Luke Garner

Luke Garner is obedient to a fault. The first thing the reader learns about 12-year-old Luke is that he has never disobeyed his mother's order to hide. Luke is a highly sensitive child who has taken on adult responsibilities at a young age although he does not actually realize how maturely he has behaved. All his life, Luke has sensed the importance of his parents' need to hide him and he also senses that disobeying his parents' orders will cause them hardship and emotional pain. For the sake of his family's well-being, Luke denies his own needs for fresh air, sunshine and human companionship. This type of sacrifice is usually made by adults; the willingness to set aside one's personal needs for the greater good is a sign of maturity, a maturity that Luke has instinctively displayed all his life.

Still, part of coming of age and...