Percy Jackson - The Titan's Curse — Chapter 2

About This Passage

This passage is doing something gentle and sad at the same time. It begins with a list of all the small ways Bianca has been a parent to Nico (tucked him in, answered his questions, stood between him and sharp things), and it ends with the truth that she is about to choose something for herself and that the choice will cost him. Notice how the writer never says Bianca is wrong. The passage refuses to take a side. It shows the cost without making Bianca a villain, and it shows Bianca's choice without erasing the cost. This is a hard kind of writing, and it teaches us something important: that real choices often have a hurt on the other side that does not make the choice wrong, and a rightness on the chooser's side that does not make the hurt fair.

Narration Prompt

In your own words, tell the story of this chapter. What were the most important moments? What made them important — and how do you know?

Discussion Questions

1. Bianca chooses to join the Hunters of Artemis, which means leaving Nico behind at camp. Is this a SELFISH choice or a NECESSARY one? Or is it both at once — and if so, what does it mean for a single choice to be both selfish and necessary at the same time?
2. Bianca has been taking care of Nico their whole lives. Does the long history of her care give her the RIGHT to choose something for herself now, or does it create an OBLIGATION to keep choosing him? What is the difference between a right and an obligation, and which one does Bianca's situation involve?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide