Among the Hidden

“Before that, he had thought that only very little kids had to stay out of sight. He had thought, as soon as he was as old as Matthew and Mark, he would get to go around like they did, riding to the backfield and even into town with Dad, hanging their heads and arms out the pickup window.”

This quote provides insight into Luke’s thought process and how he came to understand the situation he lives in while growing up. This quote also introduces the theme of The Effects of Privilege by illustrating the differences between Luke’s older brothers, who are allowed to exist legally, and Luke, who must stay hidden.

“For a while, Luke watched Dad, Mother, Matthew, and Mark eating in silence, a complete family of four. Once, he cleared his throat, ready to protest again. You can’t do this—it’s not fair— Then he choked back the words, unspoken.”

After Luke is made to sit on the stairs to eat dinner for the first time, his anger about his situation as a shadow child wells up. However, this quote shows how Luke holds in his emotions about the circumstances of his life—a habit he’s developed all his life to keep his family from feeling bad. This is one of many developments that happen within Luke’s household after the new neighborhood is built, showing how Luke’s freedoms and dignity slowly dwindle.

“Barons were unbelievably rich, Luke knew. They had things ordinary people hadn’t had in years. Luke wasn’t sure how the Barons had gotten rich, when everybody else was poor. But Dad never said the word ‘Baron’ without a curse word or two in front of it.”

This quote describes what Luke knows about Barons and introduces the concept of class inequality to the dystopian landscape of the novel. The existence of an upper class with special privileges helps set up the framework for the theme of The Effects of Privilege to be developed.

“What if a family with just one kid moved in behind them, and he sneaked into their house and pretended to be their second child? He could go to school, go to town, act like Matthew and Mark…”

While Luke watches the Barons tour the houses near his, he daydreams about what his life could be like if he got out of his situation. This moment shows the way isolation and living in hiding have affected Luke’s thought patterns and reinforced his desire to live a normal life, in which he can do what everyone else does. Luke’s daydreams often feature the concept of living as a free human—a concept that the rest of Luke’s family takes for granted.

“Luke fled up the stairs. He wanted to stomp, angrily, but he couldn’t. No noise allowed. In his room, he hesitated, too upset to read, too restless to do anything else. He kept hearing You stay hidden. That’s an order, echoing in his ears. But he’d been hidden. He’d been careful.”

After Luke has taken great caution while doing chores and baking bread in his family’s kitchen—a place he has not visited in months—Luke’s dad scolds him for being irresponsible. Despite Luke’s efforts to contribute to his family in a positive way, he still gets reprimanded, causing Luke to feel trapped in his attic. The buildup of emotion with no outlet in this quote parallels the buildup of Luke’s isolation as he spends day after day imprisoned in the attic with nothing to do. This quote creates a sense of helplessness and frustration, which is exactly what Luke feels.

“Luke felt strange about the joke, anyway. Of course he’d never poison anyone, but—if something happened to Matthew or Mark, would Luke have to hide anymore? Would he become the public second son, free to go to town and to school and everywhere else that Matthew and Mark went?”

After joking about poisoning Mark, Luke becomes introspective about a future in which one of his brothers passed, entertaining thoughts of how he’d be able to take their place and live a normal life. Luke’s dark thoughts come as a result of the inequity between him and his brothers, which develops the theme of The Effects of Privilege by showing how a lack of privilege leads to envy and resentment.

“He thought about returning home—trudging up the worn stairs, going back to his familiar room and the walls he stared at every day. Suddenly he hated his house. It wasn’t a sanctuary. It was a prison.”

After Luke takes his first steps outside in months, his perspective on the safety of his house begins to shift. He’s realizing how much he’s missing by not being allowed outside, and he comes to view his house as a prison. This quote establishes Luke’s family home as a symbol of imprisonment, with Luke as the only prisoner. This shift in perspective for Luke signifies a turning point in his life as he gains a greater understanding of the world he’s missing out on.

“This room was different. It reminded him of a word he’d never heard, only read: ‘pristine.’ Nobody had ever stepped on these white rugs with manure-covered boots. Nobody had ever sat on those pale blue couches with corn-dust-covered jeans.”

The imagery in this quote establishes the disparity between the house Luke has broken into—the house of a Baron family—and Luke’s own home. The contrast between the pristine furniture and Luke’s family farmhouse creates a greater understanding of the gulf between the way Barons live and the way farmers live. This imagery also helps lay the groundwork for the way the idea of privilege is explored in the ensuing chapters.

