Among the Impostors

“For twelve years—his entire life—he’d had to hide. To be seen was death.” 

When Luke first arrives at school, he is scared of being in a new, unfamiliar place. As he enters a classroom for the first time, all the boys turn and look at him. Luke panics, temporarily forgetting that it’s safe to be seen. He has a new identity that protects him in public, but he has not yet adjusted to the new reality.

“He’d been thinking about making a difference in the world, finding some way to help other third children who had to hide.”

When Luke is lying in bed on his first night, he remembers that earlier that morning, when he’d left home, he was thinking about his desired goal: to help others. He hopes his new identity can be a start on his path to changing everything for the better.

“His feeling of hope surged, even more than the fear. His name was Luke. He was nobody’s servant. He was not the lowest of the low.”

Though Luke is in an unfamiliar place, he remains true to himself and his real identity. He is bullied by his roommates but remembers his true purpose at the school. His mind stays resilient among the abuse and confusing place in which he’s found himself, which carries him to bravely stand up for the third children in danger later in the book.

“How could he long to be alone, and feel so lonely, all at once?”

Luke’s first days at Hendricks are hallmarked by feelings of loneliness in a sea of people. He struggles with finding privacy and hasn’t been able to read Mr. Talbot’s note after two weeks. When he finally thinks he’s arrived at his bedroom first and can be alone, he finds that his tormenter, jackal boy, is already there. After being bullied, he lies in bed craving time to himself but also feeling like he has no one.

“Luke buried his face in his hands and slipped down to the ground, sprawled beside the log. Without the note to count on, he didn’t even have enough backbone of his own to sit.”

Luke finally reads Mr. Talbot’s note and is extremely disappointed and frustrated by the message to blend in. He had hoped the note would provide him with detailed guidance to help him with his new life. His ultimate goal is to effect positive change and make a difference for third children. While he understands the note wasn’t going to tell him how to do so, he thought it might aid him on his journey. He feels lost, angry, and abandoned in the aftermath.

“He’d come to a decision without realizing it. He had to go back to school. He owed it to his family, and Jen’s dad, and maybe even Jen herself.”

After the disappointment of Mr. Talbot’s letter, Luke contemplates running away and returning home. His maturity grows as he pushes past his emotional response and understands that it would be dangerous for him and his family to go back home. He decides that he must stay, because it’s the only way he can bring about positive change.

“Remember them, Luke ordered himself. But it took all his willpower just to keep himself from looking away.”

Luke begins to feel brave enough to make direct eye contact with his classmates as he walks by them after discovering the woods. His confidence has bloomed and he notices that a very small number actually maintain eye contact. He decides it’s important to remember who these boys are, even though the act of holding their gaze terrifies him.

“‘I have the woods,’ he said aloud. ‘I’ll have the garden. This is mine.’”

Luke’s independence and confidence grows as he finds a place in the woods for himself. His decision to grow a garden excites him, but doesn’t fully allow him to forget where he is currently enrolled. The woods and garden become a positive development as he feels a sense ownership he didn’t know needed. He’s had to give up his family and identity, but the garden is his to control.

Happy, he thought in amazement. I’m happy.”

Luke’s self-sufficiency with tending to his garden builds his confidence even further. As he maintains and waters the plants, he begins to feel an emotion he doesn’t recognize at first. The disconnect of finally realizing that he’s feeling happiness demonstrates the stress he is under at the school and within the society itself as a third child.

“Lots of people had been in Luke’s garden. Lots of people had been there destroying it.”

Luke’s dreamscape and confidence have been destroyed by the presence of others. He builds his garden in solitude and is reminded that he isn’t alone in its destruction. Initially, he is in disbelief and wonders if he is somehow responsible. Refusing to invalidate his feelings, Luke realizes other students must have been responsible and bravely determines to find out who ruined his safe space.

“Anyway, the woods didn’t seem the least bit inviting to him anymore. They weren’t his. They never had been.”

Once Luke’s garden has been destroyed, he feels dejected and numb to the place that once brought him joy. The violation of his garden reminds him of why he’s really at Hendricks, and that no one can be trusted. In addition, the garden’s destruction reminds Luke that he does not have ownership over the outdoors and never did.

“It was like a chess game, Luke realized.”

Luke begins to separate his emotions from his situation and begins to see a clearer picture of the school’s inner workings. After taking note of the hall monitor’s absent response to his slamming the outside door, Luke begins strategically looking at the players involved at the school. He comes to understand that the dynamic at the school is like the game of chess. The boys are pawns while the hall monitors and “starers” are bishops or the king.

“Finally he’d found other kids he could trust, as he’d trusted Jen.”

