Among the Impostors

Lee Grant is the new identity given to Luke Garner so that he doesn’t have to hide from the Population Police. While Luke comes from the country, Lee is a “filthy-rich city boy” (7) who is indifferent about the reality of life as a third child. He wears “Baron clothes” (9), formal looking attire that displays his family’s wealth. After the real Lee Grant died in a skiing accident, his family kept his death a secret to help a shadow child by giving them Lee’s identity card (20). Luke has a difficult time figuring out how to navigate the school as Lee and frequently has to remind himself of how Lee would act in the school. He feels caught between the two identities, which he ultimately learns to embrace.

George Talbot helps Luke to enroll in Hendricks and keeps Luke from danger. Mr. Talbot was Jen Talbot’s father. He works for the Population Police, whose role is to enforce the Population Law, but secretly acts against them by helping third children (99). Luke thinks of him as “like a double agent” (99). Mr. Talbot helps Luke by securing his new identity as Lee Grant and serves as one of the few adults who Luke actually trusts. Luke turns to Mr. Talbot for help when he discovers that Jason is an impostor. Mr. Talbot uses his role as part of the Population Police to save Luke and the other shadow children in danger. While Mr. Talbot is a stern and serious man, he is compassionate toward Luke, particularly because Luke was friends with Jen.

Jen Talbot was a third child, daughter of Mr. Talbot, and Luke’s best friend. She died while leading a rally to help third children in Among the Hidden. Her memory lives on through Luke and the third children who knew of her. Jen’s memory is an anchor for Luke throughout his time at Hendricks, as he engages in mental conversations with her and leans on memories he made with her. Luke describes her as fearless, telling the other kids that “she wasn’t scared of anything” (99). Jen stood up for herself, regardless of the consequences. The night before she went to lead the rally, the last time Luke saw her, he remembers her as “unearthly, as if she’d already passed out of the realm she shared with Luke” (142). He constantly compares himself to her, feeling at certain points that he can’t “live up” (143) to her heroism and bravery.

Jackal boy is Luke’s roommate and initially torments and bullies Luke on a regular basis upon his arrival at Hendricks. He is “tall and thin” (24) with “dark eyes” that have a “strange cast” (25). He also has an “oddly shaped” (25) face that reminds Luke of a jackal, which is why Luke refers to him through much of the book as “jackal boy” (25). He acts differently than the other boys and starts a subversive group in the woods. Jackal boy tells Luke that his assumed identity is Scott Renault, but claims in the woods he is a third child whose name is Jason. He claims to be trying to challenge the Population Law with the other boys and girls. Luke catches Jason working for the Population Police, betraying the trust of Luke and the other shadow children. Jason becomes the ultimate impostor, which is how Luke initially viewed himself when he took on the identity of Lee Grant.

Trey is a Hendricks hall monitor and is part of Jason’s group that meets in the woods. He is a third child but won’t tell anyone his real name, explaining to Luke that he simply goes by Trey because it means “three” (110). He is terrified of the outside world after spending 13 years hiding in the same room, but he joins the group in the woods despite his fears. Luke helps Trey tending to the school garden.

Josiah Hendricks is the founder of Hendricks School for Boys. He is an older man in a wheelchair with “thick white hair” (156) who wears “Baron clothes” (156). He lives in a secluded cottage near the school that is barely visible behind shrubbery. He designed the school to harbor children with autism and agoraphobia agoraphobics, and any other children who need help. Hendricks earns Luke’s trust and he is willing to implement Luke’s vision for the school, which is centered on self-sufficiency through agriculture.

Mr. Dirk is Luke’s history teacher and his role is important to Luke’s journey. Once Luke begins attending his correct classes and paying attention, he finds that Mr. Dirk “could tell fascinating stories about kings and knights and battles, and they were all true” (116). Toward the end of the book, Mr. Dirk takes Luke to see Mr. Hendricks. Mr. Hendricks describes Mr. Dirks as one of his few “compatriots” (160) at the school, meaning he has some, though not a full, understanding of the school’s role harboring third children.

Nina is a student at Harlow School for Girls and Jason’s counterpart for the Population Police at the girls’ school. She partakes in the group of third children that meet out in the woods, although Mr. Hendricks later reveals to Luke that she was only pretending to be a third child. Nina is “a tall, scrawny girl with two pale, thin braids hanging on either side of her face” (81). After Luke finds out that she works for the Population Police he thinks that, like Jason, she is on “a level of evil Luke never could have imagined before” (167).

Rolly Sturgeon sets the tone for Luke’s first difficult weeks at the school. On Luke’s first day, Rolly is asked to show Luke to his room and bullies Luke the entire way. Rolly shouts insults that Luke has never heard before and Luke wonders why Rolly seems “to hate him so much” (11) and thinks his behavior toward Luke is nasty. Jason later refers to Rolly as a “psycho” (96).