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.
Symbols & Motifs
Darkness and Light
Darkness in Ember is helpful in hiding secrets. The secret room of horded treasures is down a dark hall in the Pipeworks, where Doon can only feel (not see) the key on the day he opens the door. The lights go out each night in Ember, creating an artificial nighttime so completely dark that everyone must be home by 9 pm. Doon is alone with his secret thoughts in the dark on the night before he plans to share the truth about the egress, and having to keep the secret makes him sleepless. Lina considers shouting the truth into the blackout from the top of the Gathering Hall at the Singing, but she cannot bring herself to release the secret into the dark. Also during that blackout, Doon realizes his own game-changing secret: “He had what no citizen of Ember had ever had before—a way to see in the dark” (229).
If darkness is a symbol for secrets in The City of Ember, natural light symbolizes revelations, inspirations, and truth. Here, the candles and matches stand as the strongest symbols; Lina and Doon expand their knowledge on several levels as they puzzle out how the candles and matches work. First, they figure out how to work the candles and matches to produce light by which to see. Second, they discover the boats by which they can leave Ember, thanks to the candlelight. Finally, the candles aid their journey through the river caves in both literal and figurative ways: They use the light to navigate the way out, but also utilize their inner courage, insight, and intuition the candles make possible. Once Lina and Doon make it up the path and begin to process the sensory images of the outside, the moment of sunrise represents the dawning of the full truths of their lives as citizens of Ember.
Lina’s Bean Plant and Doon’s Worm
The bean plant and worm respectively symbolize Lina and Doon’s coming-of-age. It is significant that Clary, in a pseudo-parenting role to Lina, is the one who gives her the bean seed and the soil that will allow it to grow. Clary offers metaphorical soil to Lina throughout the story in the form of advice and words of wisdom. Clary also soothes and attempts to protect Lina from Sadge Merrell, who wanders in from the Unknown Regions hopeless and proclamatory. In doing these things, Clary helps Lina to grow; it is fitting therefore, that Clary points out to Lina the sprouting of the bean seed before Lina even notices it. As the plant grows, fertilized by rich soil, so Lina becomes more mature and her character growth is catalyzed by new knowledge.
Doon’s symbol of transformation is the worm that metamorphoses into a moth before his very eyes. His observation and documentation of bugs suggests his greater curiosity about the natural world and shows that he intuits a larger world abundant with life and possibilities for discovery. Doon releases the changed moth out the window, representing his own yearning for freedom and adventure: “Then it fluttered up into the air, rising higher and higher until it was just a pale spot against the dark sky” (199). In another coming-of-age symbol, he leaves his bug record-keeping book behind, maturely reasoning he will not have the time nor inclination to study old things when there will be so many others to see outside of Ember. These symbols of transformation represent Lina and Doon’s growth and inspire them to seek new knowledge support the theme of “Learning and Progress Versus Ignorance and Status Quo.”
The Motif of Food
DuPrau’s depictions of food support the theme of “The Dichotomy between Selfishness and Selflessness.” Food in Ember consists of canned goods that are hundreds of years old and vegetables grown in greenhouses under artificial light and sprinklers. There is no mention of animal nor grain products, indicating the limited diet of Emberites. Clary mentions beehives near the greenhouses, but they, like the potatoes, have “trouble,” implying that honey may be a scarcity now or soon. Most mentions of food suggest short supply; no one wants to mention the fact that eventually even the canned food will run out. This scarcity of food emphasizes the precarious conditions in Ember, and hints at the fact that the city was built for short-term survival, not indefinite occupation. Looper, Lizzie, Mayor Cole, and by inference the guards who abet their scheme, all hoard food, indicating their greed and lack of concern for others. By contrast, Lina shares her can of peaches with Poppy and Mrs. Murdo, evincing her community spirit and compassionate nature.
