request upon Rick to tell him
stories inspired by Greek mythologies. In order to fulfill his son’s request,
Riordan quickly invented the character of Percy Jackson, a twelve year boy who
suddenly discovers he is the son of a Greek God. Riordan began a creatively
crafted imaginative tale of Percy’s expedition to bring back Zeus’s lightning
bolt in present day America. After Rick finished telling the story in three
nights, Haley requested him to write down the story as a book. Not wanting to
disappoint his son, Riordan took out time to write down the story. To show his
respect and care for dyslexic children, Riordan attributed some characteristics
of this disease to Percy. Thus, Riordan’s world famous Percy Jackson series
came into being.
SOURCE ABOUT RIORDAN’S BIOGRAPHY\
MAJOR
CHARACTERS:
Percy Jackson:
A Greek demigod who has lost his
memory and wandered into a Roman demigod training camp, the Camp Jupiter. His
father is Poseidon (Neptune), the Greek sea god, also known as Neptune in Roman
Mythology.
Hazel Levesque: Daughter of Pluto (Hades)
and Nico's half-sister.
She has been recently resurrected by Nico from her death in 1942 at the age of
13 and lives in Camp Jupiter. She has a crush on Frank Zhang. She is an African
American demigod from New Orleans.
Frank Zhang: A son of Mars or Ares in Greek. He is a Roman demigod at Camp Jupiter, a camp for Roman demigods.
He has a crush on Hazel, which she reciprocates. He is a Chinese Canadian.
Ella:
An intelligent talking harpy and became friend with Percy, Hazel and Frank
uring their journey on Portland.
Nico di Angelo:
Son of Pluto and Hazel’s half-brother. He is also known as “Pluto’s ambassador.”
Reyna
Avila Ramirez-Arellano:
The Praetor of the Camp Jupiter, daughter
of Bellona, the Roman
goddess of war. It is found that Reyna and her sister Hylla were servants of the witch Circe, whom Annabeth and Percy had killed in The Sea of Monsters.
Gaea: The goddess of the Earth. She’s
planning to destroy the gods and the world along with
them. She has created seven children, all of whom are giants. Each of these
giants is matched to fight a god who is an enemy.
Octavian:
A blonde-haired boy holding a teddy. The ceremonial
leader in the Camp Jupiter
MINOR CHARACTERS:
Juno: Also
known as Hera in Greek. She wiped away the memories of Percy and Jason to unite the two
demigod camps and she presented Percy Jackson to the Romans as the son of
Neptune.
Mars: The Roman God of war (Ares).
He sent the three (Percy, Hazel & Frank) to the quest.
Alcyoneus: Gaea’s
son and destined to defeat Pluto (Hades).
Polybotes: He’s
also Gaea’s son and destined to defeat Neptune (Poseidon).
Thanatos:
Pluto's lieutenant and the god of death.
Tyson:
A Cyclops and Percy’s half-brother.
Queen Hylla Ramirez-Arellano: Amazon’s queen and
the sister of Reyna
Jason Grace:
A Roman demigod and the son of Jupiter. He also lost his memory
and Juno swapped him to Percy into a Greek training camp, the Camp Half-blood.
Settings: (Arranged
according to order, from 1st setting to the last)
-
San Francisco, California
-
Camp Jupiter
-
Canada
-
Hubbard Glacier, Alaska
THEME:
For
me the story tackles about friendship, teamwork
and duty and sacrifice. Let me
explain.
Friendship:
True friends can accept
who you are and whatever the past you have. In the story,
Percy Jackson had lost his memory. He can’t remember anything about his past
accept the name of his girlfriend, Annabeth
and wandered at the Roman training camp. When he arrives at Camp Jupiter, he is assisted by two
new friends, Frank and Hazel, the two Roman demigods who take him under their wing. And when the time came that Percy gained his
memory, he told Hazel and Frank that he is a Greek demigod. The two accepted him with all their hearts even
there’s a past history of conflict between their races, Romans and Greeks. Also
Hazel and Frank had bad experience in their past which is the reason why they
became outcasts in the Camp Jupiter. Hazel helped Gaea to raised Alcyoneus
while Frank is affected about the bad issue of his grandfather. The two didn’t
want to tell about their secret past to each other, even to Percy because they
don’t want lost the friendship they have.
Teamwork:
The three need to unite and help each other to defeat the
giants. Its just like, “More heads is better than one.”
Duty and Sacrifice:
“Duty
and sacrifice, they mean something.”
−
Rick Riordan from The Son Of Neptune
We will see the proof of that quotation to
the most exciting part of the story. When the three questers found Thanatos,
they have to free him and fight the monsters. Percy and Hazel handled the monsters
while Frank went and tried to flee the God of death through burning his piece
of firewood where his life defends on it. Frank knows that if his piece of
firewood will consume, he will die. And if he will flee Thanatos, Hazel will
die for she was once dead but Nico has been resurrected her. Despite of these
circumstances, Frank did his duty. He know as a leader of the quest he have to
do his duty to save the world even he and Hazel, the girl he loves will going
to die after he flee Thanatos. He’s willing to sacrifice his life to finish the
quest for he knows that even he and Hazel will die, they’re going to leave a
great legacy for what they did because of the quest. And because of sacrifice
they are rewarded at the end of the quest, there still small remaining piece of
firewood for Frank to continue to live and Thanatos tells Hazel that he has no
orders to take her back to the Underworld, so she is free to continue living.
