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The First (and Last) Jedi

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Who is Luke in The Last Jedi? What has he become? Why is he so troubled and angry? Why has he exiled himself away from the mainstream of the galaxy where the battle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness still rages? Can he be the last hope for a dying rebellion? Or is he a battered prophet who holds only bitterness and rage in his heart? From the very first Star Wars movie (”Star Wars - A New Hope”) Luke has been a stand-in for George Lucas. (Lucas = Luke)  We first meet him as a young clueless boy living on a farm (the small town of Modesto, California) He dreams of interacting with the world and making his mark on a vast universe that seems so distant and unreachable to him from the vantage point of his isolated desert farm. His yearning for race car driving and his memories of racing at fairgrounds near Modesto are reflected in Luke’s ability with (and love for) his Landspeeder. “the dusty Central Valley flatlands provided the model for Luke'