Janyce Gallard
Every child dreamed about being a hero at least one time ! That’s what Percy Jackson is, an
ordinary boy in apparence but destined to do the greatness thing because he’s the son of the sea
god Poseidon. The series of Percy Jackson books written by Rick Riordan is for kids but the story
talk about « adult things » or serious things and don’t really hide some trauma that the characters
experience.
Percy Jackson was born because of the son of Rick Riordan, Haley. Haley suffer for attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia, it’s really complicated to live with that every
days because it’s impact every things in your life and specially at school. Rick wanted to write
Percy to prove to his son than his disorders make him stronger and that even with this, he can to
the greatness things he can imagine. He wanted to creating a story about a boy who finds himself
in the world of the greeks gods : « My son Haley asked me to tell him some bedtime stories
about the Greeks myths for many years at the middle school level. When I was ran out of
myths, he asked me if I could make up something new with the same characters. I made up
Percy Jackson and told Haley all about his quest in the modern day America, my son told
me I should write it out as a book ».
And that’s the beginning of one of the most popular stories for children in the modern world.
Let’s see the hidden message in the books. Except the difficulties of having ADHD and Dyslexia,
Rick talk about a subject that’s not really develops because is for child, but one time we grow up
and read the books with a new vision, it’s really not hidden : Domestic violence.
In the first book, Percy Jackson and the Olympians : The Lightning Thief, Percy and his mother
Sally live with a abusive step-father named Gabriel (Gabe) Ugliano. In the story, Sally stay with
Gabe because is smell protect Percy from the monsters, but he’s not a gentle person at all. Gabe
is really violent with Sally and even if it’s not say explicitly in the books, we know he should have
been violent with Percy too.
Apart of this, there are also trauma that everyone can unfortunately relate. When you’re a kids, a
teenager, you just begin to understand yourself, the life, and the bad aspects of the people who
are close to you. For exemple, harassment, betrayal and… suicide. At the young age of twelve,
Percy had suicide thoughts, it’s a subject that’s it’s very important specially for teenagers. The fact
that Percy fight this thought with a smile of his face and with the help of his friends it’s really
relevant for most depressive people.
Even if the characters are not simple mortal, the traumas that they face it’s the same that the
readers can experience, and it’s more simple to relate to them.