“And might I remind you that the penalty for harboring a shadow child is five million dollars or execution, depending on the mood of the judge?”

In this quote, Jen reminds her father about the repercussions that he would face if she were to be found. The steep penalty of millions of dollars or death illustrates the extent of the cruelty of the government, showing how the Population Law is unreasonable. This quote implies that the government has no regard for its citizens’ rights, foreshadowing a greater moral depravity on the government’s part in the later chapters of the book.

“He suddenly felt like it might be easy to cry, if he let himself. All his life, he’d been told he couldn’t do everything Matthew and Mark did because he was the third child. But if Jen could go about freely, it didn’t make sense. Had his parents lied?”

After Luke meets Jen and learns that not only can she use the phone, computer, and television, but she’s also met people outside her own family, Luke recognizes the disparity between her experience as a shadow child and his own. Although Luke doesn’t know it yet, Jen’s life is different from his because of the privilege her family has by being Barons with ties to the government. This moment highlights The Effects of Privilege theme by showing how privilege can improve one’s circumstances, even when those circumstances are not great.

“‘Don’t tell me your family believes that Government propaganda stuff,’ she said. ‘They’ve spent so much money trying to convince people they can monitor all the TVs and computers, you know they couldn’t have afforded to actually do it. I’ve been using our computer since I was three—and watching TV, too—and they’ve never caught me.’”

Here, Jen explains her belief that the government has invested more in propaganda than in actual enforcement of the Population Law. This multifaceted quote shows how Jennifer’s perspective on the government’s abilities has been influenced by her privileged life and develops the theme of The Impact of Propaganda.

“Haven’t you learned? Government leaders are the worst ones for breaking laws. How do you think we got this house? How do you think I got Internet access? How do you think we live?”

In this quote, Jen explains the link between her dad’s government job and her cushy lifestyle to Luke, who has never learned about the corruption or incompetence of the government. This quote not only explores ideas of privilege, but also the theme of Legality Versus Morality by showing that the law is not applied equally to all citizens, indicating that those in positions of privilege and power are allowed to do what they wish, showing a moral failing within the law itself.

“Jen had scared him—that was why. Seeing her cut her hand had terrified him. How could she do something like that for him, when they’d just met?”

Before Luke leaves Jen’s for the first time, he notices his blood on the carpet from where the screen door cut his hand. Jen cuts her hand on the screen too and squeezes the blood over Luke’s to hide his existence from her family. Luke thinks about this moment later, feeling confused about Jen’s motives. This event characterizes Jen as a loyal, devoted friend. Jen cutting herself foreshadows Jen’s ultimate fate by showing her willingness to make sacrifices for her fellow shadow children.

“Well think about it. The Government allowed those books to be published—they probably even paid for them. So of course they’re going to say what the Government wants people to believe. They’re just propaganda. Lies. But the articles, the authors of those probably put themselves at risk getting the information out. So they’re right.”

Jen’s explanation of the two sides of propaganda she’s given Luke to read reveals a flaw in her critical thinking. Jen passionately believes the Population Law is evil and must be repealed, but she does not think critically about the sources that support her point of view. She believes they’re true because the authors risked themselves to publish them. Jen’s steadfast perspective foreshadows the consequences of her confidence in the articles and contributes to the overall theme of The Impact of Propaganda.

“But getting one of those I.D.’s—that’s just a different way of hiding. I want to be me and go about like anybody else. There’s no compromise. Which is why I’ve got to convince these idiots that the rally’s their only chance.”

This quote reveals why Jen, despite her family’s privilege, has rejected the idea of getting a fake ID. She believes that she’ll never truly live free unless she can live as herself. While this perspective illustrates Jen’s passion for abolishing the Population Law, it also shows how her intensity borderlines on fanaticism. Jen’s perspective that her rally is the only means to freedom shows her short-sighted thinking and creates a sense of danger for the path Jen is pursuing.

“Luke felt his father’s disappointment, and seeing his parents so worried about money made a small voice whisper in the back of his head, Maybe if they didn’t have you, they could afford everything they want.”

This moment shows how the government propaganda Luke has consumed has impacted his perspective on his own existence. This guilt, brought on by the information that Luke could be costing his family their happiness by preventing them from saving food and money, is a direct result of the information Luke has gleaned from the books he read. Luke’s emotions here contribute to the theme of The Impact of Propaganda.

“I don’t care who gets called once we’re there. Heck, I may call the Population Police myself. They’re not going to do anything to a crowd of a thousand, especially not when lots of us are related to Government officials. We’ll make them listen to us. We’re a revolution!”

