The City of Ember: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

In Ember, the sky is always dark. Flood lamps mounted on buildings and poles illuminate the streets while they’re on; when they’re off between nine p.m. and six a.m., Ember is too dark to see anything. Sometimes, the lights go off in the middle of the day, as Ember is an old city and everything is in disrepair. People don’t like to think about the possibility that one day, the lights will go out forever. Most of the time, life proceeds as usual: adults work and children, until they turn 12, go to school. On the final day of their last year of school, Assignment Day, students receive job assignments. Lina, a graduating student, twirls her hair and plucks at stray threads on her worn cape and ragged socks. She waits for the class of year 241 to receive their assignments.

A few desks away from Lina sits Doon Harrow. Doon’s corduroy jacket is so worn that its ridges are gone. Both Lina and Doon hope urgently, their eyes closed. Lina imagines herself as a messenger as she silently says goodbye to everything in the classroom and pays little attention to Miss Thorn’s goodbye speech. The class waits silently for the mayor to arrive as Miss Thorn pulls her worn shawl around her shoulders. Mayor Cole arrives, looking annoyed. From the front of the room, he scans the students and says that it’s Assignment Day, the day when education stops and students begin to serve the city.

Mayor Cole pulls out a small bag and reminds students of the procedure: the job students draw today will be theirs for three years, at which point they’ll be evaluated, and potentially reassigned. He insists that it’s extremely important that every job in Ember gets done. Lina’s friend Lizzie Bisco volunteers to go first and draws a slip of paper that reads, “Supply Depot clerk.” Lizzie looks crestfallen—being a clerk is dull, as it consists entirely of keeping records of what goes in and out of Ember’s storerooms. Another boy chooses the job of electrician’s helper, while a girl gets the job of building repair assistant. The narrator explains that the jobs offered change every year depending on need. Some years there are mostly bad jobs like Pipeworks laborer, trash sifter, and mold scraper, but Ember always needs electrician’s helpers.

Lina steps up next and chooses a slip. She reads her assignment in a whisper: Pipeworks laborer. She tries not to cry as she returns to her desk. Pipeworks laborers work far belowground, in Ember’s water and sewer pipes. It’s cold and dangerous work, and someone sometimes falls into the underground river and disappears. Lina thinks that anything would’ve been better; being a Pipeworks laborer makes her feel like she’s going to be buried alive.

Doon is the last to choose. He selects “messenger” and with a scowl, crumples and throws the paper. Mayor Cole angrily sends Doon to his seat and insists that students should be glad to work for the city, as Ember will only prosper if everyone does their best. Doon blurts that Ember isn’t prospering. He talks over the mayor and says that Ember is plagued by blackouts and supply shortages, and something awful will happen if no one does anything. Lina thinks Doon is overreacting, like usual, as Miss Thorn calms Doon and the mayor bids the class goodbye.

Lina and Lizzie walk outside together, but Lizzie scurries off. Lina looks around Harken Square and thinks that this is where she wants to be, in the middle of things aboveground. Doon comes up behind Lina and asks to trade jobs—he wants to do something useful, not carry gossip. Lina is flabbergasted. Doon says he wanted to be an electrician’s helper, but Pipeworks worker was his second choice. He wants to see the generator, which mysteriously makes electricity from the river. Lina is thrilled to trade—she doesn’t think being a messenger is useless, and the job will be perfect for her since she loves to run. Lina runs the whole way home.