Disabilities in Rick Riordan's Greek and Roman Retellings
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DISABLED HEROES: DISABILITIES IN RICK RIORDAN'S GREEK AND ROMAN RETELLINGS Katelyn Balkum A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS August 2020 Committee: Kristen Rudisill, Advisor Esther Clinton Katherine Lynn Meizel © 2020 Katelyn Balkum All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Kristen Rudisill, Advisor Rick Riordan's middle-grade novels have been studied for the introduction of antiquities to young readers but not for the inclusion of characters with disabilities and diverse backgrounds. This project explores Riordan's use of disabilities in his Greek and Roman mythology retelling series and argues that while Riordan’s use of disabilities is positive overall, his narrative still falls into the negative effects of the supercrip narrative. These series feature demigods who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia because of their status as a half-god and half-mortal children. Also, other characters in the series use disabilities to hid their mythical creature features from the mortal world around them. References to the disabilities were pulled through a targeted keyword search about the disabilities or a character. The use of the learning disabilities for the demigods create an explanation for the disabilities that cause both disabilities to become nothing more than superpower abilities that the demigods have. This thesis analyzed reference to the disabilities that were pulled through a target keyword search for the disabilities and relevant characters. Adaptational references were pulled from the adaptations of the series from the films and musical. Also, other characters in the series use disabilities to hide their mythical creature features from the mortal world around them. The performed disabilities by mythical creatures perform a reverse of the common disability trait of passing. Passing occurs when a disabled person appears not to be disabled while interacting with people, but here, the mythological creatures pass as mortal while interacting with others. As a whole, Riordan's use of disability provides positive representation of people with disabilities that can offer an introduction to the ADHD, dyslexia, and others for young readers. iv In loving memory of my mom. Thank you, for always believing in me . v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis committee members: Kristen Rudisill, Esther Clinton, and Katherine Meizel, who helped me along every step of this process. I want to thank my family for all the support shown to me throughout pursuing this degree. And to my boyfriend, Arthur, for always providing assistance to keep me going. To my roommate Nicole for providing spell check and grammar aid. Our dogs Percy and Marty for being there for emotional support. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 Author Background .................................................................................................... 4 Chapter Outline .......................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER ONE. FROM DEFINING NORMALCY TO THE SUPERCRIP: HOW SCHOLARS THEORIZE DISABILITY ............................................................................... 12 Disability .................................................................................................................... 12 Common Narratives ................................................................................................... 14 Supercrip ........................................................................................................ 16 Representation............................................................................................................ 18 Children’s Literature .................................................................................................. 21 Chapter Conclusion .................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER TWO. THE USE OF DYSLEXIA AND ADHD IN RIORDAN’S GREEK AND ROMAN SERIES .................................................................................................................. 25 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 25 Dyslexia ..................................................................................................................... 26 ADHD ........................................................................................................................ 30 Percy Jackson and the Creation of the Myth ............................................................. 32 Series Synopsis .......................................................................................................... 34 Methods...................................................................................................................... 35 “Meaningless spaghetti” ............................................................................................ 35 “ADHD Posterchild” ................................................................................................. 37 vii “Godling” ................................................................................................................... 44 Chapter Conclusion .................................................................................................... 48 CHAPTER THREE. PASSING AND REVEALING: HOW CHARACTERS PERFORM DISABILITY TO MOVE BETWEEN THE MYTHICAL AND MORTAL WORLDS ...... 50 Performing Disability................................................................................................. 50 “I prefer to stay in human form.” ............................................................................... 51 Chiron ............................................................................................................ 52 Grover ............................................................................................................ 53 Tyson.............................................................................................................. 56 “Ev’ry Demi has a special skill.” ............................................................................... 60 Scent ............................................................................................................... 60 Technology .................................................................................................... 62 Fatal Flaw....................................................................................................... 64 Chapter Conclusion .................................................................................................... 68 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 70 WORKS CITED .................................................................................................................... 72 1 INTRODUCTION The importance and impact of disability representation in children's literature is the focus of many studies, such as Brittan (2004) and Wilkins et al. (2016).1 This thesis will look at the representation of the invisible disabilities of dyslexia, ADHD, an unnamed intellectual disability, and two physical disabilities in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, and Trials of Apollo book series. Each of these series highlights demigod heroes who have both dyslexia and ADHD. The mythical creatures of these series use physical and intellectual disabilities to disguise themselves as human so they can escape detection by unsuspecting mortals and demigods. The Greek and Roman myth retellings done by Riordan feature multiple characters as opposed to single minor characters. I argue that although Rick Riordan's works are hailed for positive representation of disability, the author still falls into common patterns of stereotyping the disabilities and thus presents them solely in supercrip narratives. This is apparent through Rick Riordan's use of disabilities to serve two distinct purposes in the story as a supercrip or to help mythical creatures fit into the mortal world around them. In second grade, I was diagnosed with dyslexia. My diagnosis was the thing that frist drew me to first read Rick Riordan’s series with demigods. All the demigods in the series have dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), due to their shared background of having either a Greek or Roman godly parent. The author did an excellent job with the disabled heroes by giving them a heroic and positive role, something I did not experience with other books. When I first read the books, the inclusion of ADHD was also interesting to me since I had 1 Other studies reviewed for this thesis includes: Fein and Ginsburg (1978), Hopkins (1980), Alteri (2008), and Smith-D'Arezzo and More-Thomas (2010) 2 always seen the disability portrayed as a negative in the media. I had a hard time connecting with the ADHD examples since I lacked a personal experience with this learning disability. While being reevaluated for dyslexia in 2013, the tester said I probably should see a professional about getting an ADHD diagnosis. I never thought I needed an ADHD diagnosis because I already had accommodations at school. I also did not want to be placed