A Perfect Hero - Grade: 95 PDF

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Essay on what makes a perfect hero...

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ENGL 1011 19 October 2015 A Perfect Hero Is there such a thing as a perfect hero? Can a hero have the same everyday problems as you and I? Many of you have read stories or comics where the main hero is portrayed as perfect. Many times, these images undermine the readers, making them feel that they aren't perfect or that something is lacking from them. People who challenge these beliefs write pieces of literature known as resistant texts. A resistant text is simply a text that changes either a popular belief or piece of work. Many times, this author also has another agenda behind his writings. For example, they might want to change something that is widely accepted. The Lightning Thief, the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, is one such example. The Lightning Thief can indeed be considered a resistant text. Though it is indeed the canon, or original, text it can be considered as a resistant text. It can be said that the author, Rick Riordan, wrote The Lightning Thief to challenge the popular belief of the “perfect” hero’s and to show society how wrong it is about that belief. In his books, all the Greek hero’s are afflicted with one of two, or some cases both, disorders; Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, (ADHD) and Dyslexia. This is not a common occurrence in many of the most popular book. In most cases, the hero is always shown as perfect in almost everyway. For instance, Superman is undefeatable except with the use of kryptonite. (Clark) This is a classic example of the fact that it is popular for the hero to not really have an obvious weakness or disability. This does not always have to be the case. This is why having books like The Lightning Thief is so important. To show the world that it's okay to be different, and that no one is perfect. Not everything has to go along with the popular belief.

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You may have heard of the Hero's Journey. It is a theory proposed by Joseph Campbell, that whether on purpose or not, is widely practiced today. It basically outlines what key characters in any story are and what they do. Though there is no set format for any story, you will see that many stories follow Campbell’s theory. In Campbell’s theory, there are seven main characters types; the Hero, the Herald, the Mentor, the Threshold Guardians, the Trickster, the Shape-shifter, and the Shadow. A character in a book or film is not restricted to just one character type, but can be more than one. A clear example of this is that often the mentor and the herald are the same person. (Hero's Journey) The first character in the Hero's Journey, the Hero, is the one that has to “save the world” or something of a similar manner. The Herald is the one that starts the hero on his/her journey. The herald does not have to be a person however, and can be an event that takes place. The Mentor is the person that gives guidance and advice to the hero. The Threshold Guardians are the minions of the evil that the hero is trying to stop. They are there to provide challenges for the hero to overcome, whether they are actual people or within the hero's own mind. The next character type on the list, the Trickster, is the person that provides the comical relief to the story. The Shapeshifter is a character in the story that changes. This could mean a good person turning bad, a bad person turning good, etc. The last character type is the Shadow. Of all the character types, the Shadow is the most important. The Shadow is the great evil that the Hero rises up against (Hero's Journey). Though no story has to follow this format, many do. The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series are not any different, however it follows the Hero’s Journey in its own way. In the series, Percy Jackson is the hero. He is the main focus of the books through the original series. Unlike most heroes however, his life was fairly happy before he started his

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journey. Most heroes’ originally are very angry, sad, or have been abused, etc. Many times they have nothing to keep them safe and feel loved, until they go on their quest. “My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone” (The Lightning Thief, 36) Percy, being a resistant character, is different. He has his mother. His mother is as he says, the nicest person in the world. Percy’s mother keeps him safe and is kind to him. This is something that many of the “hero’s” of Campbell's theory do not have. The herald can be one of two events. It can be when Percy Jackson sliced up his math teacher Mrs. Dodd’s, or it can be when Percy, his mother, and Grover were attacked by the minotaur. Both instances, one can argue were where Percy Jackson starts on his quest and so both can be considered the herald. The mentor is most likely Chiron, the centaur. He trains Percy Jackson, and even gives him guidance and advice for his quests. (Riordan, Lightning Thief). The other character types however, more or less follow Campbell’s theory so that the novels look more like a traditional story. There are many threshold guardians in the books. For one, every single monster that Percy faces is a threshold guardian. They all attempt to stop the Percy from his quest, or slow him down. However, what makes the Lightning Thief stand out from other canonical texts is the fact that one of the main threshold guardians is Percy himself. Percy Jackson often doubts in himself and his abilities, and has to overcome these mental obstacles in order to continue

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onwards. (Riordan, Lightning Thief). This can most clearly be see when Riordan writes "It got so I almost believed them – Mrs. Dodd’s had never existed (The Lightning Thief, 18). Percy had just destroyed his math teacher, Mrs. Dodd’s who was a monster, but when he asked anybody about it they kept acting like they didn’t know whom he was talking about. It got to such a point that Percy wasn't confident in himself anymore. This fact is further heightened because Percy feels that his ADHD and dyslexia are the cause of many of his problems. Rick Riordan uses the two symptoms, ADHD and dyslexia, as the main traits for his main character Percy Jackson in his books, the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The first series is about a Greek demigod, a son of Poseidon, named Percy Jackson who has to save the world from the Titan Lord Kronos. Percy Jackson, like many of the other demigods in the books, is diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. It is explained to him by Annabeth, another demigod” that, though he might consider the disorders as problematic, they are in actuality his greatest assets. “The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD-you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battlefield reflex. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are." (The Lightning Thief, 93) He is told that he has dyslexia because his mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. That's why he can't really read English. Similarly, his ADHD is how he has such defined battle reflexes that will save him in many battles, they keep him

