Point of View

The novel is written in the third person. The point of view is that of the novel’s main character Luke Garner, a 12-year-old illegal third child – also known as a “shadow child” – who, prior to the start of the book, has spent his entire life hiding from the Government’s Population Police on his parents’ farm. Luke is present and is the central character in every scene in the novel and all of the action and information in the story is presented to the reader as it is experienced and understood by him. The author also makes certain that the reader is constantly aware of what Luke is thinking and how he is feeling; this is particularly effective when the author presents Luke’s feelings of loneliness and fear throughout the course of the novel.

In the first half of the novel the story...