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
Later, Jen sends Luke home with two books and several computer printouts. When Luke gets home, he flips through The Population Disaster and can barely understand a word of it—it’s written like the government letters that Dad struggles to understand. The printouts are short, but no easier to read. Though Luke is tempted to ask Jen to just explain the books to him, he doesn’t. She offended him earlier by asking if he could read, so he settles in with the dictionary to prove to her that he can read. With the dictionary’s help, Luke spends the next few days buried in the books. Dad is in and out of the house often since it’s raining, so Luke keeps Treasure Island nearby to hide what he’s actually reading.
Luke is trying to figure out the type of person he wants to be—and in this case, he wants to be someone who can read and interpret things for himself, rather than ask others to interpret things for him. This is a huge step forward in terms of maturity, as up to this point Luke has pretty much allowed his parents to interpret everything about the world for him. Jen shows again that she struggles to kindly connect with someone who’s grown up without her privilege by assuming that perhaps Luke didn’t know how to read.
Themes
On the fourth day, Dad comes upstairs and offers to play cards with Luke. Dad explains that there’s nothing for him to do outside during the winter with all the pigs gone. Without thinking, Luke asks if Dad could grow things in the basement with special lights (he’s just read a chapter on hydroponics, or growing things in water, in one of the books). Dad seems interested, though not suspicious about where Luke heard of such a thing—but Luke is terrified Dad will find out what he’s been up to. Soon after, Dad leaves.
Now that Luke is starting to build a life of his own, it’s imperative that he keep it a secret from his parents. If Dad finds out that Luke has been seeing Jen, Dad will put a stop to it—so in some ways, Dad is becoming Luke’s enemy. Fortunately, though, Dad doesn’t question where Luke heard of or came up with the idea of hydroponics, so Luke’s secret is safe for now.
Themes
Luke wishes he had the nerve to ask Dad about the Population Law, the famines, or family history. Now that he’s gotten used to the difficult language in the books, Luke is learning all sorts of things. He’s learned that about 20 years ago, there got to be too many people on Earth. People in poorer countries were starving, and things were bad—and then things got worse when a three-year drought meant that the biggest food-producing countries couldn’t grow anything. Luke’s country began rationing food, forced junk food factories to make healthy food, and made farmers move to more fertile land. (This, Luke suspects, is why his family doesn’t live near his grandparents.) In addition, Luke’s country passed the Population Law to make sure there would never be too many people to feed.
Luke has never been able to engage with his parents honestly, like they’re equals. This is in part because they continue to see him as a little boy who needs protection, not as a boy who’s fast approaching adulthood. As Luke reads, he thinks critically for the first time about why his world is the way it is. He doesn’t question the truth of what the book says about the famine, but it does make him wonder about how his family ended up where it is, farming like they do. Being able to think critically like this is an essential part of starting to grow up and come of age.
Themes
Now, whenever Luke eats, he feels guilty—is someone else starving because he exists? Maybe the Government is right and Luke shouldn’t exist. He feels a bit better when he reads the printouts, since they say the Population Law is “evil” and suggest that what’s happening to shadow children is genocide. The next time Luke sees Jen, he asks her how the books and the articles can say such different things. Which view is correct? Jen says that the Government allowed the books to be published and maybe even paid for them, so that’s government propaganda. The articles’ authors put themselves at risk to publish, so the articles are right. Luke asks why Jen even made him read the books in that case, and Jen says they prove how “stupid” the Government is. But the books look so official. Can Luke really just decide that what’s in them isn’t true?
Initially, Luke takes the books seriously and begins to question if he actually has the right to exist. This stunts his development a bit, as he’s essentially wondering if he has the right to grow up and continue to use resources. The printouts complicate things further by not addressing the food scarcity issues, and instead just condemning the Population Law as “evil” and as genocide. It’s worse, the printouts seem to suggest, to force kids like Luke to feel bad, or to hide or die, than it is to have more people to feed to begin with. Jen doesn’t have to think hard about which she believes: the printouts tell her she’s supposed to exist. But Luke, having grown up not knowing he could question the Government, is less willing to all of a sudden start writing them off as out of touch.
Themes
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