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“I still felt changed. Not just because I had a sudden desire to eat lettuce. I felt jumpy, like the instinct to be a scared little animal was now a part of me. Or maybe it had always been there. That’s what really worried me.”

Percy thinks the above quote to himself in Chapter 13 as he and Annabeth sail away from Circe’s island on the Queen Anne’s Revenge. On the island, Percy was briefly transformed into a guinea pig and he still feels skittish from the ordeal. However, in this brief line, Percy admits he is actually concerned that his jumpiness is innate as opposed to created by Circe. Essentially, he is worried Circe was right, and that his “true self” is actually frightened and vulnerable. This new awareness distresses Percy; he has spent time training to be a brave hero and he does not want to be thought of as insecure or fearful. This is a crucial stepping stone in Percy’s hero’s journey because he is slowly learning that heroes are more multifaceted than he initially believed them to be. Here, Percy is starting to realize that all heroes experience moments of fear or doubt and that this does not make them any less heroic.

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