The Son of Neptune

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2011

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Symbols & Motifs

Dreams

Dreams play an important role in the narrative, serving as a bridge for characters to reveal their past, work through their trauma, and foresee the future. In Percy’s dreams, he is visited by his Greek friends from his past. He sees his friend Grover, his girlfriend Annabeth, and his brother, Tyson. These dreams serve to connect him to his past relationships and remind him why he is at Camp Jupiter. Even though he is unsure of what they’re saying or why, Percy knows his dreams are important. In one dream, Annabeth asks him to stay where he is, helping him to realize that he can use dreams to communicate with his brother, Tyson. Percy’s dreams serve as a method for him to save the harpy Ella, and to direct his friends to Camp Jupiter.

Hazel’s dreams, or blackouts, force her to work through her past trauma as she relives her role in raising Alcyoneus from the earth for Gaea. She’s able to finally confront her past and process its effect on her life as she takes Frank with her through one of her dreams, where he witnesses her compromise with the Fates. Hazel’s dreams connect her to Gaea, but ultimately serve as another realm she conquers when she finally confesses her actions to Percy and Frank. In effect, while Percy saves others in his dreams, Hazel saves herself in hers.

Roman Tattoos

Not long after his arrival, Percy notes that each of the campers at Camp Jupiter has a tattoo on their forearm that has the letters SPQR, a unique symbol, and a single or more parallel lines. Percy learns that the tattoos indicate the campers’ time spent in the camp and their accomplishments. The letters stand for ‘Senatus Populusque Romanus, or the Senate and People of Rome,’ the motto of Imperial Rome. The symbol represents the person’s parent who is a god, and the parallel lines represent how many years the person has been part of the legion. Percy receives a tattoo at the end of the book that has SPQR, a trident, and one parallel line.

These tattoos are important because they represent each person’s commitment to the camps and their loyalty to their friends or fellow legionnaires. The mark is magically made, and burns the skin as its imprinted, signifying the weight and responsibility tied to Camp Jupiter. The tattoos indicate the importance at which the campers hold their status, Roman god relations, and time spent in the legions. It further reinforces the fact that all demigods connect their identities to their godly parent, along with how well—through the year marks—they represent their parent and survive a life of trials.

Precious Metals and Jewels

Precious metals and jewels are easily found in the world of demigods, but serve to symbolize death, greed, and the fragility of life in The Son of Neptune. The Roman campers utilize Imperial gold in their weapons to fight and defend themselves against monsters. In contrast, Percy wields a sword made of Celestial bronze, a metal rarer than the Roman gold counterpart, but equally as effective. Though these metals are used in defense against mythical creatures, they’re able to harm demigods just the same. The metals serve as reminders of the death they can bring and the fragility of life, as they can even kill demigods, who while not immortal, live longer than regular humans.

In addition, Hazel’s gift as a daughter of Pluto allows her to produce and find precious metals and jewels under the ground and bring them to the surface. Her gift also allows her to manipulate precious metals, jewels, and the ground itself so that she can cause cave-ins, rebury her treasures, and use rocks to protect herself. Hazel’s gift quickly comes to represent the greed in others, as they swiftly reach for the jewels she produces upon seeing them. Her ability is rooted in her own mother’s greed, as she asked for Hazel’s gift so that she might become rich and live an easy life through her child. The fragility of life is demonstrated again as Hazel and her mother quickly discover that whoever possesses the precious metals and jewels will experience a tragedy. This curse eventually leads to Hazel’s and her mother’s own deaths as her mother becomes bitter, aligns with Gaea, and attempts to resurrect Alcyoneus and begin Gaea’s war in 1941.

Related Titles

By Rick Riordan

Study Guide

Daughter of the Deep