Approach of the Study

characteristics that show his difference from the other students in his school. Percy himself thinks that he is different from his other friends in school. First, Percy is described as a clumsy person. According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, clumsy is defined as a character of a person who does not behave in a careful and controlled way, so that he or she often gets accidents 2001: 245. Percy often gets troubles and accidents in school. As the result, Percy cannot enjoy the lessons and other activities in his school. He feels that all he does is wrong and cause disaster. For example, Percy gets trouble in his old school when he goes to a study tour in Saratoga battlefield museum. He accidentally touches the wrong button of a canon and as the result, he makes an accident that caused many of his friends injured. See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasnt aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. And before that, at my fourth- grade school, when we took a behind the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong button on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea. Riordan, 2005: 2 Based on the quotation above, it can be seen that Percy cannot control his movement. He often makes an accident that eventually puts him in a bad situation. Therefore, it can be concluded that the characteristic of Percy is clumsy. According to Dyslexia the Gift, clumsy is defined as a characteristic that becomes a part of dyslexia syndrome. Dyslexic people are often hard to control their energy; thus it causes their lack of caution. They tend to move excessively, which make them not really careful when they do something. This kind of behavior can make dyslexic to be hyperactive which can be the cause of some behavioral problem. According to the theory of dyslexia in How Dyslexia Teenagers Cope by Passe, one of the dyslexia syndromes is suffering the behavioral problem. As what Percy does, he shows the kind of behavioral problem in his daily behavior because he cannot control his energy. Percy does the same mistake when he joins field trip. In the novel, Percy accidentally attacks his school bus and hit the wrong button when he has tour in the Marine World shark pool. When Percy said, “I wasn’t aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway” Riordan, 2005: 2. Because of his clumsiness and fault, he is drop out from his school. Second, Percy is described as a short-tempered person. According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 2001: 449, the emotion makes people have strong feelings or opinions. He often gets mad easily without clear reason. It is because he cannot control his energy hyperactive. T he quotation below shows Percy’s inability in controlling his emotion. Im going to kill her, I mumbled. He dodged another piece of Nancys lunch. Thats it. I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat. Looking back on it, I wish Id decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension wouldve been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into Riordan, 2005: 3 - 4. In the story, Nancy is Percy’s teacher in Yancy Academic. Percy is disturbed and bullied by his teacher, especially Nancy. She often bullies Percy by spilling her lunch over Percy. Percy cannot accept Nancy’s action. He then cannot control his emotion. It can be seen through his nagging towards Nancy. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI