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Chapters Seveenteen & Eighteen

Summary: Chapter Seventeen

While on the taxi ride to Santa Monica, Percy tries to explain his dream of the pit, but Annabeth reassures him that Hades has the master bolt and there is nothing else to fear. At the beach, Percy submerges into the water and is greeted by Nereid, the spirit of the sea. Nereid gives Percy three pearls and tells him to trust his heart on when to use them. She reminds him that if something belongs to the sea, it will eventually return. Percy meets with Annabeth and Grover on land and they search for the entrance to the Underworld. 

Down an alley, a group of boys start a fight, so the three flee into a waterbed store. They are welcomed by a salesclerk who calls himself Crusty. He prompts them to lie down and relax. When Annabeth and Grover take him up on it, ropes suddenly trap them to the beds. Crusty reveals himself to be Procrustes, the Stretcher, and attempts to attack Percy. However, Percy distracts Crusty by pretending he is interested in the waterbed. He persuades Crusty to demonstrate, which allows him the opportunity to trap Crusty with the ropes and use Riptide on him. Percy frees Annabeth and Grover from being stretched. Percy sees a flyer on a bulletin board for the DOA Recording Studio showing the exact address for the Underworld entrance.

Summary: Chapter Eighteen

Annabeth, Percy, and Grover arrive at the recording studio, and meet a security guard named Charon who asks them to pay for their entrance. Percy gives him some drachmas he stole from Crusty’s office before they left. Charon is not happy with the amount and will not allow them to enter. After Charon recognizes Percy is a godling, Percy hands him a bag full of drachmas and says that he will put in a good word with Hades about giving Charon a proper raise. Charon agrees and the group departs toward one of three entrances with metal detectors and security cameras. 

Before passing through the security line, the three are stopped by Cerberus, a three-headed security Rottweiler. Percy tries to distract him with a bedpost he took from Crusty’s, but Cerberus is not interested in “the stick.” Annabeth pulls out a ball she took from the waterpark and commands Cerberus to sit. Percy and Grover are able to sneak past the dog while Annabeth distracts him. She tosses him the ball and catches up with Grover and Percy. They set off the metal detectors with their magical items and run to escape the security guards.

Anlaysis: Chapters Seveenteen & Eighteen

Nereid’s gift of the three pearls is important, as it is a symbol for the support that surrounds Percy. This is encouraging for Percy because he values family and friends, and the gift is a sign that Poseidon cares for him, just as his mother does. Unlike the gifts from Luke and Ares that were generally useful, Nereid suggests her gifts are for something specific. This foreshadows an instance in which Percy will need to return to the sea. It also serves to remind Percy that he must learn to trust himself when making crucial decisions. Annabeth and Grover support Percy and are integral to his journey. Since Annabeth is the daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, her skills and abilities are an asset to Percy. Her experience in both the world of mortals and the world of gods has also been of great assistance in getting Percy to where they are on their journey and showing him that even the children of gods cannot succeed on their own. When the three use the pearls to escape the Underworld, they do it together as a team.

Entering the water is symbolic of Percy’s growing connection with Poseidon and the divine part of his character. Water is the domain of Poseidon and symbolizes not just life itself, but also Percy’s growing trust in his father. When he is under the water, he feels at home, indicating this trait is genetic.

The introduction of Procrustes and Charon underlies the humorous modernization of many characters from Greek mythology, rendering them more relatable. In myths, Procrustes is a robber who compels victims to lie on an iron bed and then kills them by either stretching them or cutting their limbs, so they “fit” the length of the bed. Like other mythological figures in the novel, he is comically humanized as a mattress salesman with the nickname “Crusty.” Percy kills Crusty in a manner similar to the way the hero Theseus kills Procrustes in Greek myth. We see another amusing modernization of myth when the trio meets Charon. In this story, the ferryman of the dead is depicted as an under-appreciated employee and is bribed into letting Percy, Annabeth, and Grover through with the promise of talking to Hades about workers’ rights. By appealing to the human side of Charon, who takes pride in his position, Percy and his friends can advance to the River Styx.

Cerberus, a three-headed Rottweiler, is the guard dog of the Underworld in both Greek mythology and in The Lightning Thief. In mythology, Cerberus is presented as a fearsome three-headed dog who keeps the dead from escaping their fates. Percy pulling out a stick for Cerberus likens him to a regular dog. Like Charon, Cerberus desires more than to simply guard the Underworld. Through Cerberus, the trio realizes they can attain their goals by appealing to the neglected human parts of these creatures’ personalities.

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