4. The main character of A Painted House is Luke Chandler,a young seven year-old. Luke lives with his parents and grandparents and is growing up in a tough situation. He’s seen people killed, he is now related to those Latchers, and his family is poor. Being so young, Luke is trying to discover who he is and does this by trying to be like his uncle, Ricky. Luke is fairly nosy, eavesdropping on his parents’ late night conversations and always asking questions about what is going on. Luke works hard picking cotton during picking season, which is a hard job for such a small boy. Luke has already set goals for his future, which are getting out of the farm life and moving on to be a baseball player for the Cardinals. He loves school and works hard whenever he goes back. While Luke does have some flaws during the story, such as peeking at Tally Chandler while she bathed or fighting 3 Latcher boys, he is overall a decent boy who will likely grow to be a good man. Because he has seen such brutality in his life at such a young age, Luke can be defined as courageous because its not easy for most seven year-olds to see the things he has seen. He’s a hard worker and is responsible for his age. He took on the huge project of painting the entire house, which was not an easy task. All these things make Luke worthy of praise because he gives so much effort into everything he does.