Post 7: Book 4 Reflection

Four Reasons Why Jason is a Hero

                Jason Grace is someone everyone looks up to and most people want to be him. He is good looking, popular, funny, and…he’s a demigod. He’s not just a normal demigod (yes, those do exist…in the book anyway), he has been to the Roman and Greek demigod camps, he is a son of Jupiter (AKA Zeus), and he is/was (it’s very complicated) praetor of the First Legion. Jason has many qualities to him, both demigod and human, that make him a hero.

   1.       He Will do Anything to Save His Friends

In The Blood of Olympus, Jason risks his life to save his friend, Percy Jackson. Jason could have left Percy to die, but he stuck around and helped fight. “Percy dropped Riptide. He gasped, crawling at his throat. The giant threw his weighted net and Percy collapsed to the floor, hopelessly entangled as the poison thickened around him. ‘Let him go!’ Jason’s voice cracked with panic,” (264). In this scenario, Jason could have left Percy behind and saved himself, but instead he risked his life to save Percy and fought the giant.

   2.       He Stands Up for What he Believes In

Jason is a man of his words and he is willing to use up his time to help ease tension between people, gods, demigods, and who knows what else. To please Kympoleia (a minor goddess) Jason says, “I’ll make sure none of the gods are forgotten at either camp. Maybe they’ll get temples, or cabins, or at least shrines…I’ll go back and forth between the camps until the job is done,” (270). Jason believes that he could ease tension is the “godly” world so he sees to it to try to make everyone happy, even minor gods who no one else ever thinks of.

   3.       He is Willing to Do What it Takes to Survive (when he sees his mom)

In The Blood of Olympus we see Jason struggle with a decision to do with his mother (demigods and the human parent always have interesting relationships). Jason struggled to come to terms with his decision, “Jason tried not to close his eyes. Every time he did, he saw his mom’s spirit disintegrating. ‘It wasn’t her,’ he said. ‘At least, no part of her I could save. There was no other choice.’ Annabeth took a shaky breath. ‘No other right choice…” (40). Jason did the right thing to let his mom go so that he could survive, even though he misses his mom a lot.

   4.       He is Sympathetic to Others Needs

Sometimes in books you will see a hero that only tries to save himself and the world (or city, or town), without trying to help the people involved or without any help from other. But Jason is a hero who will try to save everyone he can, even if it means he is risking his life in an unnecessary way. One way we see this in Jason is, “They needed to leave. Jason was running out of air…but Percy was still woozy from the poison, so they sat on the edge of the ruined golden dome for a few minutes to let Percy catch his breath…” (273). Even though Jason could have left Percy himself or could have dragged Percy with him, he waited until Percy was recovered.

                These traits are important aspects of being a hero. Jason is seen a “good” hero, he does all the right things, even when it is hard. These aspects show that even though he is a demigod, he still has the feelings of a human. These traits could be carried over to the actual world. People could see that anyone could be a hero if they make the right choices and are willing to do what it takes.