The Battle of the Labyrinth

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Holding Out for a Hero”

In this activity, students will use creative and critical thinking skills to create the ideal hero.

What does the ideal hero look like? In this activity, you will set out to create your own fictional hero, focusing on endowing them with all the qualities you believe the ideal hero would possess. In completing this assignment, make sure to answer the following questions:

• What are the basic attributes of your hero, such as name and physical appearance?
• What qualities does the ideal hero have? How does your hero embody these qualities?
• What drives your hero? What are their main motivations?
• What kind of limitations or weaknesses does your hero have? Why are these significant?

Once you have finished, present your hero to the class. These presentations should fuel class conversations on the nature and meaning of heroism.

Teaching Suggestion: Students may complete this activity individually or in groups. Working in groups might help students think more deeply about the nature of heroism and allow them to create more developed heroes. After students present their heroes, you could encourage the class to think about the similarities and differences in how they approached their assignments to draw conclusions on how people think about heroism today.

Differentiation Suggestion: To encourage agency and creativity, consider allowing students to create a visual representation of their ideal hero; these students may read written descriptions of their hero aloud when they present their artwork to the class.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Death and grief are central themes in the novel, experienced by several of the characters.

• What are the different ways the characters in the novel grieve? (topic sentence)
• Citing specific examples from the text, explore how the different characters grieve, focusing on which methods are the most helpful and which are the most harmful.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, reflect on how grief in the novel connects to its central themes of The Consequences of Cheating Death and/or The Importance of Trust, Belief, and Hope.

2. Prophecies play a central role in the novel and always come true, though many characters try to escape their fate.

• What is the overall role of prophecy and fate in the novel? (topic sentence)
• Discuss the nature of prophecy and fate, exploring specific examples of what happens when somebody tries to escape their fate.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, reflect on the inescapability of fate and what this says about free will.

3. Much of the novel is set in the Labyrinth—a massive, complex maze that often has a mind of its own.

• What are the main features and traits of the Labyrinth? (topic sentence)
• Explain what the Labyrinth is and the way it reflects the characters in the novel.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, determine whether the Labyrinth should be regarded as a character or a creature in its own right.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. When Percy is on Calypso’s island, Calypso challenges Percy’s representation of the war between the Olympians and the Titans as a black-and-white war of good versus evil. In Chapter 12, Calypso asks Percy, “Do you support the gods because they are good, or because they are family?” Why does Percy support the gods? How are good and evil represented in the novel? Are good and evil as clear-cut as Percy believes?

2. Examine Grover’s plan to rebuild the wild, which he begins to put into effect after his trial. What are the goals of Grover’s plan? What are the wild places Grover seeks to protect, and why are these spaces important? What are some of the spaces Grover excludes from his plan, and why?

3. In Chapter 19, Dionysus tells Percy to remember “that a kind act can sometimes be as powerful as a sword.” What does Dionysus mean by this? Analyze this statement in light of Percy’s own deeds and values. How do Percy’s deeds represent a different (or more modern) kind of heroism from that practiced by ancient heroes such as Theseus and Odysseus?

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What is the name of Percy’s sword?

A) Excalibur

B) Annabeth

C) Riptide

D) Quintus

2. What is the name of the new sword instructor at Camp Half-Blood?

A) Quintus

B) Grover

C) Nico

D) Hephaestus

3. Why does Annabeth want to find Ariadne’s string?

A) To prevent a Titan attack on Camp Half-Blood

B) To use it to strangle Kronos

C) Because Hera commanded her to do so

D) Because Ariadne is her role model

4. What does Percy think Annabeth is hiding about the prophecy?

A) Something about his father

B) Something about her mother

C) Something about their relationship

D) Something about death

5. Who is “the god with two faces,” as referenced in Chapter 6?

A) Janus

B) Tyson

C) Hera

D) Hephaestus

6. Why does Briares leave the quest?

A) Because he serves Kronos

B) Because he does not want to fight

C) Because he does not think he can help

D) He does not state his reasons.

7. Why won’t the naiad help Percy clean Geryon’s stables?

A)Because she hates Percy’s father Poseidon

B) Because she does not want to pollute her water

C) Because she wants Geryon’s stables to remain filthy

D) Because Hera sent her to undermine Annabeth’s quest

8. Who has been sending Iris with messages to Percy?

A) Quintus

B) Bianca

C) Nico

D) King Minos

9. What is an example of Hera’s hypocrisy?

A) Her affectionate treatment of her husband’s illegitimate children

B) Trying to help Kronos escape even though she is queen of the Olympians

C) Telling Annabeth that she supports her and then betraying her

D) Throwing Hephaestus off Mount Olympus despite talking about the importance of family

10. Why does Percy decide not to stay with Calypso?

A) Because he cannot let his friends fight alone

B) Because he wants to win glory

C) Because he is afraid of Calypso

D) Because he is in love with Rachel

11. What does Minos want with Nico?

A) To ransom him to Hades

B) To help him exchange Daedalus’ soul for his

C) To use him to release Kronos

D) To force him to build him another Labyrinth

12. Whose body does Kronos use as his vessel?

A) Nico

B) Percy

C) Grover

D) Luke

13. What does Pan mean when he says, “The spirit of the wild must pass to all of you now”? (Chapter 17)

A) That everybody should work together to conserve the environment

B) That Grover must be the new Pan

C) That the wild cannot be saved by anybody

D) That the wild can only survive in people’s hearts

14. Why does Daedalus decide to die?

A) Because he is tired of living

B) To prevent Luke from using the Labyrinth

C) So that he can be with his wife again

D) Because he made a deal with Hades

15. Who tells Percy he wants to propose to his mother?

A) Tyson

B) Grover

C) Poseidon

D) Paul Blofis

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What warning does Bianca give Nico when he summons her ghost?

2. Why does Percy think that it may be safer for his friends to think he is dead?