Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

Creatures

Doon’s worm is a dramatic symbol of the power of the natural world, but it is one of several creatures that Doon has attempted to capture and observe. Because Ember is underground he is limited to looking at bugs, but look he does, even in the most underground place of all, the Pipeworks. Above ground he and Lina both marvel at the fox, and its appearance both confirms the wisdom of their journey and provides them with fruit so that they can continue it.

Messages

Lina spends her work day delivering messages, and her precious time before the lights go out at night deciphering the message in the Instructions. There is no need to decipher the message in the journal that Poppy finds, its words are intact and its author is thorough. Looper’s message to the mayor sets off a chain reaction of discoveries, as does the message that Lina delivers to Clary at the greenhouses. The message that Lina is unable to deliver to Clary is the most important of all, and the book’s final action occurs when she and Doon send the amended version down into Ember.

Rituals

The Builders created the physical city of Ember from whole cloth, but it is not clear whether they or its citizens established the rituals and rhythms that shape people’s day-to-day lives. The Singing is the only holiday in this season-less city, a way for people to both reinforce their love for their city and mark the passage of another year. Children read The Book of the City of Ember during their school years, and begin their adult lives on Assignment Day. Doon dreams of a ceremony during which the whole city will honor him, and he and Lina both envision grand gestures such as a surprise announcement during the Singing.