TYPES OF CONFLICT:
·
Man vs. self
·
Man vs. man
Man vs.
self
To
me, the biggest conflict in the Son of Neptune. Percy has to overcome
his state of being without a memory. Percy describes his period
of no memory as tough and frustrating. He can only remember
the name Annabeth. There are many times when Percy is upset that he cannot
remember anything. In some moments he needed his memory to connect the
dots about the quest they were going to try and solve. Also Hazel and Frank have
to overcome the bad experiences in their pasts.
Man vs. man
The
people consist of Percy and his friends and Gaea. The only way to keep the
world from being destroyed is to rescue the god of death but the god of death
is being held capture by Gaea. Percy has to fight Gaea throughout the entire
book. Percy is very frustrated about the tying he has to go through with Gaea.
PLOT:
Circular (ln Medias Res)
Introduction:
Percy Jackson has spent three days battling the snake-haired
ladies, and frankly, he wishes they'd just stay dead. No matter how many times
he's killed the gorgons, they turn up several hours later, ready to battle him
again. To top it off, he's found himself in San Francisco with no memory of how
he got there and only a dim memory of his past. He does remember his
girlfriend, Annabeth, and waking up in Wolf House about two months ago. But
that is all.
When he awoke in Wolf House, he'd been given a magical pen that
turns into a bronze sword. The sword is named Riptide. As Percy escapes from
the gorgons for the umpteenth time, he spies a maintenance tunnel guarded by
two Roman soldiers. Something tells him that this is where he's supposed to go,
but it means crossing a busy divided highway to get there. An old woman
appears, looking like a deranged hippie, and tells him that his suspicions are
correct. He needs to go to the tunnel because it's actually the entrance to a
camp. The old woman, called June, gives Percy a choice. He can leave her here,
at the mercy of the gorgons, and run to the ocean where he'll be safe for
eternity; or he can carry her with him into the camp.
Rising Action:
If he leaves June, then the gods will die, everyone he knows will
die, and the earth will be destroyed. Percy opts to carry June to the camp. The
closer he gets, the heavier June becomes, but he struggles to complete the
task. The Roman guards, who are teenagers like Percy, are named Hazel and
Frank. They help him evade the gorgons who have followed him into the tunnel.
When they get to a river, June informs Percy that if he crosses the river, he
will lose his invincibility. If he doesn't cross, the world will end.
Thinking of Annabeth, Percy carries June across the river to the
Roman camp just beyond it. The gorgons capture Frank. Percy then commands the
river water to fight the gorgons so they are forced to release Frank. Once they
reach the other side, June transforms into the goddess Juno and informs
everyone at the camp of Percy's identity. He is the son of Neptune. She also
warns that if the god of death is not released by the Feast of Fortuna, then
they will not be able to defeat their enemies.
Conflict
Conflict:
it’s started when Gaea, the goddess of Earth planning
to destroy the gods and the world along with them. She has created seven
children, all of whom are giants. Each of these giants is matched to fight a
god who is an enemy. That why its require to unite the Romans and Greeks along
with the seven half-bloods to defeat the her and the giants.
Complication:
Frank helps Hazel and Percy set up
battle stations in the attic. He holds off the giants by shooting potatoes at
them, which causes their disintegration, while Percy and Hazel go to the garage
and drive Grandmother's Cadillac outside. The giants destroy the house, but
Percy and his friends escape to an airfield where a plane has been chartered to
take them to Alaska. The harpy Ella won't ride on the plane, so she takes
refuge in the forest.
Suspense:
Once in Alaska, the three demigods
take a train to the Hubbard Glacier but are attacked by gryphons along the way.
Frank uses the last charge of his spear to raise the skeletal warrior so it can
save the other passengers while he and his friends escape. Percy then falls
into a bog, but Hazel jumps in to save him. She is tempted by Gaea to betray
her friends, but resists Gaea's offer. She learns that Gaea has taken her
brother, Nico, prisoner. Hazel saves Percy, and the three continue their quest. When
gryphons attack them again, Hazel makes what she thinks is a futile attempt to
call Arion, whom they left in Canada. Arion arrives in time to save the
demigods, and then carries them across the water to the Hubbard Glacier.
Climax:
The climax is when the group finds
Thanatos, the God of Death, they have to flee him and fight the monster. Percy
and Hazel handled the monster while Frank went and tried to flee the God
of Death.
Resolution:
For me, there’s no resolution. It
hasn’t done yet. The story will continue to the next sequels of the book: The Mark of Athena, The House of Hades and
The Blood of Olympus.
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