Luke feels a budding sense of relief and as though he has found a support system within the school. While he believes the group can be trusted, he maintains a cautious approach with them, and holds off on revealing his true name. His social intelligence is displayed as he thinks he can trust them, but still waits to learn more about them at the same time.

“Belonging to jackal boy’s group made all the difference in the world.”

Luke’s entire outlook on his circumstances shifts after meeting the group in the woods and finding a place with them. He becomes a part of a network of friends who make him feel he is no longer alone. Furthermore, the group is a support system, though extremely new, that helps him figure out his studies and finds a place for him at the dining hall. Luke feels he has people looking out for him and he no longer has to be intimidated or afraid. With the confidence he feels as part of the group, he better navigates the environment around him.

“He suddenly saw that, for a third child, he’d been very lucky.”

Enlightened by another third child on their experiences, Luke comes to realize that not every third child had the same upbringing. This realization strengthens Luke’s own identity and independence, as he realizes he had freedom in his family’s farm, while others had lived in one room their entire lives. Luke’s compassion is sparked, strengthening his mission to be an agent for change in the world for third children.

“He was surprised that, with each day that passed, his classes made more sense to him.”

In the midst of the overwhelming setting, Luke enjoys the information he gains from the courses he attends. As he’s so preoccupied with his identity on paper, he begins to learn who he is himself; what subjects he likes and areas of study he finds interesting. This furthers Luke’s sense of belonging in the school and gives him a sense of purpose that makes him feel like a normal student for once.

“Jason was the worst kind of fake—an informer, a traitor, someone who pretends to be a friend and then betrays.”

Jason embodies all of Luke’s worst fears realized: Jason works for the Population Police, has been lying about his own identity, and plans to report the third children to the government. The depth at how far Luke will go to remain safe and save others is demonstrated as he violently, without thinking, strikes Jason with the textbook to keep him quiet.

“Luke’s head spun. It was too hard to recast his memories with Jason as a traitor.”

Luke struggles to think of Jason in new terms as a traitor to third children. His naivete as a child still shows through, as he is shocked by his friend’s betrayal. Luke tries to adjust to the onslaught of emotion and push through to logically think about his next steps, highlighting the emotional and mental growing pains he’s enduring.

“There was no sign of the real Luke Garner. Probably even his family would forget him eventually.”

Luke’s identity as a third child is front and center as he feels disposable while looking at doctored photos from Lee Grant’s file. He comes to terms with the fact that his biological family will not be able to harbor him in their society and takes the thought further to being forgotten altogether. Luke learns the hard lesson that his own identity will at times merge into Lee Grant’s identity, whether he likes it or not. His struggle to hold on to his own identity is illustrated as he imagines his family forgetting him, as the world has done on paper.

“He didn’t care that anyone walking by would catch him where he wasn’t supposed to be. He was past caring about anything.”

Luke’s stress reaches a peak, and his careful walls of protection drop in a vulnerable moment of dejection. When Luke believes his phone call to Mr. Talbot to be a failure, he quickly loses hope for the near future. His apathy of being found and panic in the moment move the reader faster into the narrative in order to find out what happens the next day.

“And behind him, with his wrists in handcuffs and his ankles in leg-irons, was Jason.”

Luke’s worst fear in human form has been apprehended and taken care of for the time being. Immediate hope is felt as Jason’s betrayal receives its rightful punishment. As Luke watches his classmates provide more alternate names and Mr. Talbot talk about vacations with Lee Grant as a baby, a sense of disbelief overcomes Luke. The trauma he has faced thus far doesn’t allow him to accept what’s really happening until later in the narrative.

“Luke should have felt relieved to finally get an explanation. For that matter, he should have been ecstatic to have an adult at Hendricks acknowledge his existence. But all he could think about, suddenly, was how lonely and isolated he’d felt his first few weeks at Hendricks, how invisible.”

Luke’s loneliness is renewed as he realizes his first weeks at Hendricks were being monitored. He learns that he must face most of his adversity on his own and navigate the duplicitous society largely by himself. While his support system in the group of children who met in the woods upheld him for a time, Luke realizes that even the adults in power cannot do much for him themselves. The realization reminds Luke of the society in which he lives and that while he will find support, he’ll have to forge his own path at the same time.

“He wasn’t some pawn to be moved across a chessboard, according to other people’s plans.”

Luke’s independence takes hold as Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Talbot suggest that he’s ready to move on from Hendricks. He courageously demonstrates his maturity and growth as he stands up for his own desires. He presents his plan for the school to plant a garden, taking on a position of authority for himself. Luke remembers his observation of the way the school has been set up like a chessboard and removes himself from manipulation, deciding not to be used like a pawn. He wants to take control of his own life and fate, even if it means standing up to the two powerful men in front of him.