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The main conflict in The City of Ember is the city itself. Its resources are dwindling and the city is dying, and Doon knows this but feel powerless to stop it, which causes him great internal strife. Before she reconnects with Doon and learns about Ember’s fragile state, Lina’s main conflict is the death of her parents, which is of course utterly beyond her control. Once Lina and Doon join forces to investigate the problems plaguing Ember and search for a solution, they both realize that they can exert control over their external environment and refocus their internal energy to create positive changes for themselves and their community.

Assignment Day is the catalyst for the story’s action. While the job selection is random, Doon immediately propels the plot forward by switching assignments with Lina. It briefly stalls when he realizes how little he knows about electricity and becomes frustrated, but while Lina doesn’t know it yet, her first encounter with Looper sparks a string of discoveries that will lead to a major spike in the action, the discovery of the mayor’s hoarding scheme. This pattern of taking two steps forward and one step back continues until the book’s first climax: Doon and Lina’s discovery that the Instructions detail a way out of Ember.

There are many other discoveries along the way to deciphering the meaning of “egress,” most notably the discovery of the document itself. The fact that Poppy, who is pre-verbal, was the one who both discovered and destroyed it is not only ironic but also a continuation of the stop-and-start path on the way to its translation and the main characters’ eventual escape. Lina and Doon seek out and piece together much of the information that they find on their own, but accidental discoveries spur much of the action. Just as Poppy happened open the Instructions in Chapter 6 and the notebook in Chapter 18, Lina happens to run into Lizzie just before she happens to trip and reveal the contents of her sack.

Once Lina and Doon realize that the Instructions are their way out of Ember, they can envision a way to resolve the conflict and save their city, but first they have to get out, and there are several internal and external conflicts along the way. The internal conflicts include Doon’s desire to share his discoveries with his father versus his desire for his father to find out via an awards ceremony or similarly showy announcement. Lina also battles with the urge to literally shout from the rooftops in Chapter 16, all while feeling conflicted about whether or not to bring Poppy on the journey. Though they encounter them at different times, both Lina and Doon face external threats in the form of the mayor and the guards, who seek to derail the action entirely.

When Lina, Doon, and Poppy reunite in Chapter 17 the action rises continuously until the book’s main climax—when they set their boat loose on the river. Their journey on the water is harrowing, and they have no time to think as they draw upon their instincts, endurance, and bravery to stay afloat and stay together. In calmer waters their minds are calmer as well, and when the boat finally comes to a halt it is not an abrupt stop but a smooth segue into the final leg of their journey.

The information in the journal that Poppy finds in Chapter 18 serves as the denouement, but Lina and Doon are not able to stop and read it until Chapter 20. Before they do they must first take stock of their situation and absorb their new surroundings. Their encounter with the fox confirms their place in this world and puts them in the proper frame of mind to process the information in the notebook, which is necessary for them to resolve the conflict and decide on their next course of action. By this time Lina and Doon’s internal conflicts are resolved, and it seems as though resolution is possible for Ember. Because the ending is a literal cliffhanger, however, it is not clear how long it will take for that final resolution to happen.

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