Indifferent The Characteristics of Luke

45 thing, nevertheless, implicitly proves Luke’s care and attention to her. He’d call her ‘Captain Coolibah’, the dopey name he’d had for her when she’d been a little kid. “Captain Coolibah’s got quite a temper,” he’d say to Lionel 97. Childish does not necessarily refer to negative things, in fact. As what people generally found in children, they have such simple and natural characteristic which is rarely found in adults, namely innocence. That is what Luke has. He is innocent about love, and not many things he knows in terms of dating. It happens as he is going for a date with Caroline, his girlfriend. She’d been going with Luke for months and they hadn’t got past the kissing stage; that would seem weird for a start. And Luke wasn’t even very good at kissing. He was nervous; his lips brushed hers lightly, then he’d hesitate, he’d draw back and look at her as if he was asking silently, “Is that all right?” 22. Having passed several times together, Luke’s innocence seems to irritate Caroline even in such trivial things, though in fact he has no intention of it. It can be seen as one day they are both visiting one’s house and being served a cake by the host, Caroline does not eat it up and Luke innocently tells her to hide the cake in her handbag in order not to hurt the host 23. From the analysis above, Luke’s characteristic as an innocent person is depicted in the story through several ways, such as mannerism, other characters’ thought and point of view. 46

3. Sensitive

Apart from the innocence and indifference towards his own appearance, Luke is actually a type of sensitive person. His attitude and manner conversely show his sentimentality, which differs from other boys in general who seem to be apathetic in perceiving their own feeling. Such “bad label” he acquires from the people living surrounds him, including his family, peers, and teachers, has unconsciously been adhered to his mind. It substantially brings his feeling to be easily offended thus. Consequently, what other people say and how they react to him seem to be firmly stuck to his head all the time. When he went to bed he couldn’t get to sleep because the whirligig started, all those numbers spinning round in his head, and faces too, Dad’s face turned away from him, Mum’s face looking frightened, Stringer’s black moustache jerking upwards on the word ‘expulsion’ 60-61. As a matter of fact, the one who gives much strong and deep impact towards Luke’s mental attitude is Dan, his dad. Dan Leman has been the most influential person in Luke’s life ever since, and he is the one to whom Luke puts his biggest fear and proper respect. Luke’s gaze slid downward to the bag he’d chucked there on the floor. Chucked. Sometimes a single word could bring things rushing back; and Dad’s voice rushed in on him now, Dad’s voice shouting, “You chuck everything back in our faces” 10. For Dan, Luke’s education is one crucial thing he mostly concerns about as it much determines his son’s future life and carrier later. Luke’s failure