44 pages • 1 hour read
Jeanne DuPrauThe City of Ember
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 13-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary: “Deciphering the Message”
Lina decides to see what Clary thinks of the Instructions. She tells Clary everything, and Clary is sad and sorry that the mayor turned so selfish. In Lina’s room at Mrs. Murdo’s, Clary sees right away that the bean plant sprouted. She studies the Instructions with serious intent, agreeing with all the guesses Lina and Doon made so far and saying the Instructions are the “most hopeful thing [she has] ever seen” (170). Clary focuses on the word Egres at the top, stating that the word is actually Egress, or exit.
When Clary leaves, Lina runs to fetch Doon, telling him the meaning of Egress. They look at the instructions with fresh eyes. They decide the clues lead down the Pipeworks to the river, where they should find a labeled stone. Doon remembers, “Yes, that must be right. There’s a stone marked with E, and down the riverbank at the point there’s a ledge” (173). They plan to share the Instructions with the city at the Singing, a yearly festival at which everyone gathers to appreciate Ember, assuming they decipher more before the event in two days. That night, Doon cannot sleep. His father asks if he is all right but Doon keeps the secrets to himself, thinking how surprised his father will be at the Singing. Doon recalls seeing strange writing on the stones beside the river.
Chapter 14 Summary: “The Way Out”
The next day, Lina is hopeful that Mayor Cole’s arrest is imminent. Doon finds Lina at noon and tells her that he found the stone marked with an E for Egress. When everyone else has gone to practice for the Singing, they sneak into the Pipeworks and down to the river. Using Lina’s copied-over Instructions, they find a ladder along the inner bank of the river that leads to a ledge, then a door and a panel in which a silver key hangs. Inside they stumble over two metal boxes on the floor and touch something large and curved, but it is too dark to see what it is.
They take the metal boxes down the passageway to see. In the box labeled Candles, they find white greasy-feeling rods with strings poking out one end; the one labeled Matches is filled with tiny wooden, blue-tipped sticks. Clueless, Doon tries to write with the tiny sticks on the stones, the Instructions, and his arm; Lina tells him to try the odd white strip inside the metal box—and when he does, the little stick catches on fire. It burns out quickly. They tie the stick to the waxy rod with the string, accidentally discovering how to light the candle in the process. They can now light the way into the dark room. The curved object, bigger than both of them, has ropes and two paddles. Letters label it “BOAT” (191), but neither Lina nor Doon knows what a boat is. Returning to the Instructions, Doon figures it out: They must lower the boat into the river and ride it downstream, because “There was no tunnel leading out of Ember. The way out was the river” (192).
Chapter 15 Summary: “A Desperate Run”
Through another door behind the boat, Lina and Doon find a cavernous room filled with hundreds more boats. They agree to keep to the plan of announcing their discovery at the Singing. The next morning Doon packs his pillowcase with a knife, a bottle for water, and a piece of rope. He sees that the worm is about to hatch from the cocoon; a brown moth emerges and Doon lets it fly out the window. From the window, Doon notices three guards asking a woman in the street where “a boy named Harrow” might be, as he is wanted for “spreading vicious rumors” (200). She misdirects them to the trash heaps. Doon realizes the guards are in on the mayor’s selfish scheme, and he flees the building to warn Lina.
Doon arrives unexpectedly and shocks Lina with news that the guards are after them. They flee, leaving Poppy with Mrs. Murdo. Signs are posted everywhere with their names: “Wanted for spreading vicious rumors. If you see them, report to Mayor’s Chief Guard. Believe nothing they say. Reward” (205). They hide in their former classroom and discuss options, fearing the Prison Room. Doon suggests they take the boat journey on their own and leave a note with instructions for everyone else to follow. Lina hates to leave Poppy even briefly behind, but Doon convinces Lina that Mrs. Murdo can care for Poppy, and Lina agrees it is the safest way. Doon writes out instructions on how to find the boats, and Lina suggests the note be left at Clary’s house to find. They agree to meet at 3:15 at the Pipeworks, once everyone is at the Singing. Lina leaves with the note, but as Doon watches from the window, two guards see her and give chase.
Chapter 16 Summary: “The Singing”
Lina tries to hide in the library, but it is locked. The guards catch her and take her to the Gathering Hall where she waits in the same room as she did her first day as a messenger. Eventually Mayor Cole comes in and sits in an armchair. He dismisses the guards and lectures Lina for her inquisitiveness. He says Emberites must continue to simply believe that all will be fine. Lina tells him this is “hogwash,” one of the archaic words Doon read in the library. Angry, Mayor Cole tells Lina she is going to the Prison Room. As he rings for the guards, the power cuts off. Lina manages to get out of the room and up to the roof by the same passage she took before. The mayor and guards stumble in the dark behind her.
The light returns and from the roof Lina sees all of Ember gathered for the Singing. They sing “The Song of the City,” then “The Song of the River,” which makes Lina uneasy with urging as it always has. Finally they begin “The Song of Darkness”; as they sing, the lights go out again. After the people of Ember finish the song, silence settles. Lina thinks she might yell into the darkness about the plan, the boats, and the way out, but she does not. In the crowd, someone yells; more shrieks and sounds of panic fill the crowd. Lina sees a tiny spot of moving light—Doon with a candle running to the Pipeworks. She yearns to go too but is fiercely worried about Poppy at the mercy of the scared mob.
Chapters 13-16 Analysis
An amalgamation of lessons and insights come together to lead Doon and Lina toward the Pipeworks for their great adventure out of Ember. Stalled and a bit distracted by the immorality of the mayor and the problem of what to do about it, the two must be set back on track with new knowledge provided by Clary, who reassures them that the Instructions are indeed filled with hope and promise. Her calm confidence that the Instructions are very important is superseded in significance only by her knowledge of the word Egress.
With Clary’s encouragement, Doon and Lina are revitalized and refocused on working in partnership to decipher more of the Instructions. They work through each challenge—physically, mentally, imaginatively—until they are confidently knowledgeable about how to vacate Ember. Pride threatens to stop their forward progress, as they are so intent on a big reveal during the Singing that they share nothing with Doon’s father or Mrs. Murdo. However, keeping the mayor’s selfish infractions in mind, they abandon their hoped-for moment as public saviors and decide that the actual rescue is far more important than the credit. They must flee, or risk all their discoveries going to waste in the Prison Room. They accept sacrifices—for Lina, Poppy; for Doon, his father’s pride—and prepare for the journey.
The fierce river terrifies Lina, but the sight of the hidden life sprouting in the bean seed rallies her and reminds her to foster the patience she knows she needs: “But hoping so hard had made her jump to conclusions. She’d gone a little too fast. She always went fast. Sometimes it was a good thing and sometimes not” (166). Doon sees his worm transform into a moth as he debates what to pack in his travel bag; the moth’s flight symbolizes the freedom from judgement Doon seeks.
The disheartening actions of the guards threaten to undo Lina’s and Doon’s resolve, especially when they see the misleading information on the wanted posters. The great irony as the day of the Singing dawns is that the only two people in Ember who know how to get to safety are oppressed by the government-sanctioned lies and greed endangering them all. Lina and Doon hide in the school, a symbol of truth and learning: “They went into Miss Thorn’s room, and, out of habit, sat in their old desks” (206). There they see the old “truth” represented by The Book of the City of Ember, which insists Ember is the only place of light and life. Also symbolically, this time when Lina seeks refuge in the library, the doors are locked, representing the need for her and Doon to rely on their own intuition and search for truth. Now, thanks to their curiosity and truth-seeking, the two accept with increased maturity and resiliency that “There was someplace else—the place where the boats would take them” (207).
