Linda Ulleseit

Looks can be Deceiving and Courage Leads to Goals

by Brandon

In the book The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan, Percy finds out he is a demigod. He must go on a quest to save his mother and retrieve the lightning bolt, in which he has been accused of stealing. Percy uses courage to accomplish goals and learns that looks can be deceiving.

In the beginning, a monster called a Minotaur captures Percy’s mother and brings her to the underworld. Percy also discovers he is half god, or a demigod, and goes to Camp Half-Blood, where he will be safe from monsters. Later, Percy realizes he has been accused of stealing the lightning bolt, which Zeus needs or else there will be war. Percy goes on a quest to the underworld to save his mother and retrieve the bolt. In the end, Percy found out that Luke, his friend was the lightning bolt thief and gave it to Ares, which Percy battled in the end to give the bolt to Zeus. Hades at first thought that Percy had his Helm of Darkness, so he sent a Minotaur to capture Percy’s mother but he found out that Ares had his helm so he freed Percy’s mother because Percy was innocent.

Sometimes, when you look at something, it could be deceiving. When Percy entered Aunty Em’s Garden Gnome Emporium, he found a nice lady called Aunty Em that gave him food to eat because he was hungry. But when Aunty Em revealed her true form, she was Medusa, a lady that could turn anybody to stone.

Another piece of evidence that looks can be deceiving was when Percy found out that Luke betrayed him. At first, Percy thought that Luke was his friend but Luke was actually using him to make war among the gods. From my experience, I know that looks can be deceiving because I once chipped my tooth on a hamburger. My sister had sneakily snuck a rock in my hamburger so when I ate it, I broke my tooth.

You need courage to accomplish goals. When the Minotaur charged at Percy, Percy didn’t just run away. He had courage and defeated the monster. Another piece of evidence was when Percy entered the underworld, a place that scared him a lot. Percy had the instincts to just turn around and go back but he knew he had to find the lightning bolt in the underworld first and save his mother.

I can tell that you need courage to accomplish goals because I once had stage fright about going to a violin recital. I knew that I couldn’t just back down from the stage so I used much of my bravery and started playing my violin, and the song turned out better than ever.

After discovering he is a demigod, Percy goes on a quest to save his mother and retrieve the lightning bolt. He learns that he needs courage to accomplish goals and that looks can be deceiving.