Family and Community Theme Analysis

Family is a tricky subject in Ember. Due to difficult lives peppered with illness, accidents, and dwindling medicine stores, many families in the city are comprised of grandparents or single parents caring for children that, possibly, aren’t related by blood. Or, as in Lina’s case for much of the novel, children find themselves caring for their ailing grandparents and younger siblings. Despite these fractured family units, however, residents in Ember are still close and, in many cases, care deeply for each other, both in an emotional sense and through their actions. With this, The City of Ember positions the idea of the conventional nuclear family as ultimately less meaningful than caring for others in a very basic sense, whether that be in a chosen family unit, or on a grander scale at the community-wide level.

In Ember, families—and human life in general—are constantly at risk. In the two years before the novel begins, Lina’s father dies of a coughing sickness, while her mother dies giving birth to Lina’s baby sister, Poppy. Doon, meanwhile, shares that in the Pipeworks where he works, an employee perishes in the river with shocking regularity. All of these tragedies create the sense that a traditional nuclear family is, for many in Ember, too much to expect, given how likely it seems that at least one family member will suffer a life-threatening accident or illness. Despite this, the two families that the reader gets a close look at, Lina and Doon’s, are nevertheless close and supportive. Lina does everything in her power to care for Granny and baby Poppy, aided by her kindly neighbor, Mrs. Murdo. Doon’s father, for his part, consistently guides Doon to make the best choices he possibly can and encourages him to check his anger, all while making Doon feel safe and supported. These relationships suggest that family has less to do with the form it takes and more to do with how its members treat and care for one another. However, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t major consequences of existing in a community with so many fractured families. Lina still experiences crushing grief for her parents, and the responsibility she has at home is a lot for any 12-year-old. Indeed, though Granny’s death of an unnamed illness is certainly sad and traumatic for Lina, in a way, it’s also a relief: Mrs. Murdo insists that Lina and Poppy come live with her, where Lina will be able to assume the role of a child again and not have to act like an adult. Through Lina’s experiences, the reader can see that the family structures most prevalent in Ember lead to children having to grow up too soon and essentially parent themselves.

This isn’t to say, however, that there isn’t a robust community of caring individuals in both Lina and Doon’s lives, ready and willing to care for the children if and when they need it. Mrs. Murdo is one of the most compelling examples of an adult taking on the responsibility of caring for others in a familial way, and Lina also seeks out guidance at times from her father’s former boss, the head gardener Clary. Further, as Doon and Lina rekindle their friendship in the weeks after receiving their work assignments, they both discover that close, trusting friendships can provide yet another avenue for support when it’s impossible to get that support elsewhere. This all gives the impression more generally that Ember is a community-oriented place where, despite the greed and corruption that plague it, people are more than willing to step up in service of others and in service of their city. This is best represented by the Singing, an annual celebration in which the entire city comes together to sing three songs about Ember. Doon and Lina choose the Singing as their time to slip out of Ember unnoticed, but upsets and run-ins with the police mean that Lina finds herself on the roof of the Gathering Hall in the middle of an escape attempt during the Singing. Even though, at this point, Lina is considered an outsider—Mayor Cole has posters up insisting that Lina and Doon are spreading misinformation and will be imprisoned upon their arrest—the Singing is still a meaningful experience for Lina. When the lights go out in the middle of the Singing, the unwavering voices of Ember’s residents, which Lina joins, stand as a symbol of the community’s unity and belief in the importance of standing together in the face of adversity. In this sense, while The City of Ember doesn’t go so far as to suggest that blood relationships within families are unnecessary, it does go to great lengths to illuminate other places where it’s possible to find the same kind of support.