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
The first two weeks of April are rainy, so Luke doesn’t see Jen at all. Finally, when the rain stops and Dad goes to the fields to plow, Luke runs over to Jen’s house. Jen is thrilled to see Luke—she says she thought she’d just have to pick Luke up on Thursday for the rally. Luke’s heart pounds as Jen explains that she’s going to take her parents’ car, pick up Luke and three other kids, and drive to the president’s house. Leading Luke to the couch, Jen explains that she hacked into the Population Police database and switched some officers’ schedules around; there will be more officers off that day than usual. Luke realizes that Jen was so relaxed during his last visits because they were breaks from planning the rally. She looks exhausted, but giddy too.
Luke runs to Jen’s house expecting a fun, casual hangout—but instead, he’s caught off guard by her talk of the rally. The way Jen talks shows that she’s serious about making the rally work: she’s figured out how to hack into the Government sites, she’s figured out how to drive, and she’s been dedicating most of her time to this project for the last several months. In her opinion, she’s also doing everything she can to protect herself and the other protesters, as by making sure fewer officers than usual will be off duty.
Themes
Luke asks what happens if someone finds out what Jen did, but Jen assures Luke that won’t happen. As she starts to say she’ll pick Luke up late at night, Luke asks what happens at the rally if someone calls the Population Police. Again, Jen isn’t worried; she insists the Population Police won’t harm a crowd of a thousand kids, especially not kids with parents in the Government. Not meeting Jen’s eyes, Luke asks what happens if no other shadow children come. Jen scoffs. Carlos wasn’t serious a few months ago, but he’s been helping to plan this thing. She asks Luke whether he wants his protest sign to say “I deserve a life” or “Give me liberty or give me death!”
Luke hasn’t been raised to believe that something like this rally could happen, so all he sees are the potential problems and dangers. He suspects the Population Police are more ruthless than Jen gives them credit for, and he also suspects there are plenty of shadow kids who, like him, are terrified by the idea of a rally. Jen, though, is extremely confident—she trusts that the Population Police won’t hurt children. This seems like a misstep if it’s true that, as Jen and Luke have both said, the Population Police’s entire job is to kill shadow kids like them.
Themes
Luke imagines the eight-hour drive to the president’s house. It’d be physically easy, but terrifying—and then he’d have to get out, be in public, and carry a sign. Sweating, Luke says he can’t go. He asks if there’s some other choice besides hiding or going to the rally. Very seriously, Jen says that Luke would be a coward for staying and waiting for someone else to change things for him. She says he’ll forever regret not going, he deserves to live, and no matter what he says, he does hate hiding. Luke knows she’s right; he desperately wants to be outside again. But he argues that he’s not brave like Jen.
Luke might be able to admit that he doesn’t want to hide anymore—his increased happiness now that he has a friend is proof enough that he craves connections in the outside world. But he’s too cautious and afraid to do more than be her friend right now. Jen finds this offensive, as she can’t see someone who isn’t willing to go to the rally as fully committed to freeing shadow children from hiding.
Themes
Jen says she’d argue that Luke is the brave one, since he’s the one risking his life to run over to her house. Luke says he’s just protecting Jen, since Dad is home all the time. Bitterly, Jen tells Luke that if he really cares about her, he’ll come. But Luke tells Jen she’s “crazy,” and it’s too dangerous for either of them to go. Jen tells Luke to go away. Luke tries to say that he hopes this will work, but Jen snaps that hope is useless and action is the only way forward. Luke runs home.
Jen crystallizes her beliefs about protest when she snaps that action is the only way forward. And she may be right that protest is the only way forward—if the only other option is to simply stay in hiding. But she seems to totally discredit other ways of creating change, such as when she posted Luke’s insight about farm waste on the agriculture bulletin board in Chapter 17.
Themes
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