Summary
Percy discovers that he’s really good at steering the ship, but all he can think about now is how much he misses Tyson and how worried he is about Grover. He also feels guilty about what happened on Circe’s island—he feels as if he was useless and like part of him is a scared little animal. They sail through the night, and sometime after midnight, Annabeth comes back up on deck after being seasick for a long time. Percy finally asks her about how Thalia died, and Annabeth shares that when Grover was escorting them back to camp, he took some wrong turns. Percy knew this, but what he didn’t know was that the worst wrong turn was one that led them into a Cyclops’s lair in Brooklyn. Annabeth tells him about how the Cyclops used his power of mimicry to split them up. Annabeth ended up finding Grover, Thalia, and Luke in the main room, tied up and gagged hanging from the ceiling. Annabeth, who was only seven at the time, stabs him in the foot which gave her just enough time to free Thalia, who dealt with things from there. They barely got out alive, and the delay in the Cyclops’s maze is what gave the monsters time to catch up with all of them.
After that story, Annabeth tells him to go to sleep, but it takes him a long time. Once he does, however, he has a dream of Luke’s stateroom. Spirits of the dead whisper about trickery while Kronos mocks him, saying that he doesn’t have the courage to defeat him. Percy realizes that he has to destroy whatever is in the box. Next to him, a girl asks “Well, Seaweed Brain?” He turns, expecting Annabeth, but instead, it’s a girl in punk clothes with spiky black hair who looks familiar for some reason. She asks if he’s going to help her but Percy can’t move. She rolls her eyes and moves towards the coffin with her shield, which terrifies Percy. As she draws her sword, Percy tries to warn her but she continues to advance. She pushes the coffin open and screams “No!” as she’s engulfed in golden light while Kronos laughs.
He wakes up with a start, with Annabeth trying to shake him out of the nightmare. She tells him that they’re approaching the land of the Sirens and asks him if he’ll help her listen for the Sirens since they apparently reveal wisdom to the listener if they survive. Percy doesn’t like it, but he helps her get ready, stuffing his ears with earplugs and tying Annabeth to the mast. At first, things are normal, but soon Annabeth is pleading with him to let her go, with tears streaming down her cheeks. Percy can’t take it, so he looks away for five minutes, only to discover that she’s managed to cut herself out of her ropes with her knife. He sees her swimming towards the rocks and swims after her as she heads towards the beach where the Sirens are. Percy looks toward the Sirens. They’re the size of humans, except with vulture bodies and human heads that keep changing. He can’t hear what they’re singing, but he sees the faces of the people he wants to see. But no matter what shape they take, he sees the remains of the meals they’ve eaten around their mouths. Percy knows that he can’t let Annabeth get out of the water, so he grabs her ankle.
The second he does, he sees what she’s seeing. Three people are in the middle of a redesigned Central Park, one that Annabeth designed herself. It’s Luke, her dad, and her mom, together and happy—everything she ever wanted. When Percy blinks, however, he sees the reality. He guides them back towards the ship, with Annabeth fighting him along the way. Quickly, Percy realizes that the water prevents the Sirens’ songs from reaching them. He orders the waves to push them down and makes them a little air bubble deep in the ocean so Annabeth can breathe. As Annabeth gasps for air, Percy realizes that the spell has been broken and holds Annabeth as she sobs. They follow the ship until they’re out of range of the Sirens. The two of them climb aboard and Annabeth admits that the temptation was stronger than she anticipated. Percy admits that he saw the vision that the Sirens showed her, and Annabeth confesses that it helps her realize that her fatal flaw is hubris or deadly pride. She admits that sometimes she’s tempted to think that they should start everything over as Luke suggested. As they reflect on their experience with the Sirens, they see a saddle-shaped island up ahead. They have reached the home of the Cyclops.
Although they’re on a monster island, it’s quite beautiful. They wouldn’t guess anything evil lived here, and they can sense the power of the Fleece in the air. They wander towards a meadow at the base of a ravine and see it hanging on an oak tree among several dozen sheep. Both of them notice that it seems too easy to get to the Fleece, but then they realize that the sheep are carnivorous. They look to the side and see the other lifeboat just beyond the sheep meadow. While their first job is to find Grover, Percy holds out hope that Tyson might still be alive. They take the ship to the back side of the island and make their way up the cliffs with only a couple of life-threatening moments. When they reach the top they hear a voice from below—it’s Clarisse, fighting with the Cyclops and daring him to challenge her. Clarisse, not thinking critically, exposes Grover as a satyr. Polyphemus, who hasn’t seen well since Odysseus blinded him, realizes that Grover is not who he claimed and prepares to eat him. Grover pleads with Polyphemus, convincing him that he has a delicious recipe for satyr and that he doesn’t want to just eat him raw. Polyphemus is charmed by Clarisse’s threats and decides to try and marry her instead, with Grover being the main course. He rolls the boulder in front of the sealed cave, trapping the two of them inside. Annabeth and Percy look on in despair—even if they kill the Cyclops, Clarisse and Grover would still be trapped inside.
