Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Among the Hidden, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Propaganda, Fear, and Control
Privilege, Wealth, and Perspective
Protest and Resistance
Coming of Age, Independence, and Family
Summary
Analysis
At supper that night, Mother asks three times if Luke wants more potatoes—it takes him that long to hear her and stop thinking about Jen. Luke desperately wants to tell his parents about her, but he knows they’d never let him go back if he did.
Up to this point, Luke has shared most details about his life with his parents. He’s only recently begun keeping secrets, a sign that he’s growing up and beginning to desire independence from his parents.
Themes
Luke thinks back over his day with Jen. First, Jen insists on setting up a signal to communicate whether it’s safe for Luke to visit or not. She shows Luke the mirrors installed in her house that allow her to look outside without actually peering out the windows. At first, Luke wonders if Mother and Dad would set up something similar for him—but then he realizes such a system would be expensive. Jen suggests that Luke shine a flashlight her direction at nine every morning if he can come. Luke notes that his family doesn’t have flashlights because they can’t afford batteries.
Jen’s mirror system shows that while both her parents and Luke’s parents have taken steps to protect their illegal third children, Jen’s parents are able to take this a step further and give Jen more of a fun, interesting life. Due to their poverty, Luke’s parents can’t think about fun for Luke and can only keep him safe. Luke drives home how poor his family is when he notes that they can’t even afford batteries.
Themes
Puzzled, Jen notes that Luke’s family doesn’t have flashlights or computers. Luke notes proudly that Mother and Dad do have a computer, but it’s in the front of the house and Luke isn’t allowed to touch it. Luke remembers when, as a three-year-old, he’d followed Mother into the office and touched the space bar. Mother had shrieked that “they” could find Luke and locked him in his room for several weeks after this whenever she couldn’t supervise him directly. Rolling her eyes, Jen says the “Government propaganda stuff” is absurd; the Government can’t afford to monitor every TV or computer. She’s been using the computer since she was three.
Luke’s recollection of touching the computer and scaring Mother shows clearly how paranoid his family is. As Jen suggests, Luke’s family genuinely believes the Government is out to get them and can do so by monitoring every device in their house. Jen, though, insists that this is just propaganda, or lies designed to make the Government seem extra powerful. Since she has wealthy parents, it seems likely she has more information about how the government works than Luke does.
Themes
Jen then suggests he signal with a candle, but Luke says they’re kept in the kitchen and he can’t go in there. Jen mocks Luke and says he’s on a short leash, but Luke says his parents are just trying to protect him. Jen scoffs. Luke says he’ll turn on the light by the back door. He’s not allowed to do this either, but he wants to impress Jen.
Up until now, it hasn’t bothered Luke so much that he can’t do all these things—recall how in the first chapter, for instance, the narrator noted that Luke has never obeyed Mother’s order to hide. But Luke wants to impress Jen—a sign that he’s shifting his focus away from his family and toward his new friend.
Themes
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Jen then tells Luke her story. Her parents had her on purpose. Jen’s mom had two sons, Buellton and Brownley, with her first husband, so she and her second husband paid a lot of money to have a little girl. Her mom’s current husband, whom Jen thinks of as her dad, is actually her stepdad. Jen explains that her mom got pregnant at the beginning of the gender selection experiments, so they made sure she was a girl, but the Government has since outlawed gender selection like that. Jen asks if Luke’s parents were trying for a girl.
Jen’s story drives home just how much money and power her family has. Recall that the Government “does things” to women after their second child—Jen’s parents had the cash to not only sidestep sterilization, but also to pay for expensive assisted reproductive technology. Jen’s tone suggests that this is normal for her, though. She has no idea that other people, like Luke, weren’t aware that such a thing was even possible.
Themes
Luke explains that he was a surprise, and Jen responds that she didn’t think Mother and Dad had “paid for” Luke. She apologizes and says Luke is just the first person she’s ever met who wasn’t a Baron. Luke is suddenly very aware of his old flannel shirt and patched jeans. Jen says it doesn’t matter and anyway, Luke might be more helpful to her since he’s not a Baron. She mentions a rally, asks if she can trust Luke, and then says she’s not ready to talk about it with him yet. Luke is hurt, but Jen laughs. As they continue talking, Jen shares that Jen’s dad is a lawyer with the Government—Government officials are corrupt. That’s how she has internet access and such a nice house. Luke feels like he knows nothing now.
The fact that Jen has never met a non-Baron before shows how hierarchical society is in the novel. People of different social classes don’t mix, which is why Jen keeps offending Luke (she has no idea how to be sensitive around someone with less money) and why Luke is just confused (his family focuses on survival, not on bribing Government officials). This is why Luke is so lost right now. It’d never occurred to him that bribery even existed, because he's never had enough money to consider using it for that purpose.
Themes
Soon after, Luke insists he leave. Jen walks him to the back door, but stops when she sees the blood on the carpet. Luke offers to clean it up, but instead, Jen cuts herself on the screen. She tells him to come back soon as Luke rushes out the door.
Jen might struggle to not offend Luke, but she is shockingly willing to sacrifice herself to keep them both safe. She is, in some ways, just as paranoid about keeping up her story as Luke is—but she has different ways of doing that.
Themes
Back in the present, on the stairs eating his supper, Luke finally realizes how dangerous sneaking out was. He also realizes that Jen scares him. She’d cut her hand for him, just after they met. How could she do that?
Jen represents a whole new way of being. She’s brave, she’s wealthy, and she’s willing to support her friends in ways Luke didn’t know were possible. This is all new for him, and for now, it’s unsettling for Luke to think about.
Themes
