5. Through a series of events, Luke’s life was changed and he was forced to mature in ways that children of his age shouldn’t have to. The beginning of this series started with the beating of the Sisco brothers by Hank Spruill. Luke saw the whole thing and the image stuck in his head. He had never seen anyone beat someone else like that so ruthlessly. This event was soon followed up by him seeing Tally bathing in the creek. While this doesn’t seem like a big deal, it causes Luke to like Tally even more and he becomes more curious about a woman’s body. A boy of his age shouldn’t have seen a girl like that and definitely shouldn’t be thinking about it. The next event was Luke’s viewing of the birth of the Latcher baby. While he didn’t necessarily want to be there, Tally dragged him with her and he was practically forced to watch the baby’s birth. Once again, a boy as young as Luke shouldn’t be experiencing things like that. This was soon followed up by the murder of Hank Spruill. Luke had followed Hank as he was leaving, but then Cowboy interfered with Hank’s escape. Luke watched as Cowboy stabbed Hank to death, robbed him, and then pushed his dead body into the river. As if this wasn’t startling enough, Cowboy catches him and threatens to kill his mother if Luke says anything about the murder. The whole experience damaged Luke and he clung to his mother for days, unsure how to cope with what had happened. The final event bringing change to the character was moving up North. While we do not know exactly what happens to him up North, we know it will bring change. Luke will be living in the city and the days of farming will be over. He will go to school more often and the atmosphere will be completely different. The North will change him and shape him into the person he’s dreamed of being: a baseball player for the Cardinals.