The Sea of Monsters

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2006

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-5

Chapters 6-8

Chapters 9-11

Chapters 12-13

Chapters 14-18

Chapters 19-20

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 19-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 19 Summary: “The Chariot Race Ends with a Bang”

With help from the centaurs, Percy and his friends return to camp that night, in time to watch Clarisse place the Golden Fleece on Thalia’s tree. As soon as she does, the land starts to revitalize, and the tree turns from gray to green. After a night of celebrating, Chiron announces the chariot races are still on. Percy teams up with Annabeth and Tyson, and they spend the next two days training and modifying their chariot. The night before the race, Hermes visits Percy to ask about Luke. Percy apologizes for not being able to bring Luke back to the side of the gods. Hermes says he doesn’t blame Percy and delivers a blue envelope that radiates power as if it had been “folded out of an ocean wave” (260). The letter is from Poseidon and says only “brace yourself.”

The day of the chariot dawns bright and warm—a perfect summer day. Percy, Annabeth, and the other campers from Athena’s cabin finalize preparations on their chariot. Tyson gives Percy a wristwatch and tells him to push the button if he needs protection during the race. Unsure what that means, Percy puts on the watch and boards the chariot.

Percy and Annabeth do well in the race until the Hephaestus chariot throws a pouch of Greek fire in their chariot. Percy remembers the watch and presses it, which makes it expand into a shield. He fends off attacks from the Hephaestus driver, giving him a chance to lob the fire back into the Hephaestus chariot. Annabeth steers their chariot to victory and attributes their success, both in the race and in getting the Fleece, to Tyson, whom the camp accepts with cheers.

Chapter 20 Summary: “The Fleece Works Its Magic Too Well”

That afternoon, Chiron informs Percy he took care of the legal trouble surrounding the explosion at Percy’s school, adding that Percy is still expelled. Percy calls his mom, who yells at him but finally calms down and is just thankful he’s safe. Later, Tyson tells Percy he got a dream from Poseidon inviting him to come down to work in the cyclops forges. Tyson agrees to go to make weapons for the camp. Percy thanks him again for the watch. Tyson’s parting words are that the watch will save Percy’s life, spoken so earnestly that it feels like that “Cyclops eye of his could see into the future” (274).

That night, Percy has restless dreams in which Poseidon again warns him to brace himself. Grover charges into Percy’s cabin in the middle of the night, saying something’s wrong by Thalia’s tree. Percy runs to the hill, the rest of the camp joining him as he goes. The girl with spiky black hair from Percy’s earlier dream lies under the tree. It’s Thalia—the Fleece purged her from the tree along with the poison. The camp looks on in shocked silence, and Percy realizes Kronos orchestrated the camp retrieving the Fleece to gain “another chance to control the prophecy” (279).

Chapters 19-20 Analysis

These final chapters complete the story and character arcs while setting up for future installments in the series. Percy outwardly accepts Tyson as his brother, coming to appreciate how having someone so different as a sibling is really a strength. Tyson’s invitation and acceptance to work in the cyclops forges shows how Tyson accepts who he is and the role he can play in helping Percy and Camp Half Blood. It also symbolizes how Tyson’s major role in the adventures is over. Like Grover at the end of The Lightning Thief, Tyson will move on to play a lesser but still important part in the series. Annabeth also accepts Tyson and realizes she can’t judge an entire group based on one of its member’s actions. Tyson following in Grover’s footsteps of helping Percy and Annabeth and then backing off foreshadows that Percy and Annabeth are the key players in the prophesy and also that they will later move from friends to a romantic couple.

Hermes’s return and Percy’s admission that he couldn’t get through to Luke brings Luke’s anger with the gods to a closure for now. The letter Hermes delivers shows Poseidon is watching and cares about Percy, despite how Percy sometimes feels his father doesn’t care. The letter seems to directly foreshadow Thalia emerging from the tree in Chapter 20 but could also be warning Percy of events beyond Thalia’s return.

The Golden Fleece reviving the camp ends the major conflict of The Sea of Monsters. By bringing Thalia out of the tree, the Fleece also establishes conflict for the next book in the series. The prophesy about Percy’s 16th birthday says a demigod child from one of the big three will either save or doom Olympus. Up until now, Percy is the only child of the big three. Luke poisoned Camp Half Blood at Kronos’s orders, forcing the camp to retrieve the Fleece. Kronos knew all along that healing the tree would heal Thalia and bring her back into play. The prophesy could now refer to either Thalia or Percy, and with Thalia closer to her 16th birthday, the urgency to understand the prophesy and take steps to defend Olympus instantly increases.

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