The City of Ember: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

Lina is curious about the printing. It’s not handwriting; it’s the machine-made writing of the Builders. She gathers what she can from the floor and Poppy’s mouth and carries the box and the scraps to her room. After Granny and Poppy are asleep that night, Lina spreads out the fragments and the one big piece, which looks lacey because of the holes. There’s a list of numbers down one side of the big piece, and Lina arranges the rest the best she can. Though part of the title is missing, Lina can tell that the first word should be “Instructions.” She doesn’t know what the instructions are for, but she wonders if this is what Granny has been looking for. Lina decides she’s determined to solve this mystery, no matter what.

First, Lina glues down all the pieces, but has to stop when the lights go out for the night. She spends all night wondering if the document contains instructions for fixing the electricity or making a moveable light. The next morning, Lina decides to ask Captain Fleery for help, since she’d know about official documents. Captain Fleery agrees to come home with Lina, but can’t make sense of the nonsense words like “foll,” “acks,” and “rem.” When she sees “small steel pan,” Captain Fleery suggests it’s a recipe and explains that the printing is just how people wrote in the old days. Lina says she believes it’s important since it was locked up, but Captain Fleery doesn’t seem to hear her.

When Lina says the writing is too different and wonders if it came from somewhere else, Captain Fleery straightens up and offers to put Lina on short days to manage her anxiety. Captain Fleery tells Lina to throw the paper away, stop thinking about it, and trust that help is coming. She says that the Builders will come soon and show them the way; she and the rest of the Believers know it in their hearts. Lina wonders if this belief is like the city Lina sees in her dreams—maybe Captain Fleery just wants it to be true. Captain Fleery invites Lina to come to a meeting of Believers with her, but Lina declines.

On her day off, Lina goes to see Lizzie at the Supply Depot. She notices that everyone in line for supplies seems snappy and impatient, more evidence that it’s true supplies are running low. Near the front of the line, Lina hears many clerks tell people that they can have fewer things than they asked for, or none at all. She knows it wasn’t always this way; when Granny was a child, students toured the storerooms. Granny saw the stores of pineapple, a delicacy that she had a few times but which Lina has never had. Lina thinks that if the rumors are true, it’d be terrifying for children to see the empty rooms, and this is why they stopped taking tours. When she gets to the front of the line, Lina asks Lizzie to meet her outside after work.

After work, Lizzie finds Lina outside and agrees to go to Lina’s apartment. The entire walk, Lizzie complains about her cramped hand and how rude people are to her. Lina interrupts and asks if it’s true about the shortage of light bulbs. Lizzie says she’s not sure; she doesn’t get to see many reports, and only people like Mayor Cole and Farlo Batten, the prickly head of the storerooms, get to see the ones for light bulbs and vitamins. Lizzie stops talking long enough to greet Mrs. Murdo, then keeps going on about the blackout. Lizzie has always been tightly wound and a fast talker, but Lina notices she looks nervous and paler than usual.

As Lizzie starts into another explanation of how much she hates her job, Lina asks if there’s anything she likes about it. Lizzie says there is, but it’s a secret. This annoys Lina. Lina shows Lizzie the patched-together document. Though Lizzie agrees that it’s strange, she starts talking about a coworker’s lovely handwriting and continues to talk. Lina covers up the document, listens to Lizzie until Lizzie talks herself out, and then says goodbye. Later, Lina makes beet soup, but Poppy spills hers and Granny eats little, as she doesn’t feel well. Lina cleans up quickly, does some mending, tries to put more of Granny’s mess away, and finally sits down to study her document.

Lina still believes the document is important. She reasons that if it’s so important, possibly to the future of Ember, then she should tell Mayor Cole about it. She doesn’t really like or trust the mayor, and she knows she can’t invite him to her apartment, but she thinks he should know. Lina writes him a note and leaves it on the guard’s desk the next day, feeling as though she’s done the right thing. Over the next few days, the messages Lina carries are all fearful. The mayor never returns Lina’s message, so she moves forward with figuring it out herself. First, she copies the document onto the back of a can label. Then, she sits down to decipher it.

She can tell that the first word is “Instructions,” but there are missing letters after and then the word “Egres.” Lina wonders if Egres is someone’s name and moves on. She works through the document and realizes that it’s probably about something in the Pipeworks that has to do with the river and a door—hopefully, she thinks, a door out of Ember. Lina is thrilled, as she knows she can ask Doon about the Instructions. He’s curious, serious, and knows something is wrong. He also saved Poppy during the blackout. Lina wonders why she and Doon stopped being friends and decides to find him tomorrow on their day off.