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The Singing
The colored pencils Lina purchases from Looper illustrate the consequences of greed, selfishness, and desperation that plague Ember. Looper’s colored pencils are likely some of the last in Ember and because of this, are exorbitantly priced at $5 per pencil—and though Lina knows that she could use that money to buy clothing for Granny and Poppy, and that doing that would be a better use for the money, she still finds that she’s overcome with desire when she sees the pencils. As Lina looks over and purchases the pencils, the power goes out, and Lina loses Poppy in the darkness. With this, Lina begins to see that the feelings of greed, desire, and selfishness that she experienced have potentially devastating consequences if she chooses to indulge them. In this sense, while the pencils aren’t inherently bad, the selfish feelings they stir up make it clear to Lina that rare luxury items—and even basic staples as supplies become scarcer—have the potential to replace the strong sense of community in Ember with dangerous, individualistic practices and beliefs.
Colored Pencils Quotes in The City of Ember
The The City of Ember quotes below all refer to the symbol of Colored Pencils. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 5
Quotes
Later, in her bedroom, with Poppy asleep, she took the two colored pencils from her pocket. They were not quite as beautiful as they had been. When she held them, she remembered the powerful wanting she had felt in that dusty store, and the feeling of it was mixed up with fear and shame and darkness.
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Chapter 11
Quotes
“And Lizzie—he isn’t just stealing things for you. He has a store! He steals things and sells them for huge prices!”
“He does not,” said Lizzie, but she looked worried.
“He does. I know because I bought something from him just a few weeks ago. He has a whole box of colored pencils.”
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Chapter 13
Quotes
“There is so much darkness in Ember, Lina. It’s not just outside, it’s inside us, too. Everyone has some darkness inside. It’s like a hungry creature. It wants and wants and wants with a terrible power. And the more you give it, the bigger and hungrier it gets.”
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Colored Pencils Symbol Timeline in The City of Ember
The timeline below shows where the symbol Colored Pencils appears in The City of Ember. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
...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...
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...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...
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...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...
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...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...
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Chapter 6
...to think about it; she just wants to make dinner and draw with her new colored pencils . When Lina bursts through the door, she trips and falls. The floor is covered...
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Chapter 10
...thrilled to have Lina home, and after dinner Lina gets out can labels and her colored pencils . She gives one label and the green pencil to Poppy and keeps the blue...
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Chapter 11
...and then selling them for wildly high prices in his store—she knows because she bought colored pencils from him. Lizzie, however, is offended that Looper has never given her colored pencils. Lizzie...
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...can of applesauce among the city. Remembering how she felt when she was purchasing the colored pencils , Lina says she doesn’t want any of Looper’s cans.
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Chapter 13
...gets. Lina knows this is true as she remembers the hunger she felt for the colored pencils . She feels sad for the mayor and how he must be so hungry for...
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