Among the Hidden: Chapter 19 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.

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.

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.

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?