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moving, so that he is harder to hit. (Riordan, Lightning Thief). This can be seen at work when Percy fights with Ares, God of War. During the battle, Ares was constantly attacking Percy. Percy was only able to dodge because of his ADHD. “My senses were working overtime. I now understood what Annabeth had said about ADHD keeping you alive in battle. I was wide awake, noticing every little detail.”(The Lightning Thief, 342) Percy’s ADHD kept him alive many times throughout the battle. ADHD is a common childhood disorder that has the potential to carry over into adulthood. It is characterized with inattention, impulsiveness, and hyperactivity. There is no known cause of ADHD, but some speculate that it can be caused by a malfunctioning gene, by the environment, or even by sugars and food additives. ADHD has been known to cause a multitude of other disorders, including but not limited to; bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression, and certain learning disabilities, such as dyslexia. (ADHD) Dyslexia is also a very important aspect to the Lightning Thief, as almost all of the Greek demigods have this disorder. Dyslexia is a learning disorder that causes individuals to have problems identifying sounds and letters, and it is most commonly found in intelligent children. It is caused by a malfunction of certain genes that control brain development and to date, there is no cure for dyslexia. (Mayo Clinic) You might ask yourself why. Why would he use someone who has so many “problems” and make him the hero of his book? In an interview with Riordan, he stated that “Making Percy ADHD/dyslexic was my way of honoring the potential of all the kids I’ve known who have those conditions. It’s not a bad thing to be different. Sometimes, it’s the mark of being very, very talented.” (Interview)

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Rick Riordan’s own son Haley Riordan has both ADHD and dyslexia. He wanted to show his son and others like him that having ADHD and dyslexia doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. In fact he says that if the individuals can get through their “rough school years” then they go on to become very successful in life. He also says that employers love to hire them because they bring new, original, and fresh ideas with them. (Interview) There are many people who still view ADHD and dyslexia as a problem however. An image that is very common when talking about ADHD and Percy Jackson is an image that states, “Take any random quote from Percy Jackson, and replace one word with sausage.” (image,sausage) This image serves to show one of the negative aspects of ADHD. The creator of this image want to show the viewer that people with ADHD can never keep a single thought, and that they are always thinking many things at once. They believe that because of this, many time that these individuals are very unreliable. In this case the author showcased this by stating that while people with ADHD are thinking something, they will randomly think of something else, in this case sausage. This is not entirely true as though it does sometimes happen, however most times they are focused on their task. This can be compared to a bilingual speaker. One moment he/she is speaking one language, and then mid-sentence, they can switch to another. A change in thought can happen in every individual, but is more prominent in individuals with ADHD. Though there are some that feel people with ADHD and dyslexia are either problematic or indecent, the majority are now starting to see that they are not so different from themselves. For instance, probably the most successful and richest person in the world at this time is Bill Gates. He once said “I failed in some subjects in exam, but my friend passed in all. Now he is an engineer in Microsoft and I am the owner of Microsoft”(Bill Gates, Goodreads). Bill Gates has

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dyslexia. He had a rough childhood because of his learning disability, and has since worked his way to the top. He is now one of the most powerful and most respected man in the world. Another prominent figure with dyslexia is Meryl Davis. She has won the gold medal for ice skating at the 2013 World Olympics (Olympic). She has overcome her dyslexia and has learned to live with it. She struggled with reading since she was a child but eventually overcame it. Even graduating from high school a member of the National Honors society (Meryl Davis). Many are happy that Rick Riordan created characters that have dyslexia and ADHD. One person wrote that she was happy that there were people out there who cared about empowering dyslexic children (Admin, comment). Another mentioned that “You read a lot of books and none of them have a hero who is dyslexic or has ADHD – it’s always perfect people in a perfect world doing perfect things” (Gaurdian, comment). Both of these individuals are very happy that there are people who care for ADHD and dyslexic individuals and that they have someone speaking for these people. Percy Jackson is the true image of a resistant hero. His story aligns perfectly with the Hero's Journey theory, while changing the ideals of the hero itself. Many people are appreciative of the fact that he has ADHD and dyslexia, and are proud of the fact that those disorders are being portrayed. Overall, resistant texts are a way for people that aren’t the perfect hero to relate and portray the hero as they want to be.

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Work Cited Admin. "Re: Percy Jackson and the Learning Disability." Web log comment.Dysblogger's Dyslexia ~. N.p., n.d. Web. .

"Meryl Davis." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2015. . Olympic medalist that is dyslexic. Digital image. SlideShare. N.p., n.d. Web.

Riordan, Rick. 2005. The Lightning Thief. N.p.: Miramax Puffin Disney-Hyperion, 2005. Print. Online Version

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Sargent, J. F., and Jesse Clark. "The 6 Most Ridiculous Superhero Weaknesses." Cracked.com. Cracked, 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 06 Oct. 2015. . The Hero's Journey. Perf. Glove and Boots. 2013. Youtube. . "Re: Percy Jackson: My Boy's Own Adventure." Web log comment. The Gaurdian. N.p., n.d. Web. . Riordan, Rick. The Lightning Thief. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. Take any random quote from Percy Jackson, and replace one word with sausage. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. ....