Among The Hidden
Margaret Peterson Haddix
Esther Lee
Character - Luke
Luke was a hero of this book. He was a third child in Garner's family. It meant that he was outlawed because in Luke's world a family could not have more than two children. Therefore, Luke had to be hidden, and was not allowed to get out of his house. He didn't know why he had to be hidden, and accordingly he didn't know well about the world outside of his house. He was sick of being alone. However, after he met Jen he began a new life. He realized the truth of Population Law. The law was made due to the scarcity of food, and according to the law a third child in a family was outlawed. He wanted to change the third children's life. He read lots of books about Population Law, and came up with some ideas that might be the solutions of the scarcity of food. One of the idea was a rally against the government which might change the Population Law. Even though Luke knew the importance of the rally, he was so scared and didn't attend it. However, after he heard that all the third child who attended the rally were killed, he made a fake ID, changed his name, and started his new life in another family as a legal child. He was timid, scared, and not so brave at first. However, at the end of the story he seemed to have brave heart, prepared to do something that was very dangerous.
I liked this character because Luke was pure, bright, and brave! I hope him not being overwhelmed about what is going to happen in his later life.
Character - Jen
Plot
Story Mountain
Exposition : Characters - There were Luke, Jen, Luke's family, and Jen's father.
Settings - There were Luke's house, and Jen's house.
Rising Action : A third child Luke met another third child Jen. Jen taught Luke about Population Law, the reason they had to be hidden. They made plans for the rally against government, but Luke refused to attend the rally.
Climax : Jen and other 40 third children not including Luke went to the rally and all of them was killed by government officers.
Falling Action : Luke was so curious about the result of the rally because he could not get any information. So he decided to sneak into Jen's house. In there, he met Jen's father and heard that all of the third child attended the rally including Jen was killed.
Resolution : Since Jen's father was a government officer, he had power to make a fake ID. So, Luke asked to Jen's father to make him a fake ID. After he got a fake ID, he left his house, and started a new life in another family as a legal child.
Setting - Luke's house
Setting - Jen's house
Conflict
As an internal conflict (character vs. self) , there was Luke vs Luke's mind. There was a rally that some of the third children attended. Jen asked Luke to join the rally together, but Luke was hesitated because he was sure that his parents would not let him go to the rally. His parents didn't want him to even get out of the house. Inside his mind there were a mind that he wanted to attend the rally and join all the other third child, but on the other side he did not want to disobey his parents, and he wanted to be safe.
Theme
After reading this book....
I liked this book because this book had many conflict which made me feel tense while I read this book. It had really great settings, and themes, and it showed problems of our society. Also I liked Jen's bravery which made me feel courageous. I did not like this book because this book's ending was not so good. It did not give enough explanation about Luke's new life. Overall, I really liked this book and I want to read next series of this book if I have a chance to do so. I highly recommend this book to my friends, because it has really good theme, and it shows problems of our society. It also will make the readers to look back about their life.