Annabeth decides that they should use trickery. She uses her invisibility cap to sneak in while Percy clings to the bottom of a sheep as the sun goes down. It’s a nerve-wracking plan, but clever, and Percy promises to tell Annabeth she’s a genius if they get out alive. He’s almost caught but manages to get inside the cave. Annabeth distracts Polyphemus by shouting and introducing herself as Nobody. Polyphemus becomes furious and states that he remembers her, throwing the boulder in front of his cave in her general direction. She escapes, and he begins to chase her voice down the hill. Earlier, Annabeth explained that Odysseus tricked Polyphemus centuries ago by referring to himself as Nobody, and she bet that he would be angry enough about his old nemesis not to question the sound of her voice too much. Inside, Percy hops off of his sheep escort and heads to free Grover and Clarisse, who admits that she was the last person alive from the Birmingham, and is shocked to see him alive. All of a sudden there’s an explosion, and they hear Annabeth scream.
Polyphemus has managed to capture Annabeth, who looks badly injured. Percy offers to take Polyphemus by himself, but both Grover and Clarisse refuse to leave. They form into one of the attack formations they learned at camp, although they don’t have a great shot. Percy flags Polyphemus down by claiming to be Nobody, saying that he’ll stab him again. Polyphemus drops Annabeth and heads straight for Percy. Grover and Clarisse attack him, but it’s not very effective. Grover grabs Annabeth while Percy and Clarisse try to distract the Cyclops as they run away. Percy spots a rickety bridge in the distance and sees his chance. As they cross the bridge, they try to cast him into the chasm but it doesn’t work. Frustrated, Percy feels an almost unnatural strength course through him and he manages to get Polyphemus vulnerable. However, when Polyphemus begs for help, he finds that he can’t go through with killing him. Taking advantage of his hesitation, Polyphemus rallies, but all of a sudden, a giant rock hits Polyphemus right in the throat, sending him over the edge into the chasm. Percy turns to find Tyson unharmed in the middle of the killer sheep.
It turns out that his hippocampus friend, Rainbow, had been following them, and when Tyson was thrown off the Birmingham, Rainbow saved him. Percy is excited to see that Tyson is alive but is also worried about Annabeth, who hasn’t moved since she was tossed aside by Polyphemus. He asks him to get the Fleece from the tree, which is possible because he’s a Cyclops who smells like Polyphemus. Tyson tosses the fleece to Percy, who spreads it over Annabeth and prays to every god he can think of. Luckily, the fleece manages to revive Annabeth. Tyson is doing well with the sheep, but they need to leave fast since the sheep are still hungry. Annabeth starts to move but realizes that she’s not fully healed, and keeps the Fleece around her shoulders. Clarisse, recognizing that Annabeth’s ribs are broken, volunteers to carry her back to the ship.
They start to swim for the ship and almost make it when Polyphemus emerges from behind them with a boulder in each hand. They’re all running away from Polyphemus desperately, but it’s Tyson that Polyphemus has singled out. He calls Tyson a traitor to his own kind, but Tyson stands up for himself, insisting that he’s not a traitor and that Polyphemus is not his kind. Clarisse yells for Percy to come on and Tyson offers to hold Polyphemus off on his own, but Percy refuses to leave, saying that they’ll face Polyphemus together. As Percy draws his sword, he calls the sea to rise while Tyson defends him from the boulders that Polyphemus throws at them. Polyphemus attempts to get Poseidon to curse them, but Percy and Tyson are both his sons as well. Polyphemus calls Tyson his brother and tricks him into revealing himself, only to smack Tyson with a huge tree. The two of them rally and they again have the opportunity to kill Polyphemus but they know it wouldn’t be right for them to do it. They let him go and run for the ship.
Again, escape seems within reach, but Clarisse gets overconfident, taunting Polyphemus, who hears where they are and tosses a boulder straight into the hull of the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Their hopes are sinking fast, along with the ship, while Annabeth hangs onto the Fleece. As Percy is swimming, he communicates with Tyson using their shared powers as sons of Poseidon. Together, they call for Rainbow’s help, and he arrives with two of his hippocampi friends. Percy clings to the hippocampi carrying Annabeth and covers her with the Fleece. Quietly, he tells her she’s a genius and then falls asleep with his head against the Fleece.
