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Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The City of Ember, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Coming of Age
Selfishness, Greed, and Corruption
Family and Community
Censorship
Summary
Analysis
Granny’s mind seems to get muddier by the day. Lina often comes home to find Granny rifling through closets or digging under mattresses, though she still can’t remember what she’s looking for. Mrs. Murdo starts spending lots of time in Lina’s apartment. This annoys Granny, but Lina likes having Mrs. Murdo around. Even though Mrs. Murdo is nothing like Lina’s mother, she feels like having a mother around since she makes sure everyone eats and takes their vitamins, and everything is tidy when Lina gets home. Her presence means that Lina gets to relax.
Granny’s decline means that more and more, Lina has to take care of herself. Mrs. Murdo’s willingness to step in speaks to the culture of caring and compassion in Ember, as there’s no indication that she’s unwilling to do this or sore about being asked. Rather, it’s just what should be done to preserve harmony in Ember. This makes the case that in some places, at least, Ember’s community spirit is still going strong.
Themes
Every week, Lina and the other workers under age 15 get Thursday off. One Thursday, while Lina is in line at the market, she overhears two people talking about how one shop was all out of new paint, but apparently still had colored pencils. Lina’s heart leaps. She used to have several, but she used them until they were stubs. She’d like more for her drawings of the imaginary city, but she knows that her money would be better spent on a new coat for Granny. Lina tells herself that Granny seldom goes out and so doesn’t really need a new coat—and it’s possible she could buy a coat and pencils. She bundles Poppy up to go out in search of colored pencils.
Like most people, Lina isn’t immune from wanting things like colored pencils. This starts to show that wanting things and possibly, being a little greedy and selfish about those desires, doesn’t make someone a bad person. Lina still hasn’t forgotten that she has other responsibilities to Granny and to Poppy, which shows that she’s still thinking about the health of her family. It’s also worth keeping in mind that Lina is a child still in terms of development; wanting something like this is especially normal for a kid her age.
Themes
Lina and Poppy pass the laundry stations, where laundry employees stir clothes in washing machines. The washing machines used to stir themselves, but not anymore. The other streets are alive with people, making Lina feel happy, but she stops when she sees Sadge Merrall shouting. He shouts that he’s been to the Unknown Regions, and that there’s nothing there but darkness, monsters, and holes. Several people step up and lead him away. A few blocks away, Lina passes a group of Believers singing and finally, comes to an unmarked shop.
Sadge Merrall’s behavior begins to suggest that the desperation that plagues Ember is dangerous. This shows how desperation—which, Lina will learn, exists in part because other people are taking things for themselves—can begin to dissolve Ember’s spirit of community and turn people against one another.
Themes
Lina recognizes the shopkeeper: it’s Looper, the man who gave her the message for Mayor Cole on her first day of work. Poppy starts to wail as Lina asks if he has colored pencils. Lina puts Poppy down and Looper says that he has them sometimes, but they’re expensive. He finally goes into the back room and returns carrying a small box. Inside are a dozen brand-new colored pencils. Lina asks the price, but Looper suggests it’s too much for Lina. The pencils each cost $5. Lina is shocked, since coats cost about $7. She says it’s too much, but then asks to see the pencils again and announces she’ll buy two. She reasons she can buy Granny a coat next month and notices that she feels hungry.
The way that Looper talks to Lina is specifically calculated to make her feel first as though she has to prove that she has enough to be able to buy the pencils, and then makes her feel off balance and insecure about purchasing them. These techniques increase Lina’s sense of desperation—that feeling of hunger—and means that Lina feels like she has to make a decision about the pencils right now. As Looper’s manipulation works, Lina becomes more selfish and greedy.
Themes
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Looper makes impatient noises as Lina selects the colors she wants. She decides on blue and green, pays for the colored pencils, and turns around. She realizes that Poppy is gone. Looper shrugs indifferently and Lina races outside, calls for Poppy, and asks people if they’ve seen a toddler. No one has. Lina starts to run toward the populated square when suddenly, the lights go out. She stands still and thinks of Poppy, alone in the dark. Lina begins to feel her way forward until she hits a wall and realizes that the map in her mind is jumbled. She feels like she’s suffocating and can’t call out for Poppy. Lina thinks that she only lost Poppy because she was greedily caught up in colored pencils.
Again, Looper’s impatient noises are another tactic to make Lina feel rushed and desperate. When Poppy disappears, Lina is forced to reckon with the fact that if she focuses too much on her own desires, it will naturally take her attention away from the things that matter more—in this case, her family and specifically Poppy’s safety. While this sequence of events is coincidental, it does impress upon Lina that there can be all sorts of unintended consequences for those she loves if she focuses only on herself.
Themes
Lina suddenly wonders if she’s moving away from Poppy and feels ready to cry. She wills the lights to come back on and finally, they do. Lina leaps up and resumes asking people if they’ve seen a toddler, but everyone is in a hurry to get home to safety in case the lights go off again. An old woman scolds Lina for losing Poppy, but another person leads Lina to a shop. Someone leads Poppy to the door and Lina scoops up her sister and comforts her.
The blackout incites feelings of fear and desperation in everyone else in Ember, making it even harder for Lina to do the right thing and locate Poppy. This again shows how desperation (and, behind the scenes, authority figures’ corruption and inaction which leads to the blackouts) begins to dissolve feelings of safety and community among Emberites.
Themes
When Lina looks up, she sees that Poppy’s rescuer was Doon. She thanks Doon profusely and tries to ask him about the Pipeworks, but Doon isn’t interested in talking. Lina takes Poppy home, puts her to bed, and doesn’t tell Granny that Poppy got lost. When everyone else is asleep, Lina takes out the colored pencils and remembers the feeling of desire she felt in the store. Now she feels ashamed and like the pencils aren’t so beautiful anymore.
Though it’s heartbreaking that Lina now feels bad about her colored pencils, this experience taught her an important lesson about the consequences of being selfish. While sad and uncomfortable, Lina’s shame over her purchase contributes to her coming of age as she becomes a mature, responsible adult.
Themes
