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
A week after Lina and Doon’s trip into the Pipeworks, Doon fixes a clog in Tunnel 207. He finishes quickly and walks past the locked door in Tunnel 351. He finds it strange that no one has announced a way out of Ember yet, so he suspects that he and Lina misunderstood something. As Doon reaches for the handle, his mind is on Lina and his worm, which has been acting oddly and hanging from the side of the box. Doon startles when he feels a key in the lock, but he pushes the door open. The interior makes him gasp: it’s piled with cans, clothes, and light bulbs. There’s an armchair next to a table covered with food. Mayor Cole is fast asleep in the chair.
Discovering Mayor Cole in this room shows Doon that this isn’t just about Looper wanting to save all the possible glory for saving Ember for himself. Rather, what he finds is clear evidence of rampant corruption. This explains why Mayor Cole seems so unconcerned about what’s going on, and why he seems so intent on parroting the Builders’ ideals—if the citizens listen to him, they’ll never wonder if he’s actually cheating them.
Themes
Lina carries lots of messages that day, mostly about the four blackouts in the last week. Everyone is nervous and many refuse to leave home. As she’s on her way home, Doon races up behind Lina and shares his discovery of Mayor Cole’s secret treasure room. Suddenly angry, Doon spits that Mayor Cole’s solution is just a solution for him, not for everyone else. Doon suggests they tell everyone, but Lina leads him to the square to talk. They sit down and watch Believers singing. About 20 people pace around the square carrying signs that read, “WHAT solutions, Mayor Cole?” Lina shares what she discovered about Lizzie and Looper, and she connects that Looper is leaving things for Mayor Cole. They realize that when they were in the Pipeworks, they heard Looper dropping things through the hatch from the storerooms.
Seeing the Believers and the protesters shows again that the dangerous circumstances in Ember are leading to unrest and fractures within the community. The protesters in general are evidence that they don’t necessarily see Mayor Cole as one of them, which suggests that there may be others in Ember who at least suspect that he’s a corrupt leader. In this conversation, Doon reads as the more idealistic and youthful one, while Lina’s behavior shows that she maturely recognizes this situation is more complicated than simply exposing the mayor’s corruption to the city.
Themes
Lina says that in normal circumstances, they’d tell the mayor about this, but Mayor Cole is the one committing the crime. They decide that they should tell the guards, but Lina doesn’t like this plan much after the way they treated her on her first day of work. Doon agrees and suggests that when the guards see what’s down in the Pipeworks, they’ll arrest the mayor and put things right again. Lina says that then, they can get back to figuring out the Instructions and figure out which door is the right one. Doon sourly says that he thinks the Instructions are hogwash and doesn’t want to think about them.
In this moment, Lina and Doon must confront that the person they’ve been taught their entire lives to keep them safe—the mayor—isn’t someone they can trust. This becomes a major coming of age moment for both of them, as it means that they themselves have to start stepping up and becoming the citizens that Ember needs. Deciding to tell the guards, however, shows that they’re still not grown up enough to suspect that the corruption is more widespread than just the mayor.
Themes
As Doon stands to go find a guard, Lina catches hold of his sleeve and shares that Granny died. Doon offers his condolences, which makes Lina cry. Doon wraps her in a big hug and Lina realizes that Doon is her best friend now. Together, they enter the Gathering Hall and approach Barton Snode’s desk. Barton Snode leads them to a private hallway and listens to their tale. When they finish, he whispers that Mayor Cole is stealing. Just then, a group of guards including Redge Stabmark come into the hallway. Doon tells Barton Snode that the guards need to arrest the mayor, and Barton Snode agrees and makes a note. As Lina and Doon leave, Lina sees Barton Snode stand, excited to share this news with his boss.
Realizing that Doon is her best friend, and Doon’s willingness to comfort Lina like this, impresses upon Lina that she absolutely isn’t alone in the world. She can turn to her friendship with Doon for support that she might have once gotten from her parents or from Lizzie. At this point, Barton Snode reads as just as shocked and idealistic as Lina and Doon are—though, like Doon, he also seems very excited about getting to do something important and heroic.
Themes
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