Analysis
Percy has to work through guilt from multiple angles since he’s lost Tyson, can’t find Grover, and feels like he let down Annabeth. This guilt is mostly misplaced, but it’s still difficult for him to navigate. Even though he escaped Circe, it’s hard for him to deal with the fact that he couldn’t help at all. Ironically, though, it’s Percy who enabled them to escape Circe’s island by ship, especially since Annabeth is initially too sick even to be on deck. With regards to Annabeth, her story of how she became afraid of Cyclopses shows how long she has been brave and driven to save her friends against impossible odds. It also finally answers our questions about why she was so resistant to warming up to Tyson. The new perspective makes her willingness to eventually accept Tyson quite impressive, even though it came too late.
In Percy’s dreams, the question of courage once again comes back to haunt him, this time in the form of a mysterious girl. We don’t know much about her, but her familiarity with Percy and her bravery suggests that she’s a character that will become very important. Annabeth's request to listen to the Sirens mirrors Odysseus’s request to listen to the Sirens in Greek myth. Between this and the way that she outmaneuvers Circe, Riordan is often comparing Annabeth to Odysseus. This makes particular sense given that Athena, who is Annabeth’s godly parent, favored Odysseus and guided him throughout his travels in the Sea of Monsters. But unlike Odysseus, Annabeth doesn’t have a crew of people guarding her against diving into the water, making it easy for her to slip away. Now the roles are reversed as Annabeth is the one who is completely helpless while Percy tries to save her. Without the allure of the Siren song, Percy can see them for the disgusting creatures they are. They’re literally vultures, who prey on the dreams of humans.
For Annabeth, these dreams look like the realization of her ideal past and her ideal future. With respect to the past, she sees her parents getting back together and her regaining Luke’s friendship. Future-wise, she’s achieved her dream of being an architect. At that moment when Percy sees her vision, Annabeth is just as, if not more, vulnerable than Percy when he was a guinea pig on Circe’s island. Knowing this doesn’t prevent her from sharing more with him, however, showing that the trust between them continues to grow as the trip progresses. That trust is what allows Annabeth to disclose that sometimes she has doubts that what they’re doing is the right choice.
The island of the Cyclops is a classic contradiction: while the exterior is very beautiful, the presence of things like the carnivorous sheep and the giant Cyclops, Polyphemus, point to a sinister interior. Things aren’t what they seem so they need to be careful. The importance of being careful instead of charging right in is underlined by Clarisse, whose thoughtless actions end up putting both her and Grover in even more danger. In contrast, Annabeth decides to approach using trickery, as Odysseus did in the myth where he encountered Polyphemus. It’s a reflection of their own personalities, but also of their godly parents, who are both gods of war. Ares is much more aggressive, and in the Percy Jackson series, has a tendency toward cruelty. Athena is focused on strategy and is more willing to use roundabout means to achieve her goals. Pride is an issue for both Annabeth and Clarisse, but Clarisse’s pride causes her to put others in danger.
Annabeth, however, manages her pride and uses her head to come up with a plan. They take advantage of Polyphemus's poor sight, which was caused by Odysseus, and use the Odyssey as a reference for how they should get around him. Clinging to the bottom of the sheep, as well as the name Nobody, are the tactics that Odysseus originally used to escape Polyphemus. This time, however, Annabeth and Percy modify them for their own purposes. Both of them are very brave and clever whenever it comes to saving their friends. In return, Grover and Clarisse step up to the plate by refusing to leave Percy alone to save Annabeth. The skills that they learned in camp are tested and all three of them risk their lives to try and make sure Annabeth is okay, including Clarisse. Percy’s own good nature is taken advantage of by Polyphemus, though. Spending time with Tyson and seeing all the different ways that the gods don’t take care of their children has led him to pity Polyphemus, and he can’t harm him because of this.
But while Polyphemus tries to take advantage of their sympathy, Percy’s kindness turns out to be what saves him in the end, as Tyson shows up to save them all. In the end, kindness is what allows them to get off the island. Percy's kindness allowed him to build a bond with Tyson that motivated the latter to come and save him; on Tyson’s side, his kindness toward Rainbow drove the hippocampi to follow him, saving his life. Tyson is the final piece of the puzzle since his Cyclops scent lets him move among the carnivorous sheep without being eaten, allowing him to retrieve the Fleece. Together, Tyson and Percy face Polyphemus, who, as a son of Poseidon, is also their brother. Their shared blood prevents Poseidon from cursing them, but it also shows them that it would be wrong to kill Polyphemus, who is cruel partially as a result of Poseidon’s neglect. Their escape from the island, which is almost prevented by Clarisse’s taunts, demonstrates the importance of kindness over pride one last time.
