Selfishness, Greed, and Corruption Theme Analysis

Soon after entering the adult working world, both Lina and Doon—but Doon in particular—make shocking discoveries that point to the inarguable fact that Ember isn’t the idyllic, if somewhat troubled, place they’ve been told it is. Rather, Ember is plagued by more than just the darkness of power outages: food, medicine, and supply shortages mean that everyone lives in a somewhat desperate state, while at all levels of Ember’s government and administration, power, secrecy, and blind trust on the part of the general populace allows corruption to run rampant. The novel is careful to illustrate that it’s possible for anyone to experience greed, no matter how morally good they might appear. It also suggests that it’s extremely important to recognize societal structures that enable simple greed to transform into full-on corruption—and to not give in and conform to systems that allow people to corruptly prioritize their own short-term wellbeing over the long-term health of the community.

Due to shortages of all manner of things in Ember, from shoes and coats to canned goods, everyone in the city hoards whatever they can. Specifically, the reader gets a close look at Doon’s father’s shop, which sells everything from shoe heels to potentially useful bits of wood and metal, and Lina’s Granny’s yarn shop, which sells “yarn” made from used clothing and linens that have been unraveled and unwoven. These businesses create the sense that Ember is experiencing a supply crisis. This becomes especially apparent when Lina hears Granny’s stories about having canned pineapple once as a child, a food that has since run out and that Lina has never had. Though pineapple is a delicacy and not necessary to survival, there are other clear indicators that the storerooms are low on all manner of necessary things, from coats and children’s shoes to necessary medicines. In turn, this leads to exorbitant prices for even staple foods and items in shops. On the whole, the novel’s descriptions of what people have in their homes and shops—overwhelmingly, piles of junk or scrap material that may someday be useful or possible to sell—suggests that everyone in Ember is desperate on some level for necessary things, as well as long-disappeared luxury items that might make life easier or more comfortable.

The state of living with major shortages is, for most, simply the status quo; many in Ember simply do the best with what they have. However, for those with money, connections, or power, doing without isn’t necessary. Ember, the novel suggests, is a city ripe for corruption, which exists at all levels of society. Ember’s mayor, Mayor Cole, is perhaps the least surprising individual to engage in corrupt activity. Lina and Doon discover that in the Pipeworks, there’s a hidden room where the mayor can eat himself into a stupor on all manner of delicacies. At the same time as he does this, Mayor Cole tells his citizens that he’s working on the problem of shortages, something that Doon and Doon’s father recognize is a lie. Instead, Doon understands that the mayor’s greed is fueled by the belief that if things are inevitably going to get worse, it’s best to make the most of life while he can. Far more surprising and hurtful for Lina is discovering that her childhood best friend, Lizzie, is also aligning herself with corrupt individuals. As a storeroom clerk, Lizzie doesn’t have much power herself—but when she begins dating the young storeroom manager, he gives her access to goods like canned asparagus and peaches, which she then hides from her friends like Lina. Like Mayor Cole, Lizzie believes that if the situation in Ember is really as bad as it seems, it’s only natural to want to make the best of things before life in Ember grinds to a halt when the lights in Ember inevitably go off for good. Through Mayor Cole and Lizzie, the novel makes it clear that it’s surprisingly easy for all different types of individuals to be selfish and greedy.

Even more disturbing for Lina than Lizzie’s flirtations with corruption, however, are Lina and Doon’s own instances of greed and selfishness. Lina feels a wild sense of hunger and desire when she discovers that a shop still has a few colored pencils, exorbitantly priced at $5 each. Though she purchases two, the thrill is dampened when in the power outage immediately following her purchase, she loses her toddler sister Poppy in the pitch black street. This shows Lina that her desire to better herself, rather than purchase Granny or Poppy a new coat, has potential dire consequences if she chooses to indulge it. Similarly, Lina and Doon both crave glory and recognition for their sleuthing efforts, and so they choose not to loop others into their plan to escape Ember in the hopes that they’ll be able to make a grand speech at the yearly Singing celebration, where everyone gathers to sing songs about the city. This selfish plan ultimately means that Lina and Doon end up escaping alone and leaving a note, which has no guarantee of being found, or for that matter, followed, by whoever finds it. With this, the novel makes it clear that greed, selfishness, and a desire for glory may all be part of what it means to be human, but more important than whether or not a person experiences these negative emotions is what they choose to do with them. It’s possible, the novel suggests, to simultaneously recognize one’s selfish tendencies and perform great acts of kindness and community service, as Lina and Doon do in The City of Ember and go on to do in future installments of the series.