As the date of Jen’s rally draws near, Jen becomes more outwardly confident in her plans. This confidence stems from Jen’s life of privilege, the propaganda she consumes, and her inability to separate legality from morality. Jen believes the government won’t kill a large group of its citizens because it is morally wrong, not comprehending that the law is not a moral code. She is also confident in her ability to get away with the rally due to her relationship to the government and her standing as a Baron. Finally, Jen has been convinced that she is on the side of what’s right through the propaganda she’s consumed, which has only given her fuel for her passionate advocacy. This mixture of privilege, moral high-ground, and reassurance from questionable sources has created a perfect storm for Jen to confidently plan her rally, unaware of the extent of the danger she faces by doing so.

“He wished he’d never gone over there. All she did was brag, brag, brag and show off: Hey, look, I’m a third child and I can go to the president’s house and nobody will hurt me. He hoped someone shot her. That would show her.

Luke stopped in the middle of pulling the attic door shut behind him. No, no, he took it back. He didn’t want anyone to shoot her.”

Luke once again entertains dark thoughts in his anger at his interaction with Jen. He’s afraid to join her rally, and he believes she ought to be afraid too. When Jen tells him to leave because he doesn’t believe in her, Luke expresses his anger about the privileges she’s experienced and the confidence she has in her plan because of it. Luke’s wish that Jen get shot is a powerful moment of foreshadowing that reveals Jen’s ultimate fate.

“I still can’t go. I’m sorry. It’s something about having parents who are farmers, not lawyers. And not being a Baron. It’s people like you who change history. People like me—we just let things happen to us.”

In Luke’s final conversation with Jen, he acknowledges the differences between his family and hers, indicating that he believes the rally is much more dangerous for him than for her. In his time with Jen, Luke has come to understand privilege on a larger scale and how it can influence the outcomes for those who have it. Luke also expresses a hopeless attitude in this exchange, believing he will never have the power to try to fix things or change history. This attitude from Luke changes later, after Jen’s failed rally and death.

“And we couldn’t even bury her in the family plot. Couldn’t take a bereavement day off work. Couldn’t tell anyone why we’re going around with red eyes and aching hearts. No—we just had to pretend to be the same old family of four we’d always been.”

In this quote, Jen’s dad expresses the heartbreaking aftermath of Jen’s death, compounded by the fact that he and his family aren’t allowed to indicate anything is wrong or lay Jen to rest with the rest of their family. This quote brings up the concept of Legality Versus Morality, showing the moral failings of the government while enforcing the Population Law. Jen’s death, the deaths of the rest of the shadow children at the rally, and the suffering of their families illustrates the way the government has abandoned morality in pursuit of law and order.

“I’m afraid I encouraged her. I passed along some slanted information. I wanted to give her hope that someday the Population Law would be repealed. I didn’t know she’d…she’d…”

This quote from Jen’s dad shows the way the propaganda he gave Jen informed her decisions and the guilt he feels for giving her access to biased sources. Despite his best intentions, Jen took the information she was given and was killed fighting for a cause she believed in, her confidence fortified by the propaganda. This quote develops the theme of The Impact of Propaganda by showing how biased sources and slanted information can manipulate the thoughts and emotions of those who consume it.

“For the first time since he’d read the Government books, he could see the two things being separate. Maybe that was why he’d been too scared to go to the rally. If he’d truly believed, the way Jen had, he might have gone.”

When Jen’s dad explains that, despite the propaganda from both sides, he believes the Population Law is wrong, Luke finally finds the clarity he needs to put to rest his inner conflict about whether it’s okay for him to exist. This reassurance helps Luke to firmly separate the ideas of legality and morality, helping to develop the theme of Legality Versus Morality. Luke also realizes that Jen’s perception that they are tied together contributed to her confidence in fighting for her cause. Jen’s faith in the government to be a moral beacon is what ultimately led to her downfall.

“Maybe he could succeed where Jen had failed precisely because he wasn’t a Baron—because he didn’t have her sense that the world owed him everything. He could be more patient, more cautious, more practical.”

Luke reconsiders his opinion that people in his situation with an unprivileged family cannot do anything to improve the world. He realizes he was wrong to say that Jen could do these things because she’s a Baron now that Jen has failed. Luke’s recognition that his lack of privilege is actually a boon to his mission to help other shadow children develops the theme of The Effects of Privilege by showing that privilege does not always lead to an informed worldview, and the outcomes of this ignorance can be devastating.