Fear of the Unknown

‘Nothing! Nothing! There is nothing out there!’ His voice became a shout and his eyes looked wild again. ‘Or if there is we can never get to it. Not without a light.’

In Chapter 4 Sadge Merrall does not let his fear of the unknown prevent him from exploring the Unknown Regions, but it does send him running back to the light. When he gets to the greenhouse he is nearly inconsolable, even in Clary’s calming presence. He claims that he knew it would be dark and that he kept telling himself to take just one more step. Eventually his imagination begins to fill in the blackness, and once his imagination gets away from him, he cannot rein it in. He envisions deep pits and creatures that bite, and runs screaming and sobbing back to the city. When Lina sees him raving on the steps of the Gathering Hall in Chapter 5, he is shouting that there is no hope and spreading his fear of the unknown amongst the other citizens of Ember.

‘It couldn’t mean that. The bank goes straight down like a wall. You couldn’t go down to the edge of the water, you’d fall in.’

In Chapter 13 Lina and Clary are poring over the Instructions and trying to decipher the fragments of words. When Clary suggests that one phrase could refer to going down to the edge of the water, Lina is terrified. She has seen how steep the riverbank is and cannot fathom a way to approach the river, and shivers when she thinks of its dark, swiftly moving water. Almost immediately after this exchange, Lina declares the whole thing hopeless, the same takeaway that Sadge had from his misadventures in the Unknown Regions. That Lina and Sadge both jumped to the same conclusion suggests that they think it is somehow easier to accept defeat than to be terrified to an unknown degree and for an unknown amount of time.

There is no place but Ember. Ember is the only light in a dark world.

In Chapter 15 Lina recalls the refrain from The Book of the City of Ember, which is sitting on the shelf in her old classroom. By this point she knows that the words are untrue, though she does not know why the book would say this. It is unclear whether the book was written by the Builders or by a citizen of Ember, but the effect that it has on the populace is clear. Thinking that only darkness surrounds them would keep most sane people from exploring beyond Ember’s borders, ensuring that no one will try to leave before the two-hundred years are up. Ironically, it is just as Lina ponders these words that Doon suggests that they leave right that day, and the two of them conquer their fear of the unknown at last.

Greed

‘If there’s only one can of peaches left, only one person gets to have it, right? So why should everyone know? They’d just end up fighting over it. What good would that be?’

In Chapter 11 Lizzie rationalizes her participation in Looper’s black-market scheme when Lina confronts her about her source for canned goods. Lina has plainly pointed out that Looper is stealing, but Lizzie is so greedy for both his attention and his contraband that she is able to create a false narrative to assuage any guilt she might have. In her scenario, she and Looper actually do their fellow citizens a favor by sparing them from fighting over things.

In the same breath Lizzie offers to get some items for Lina, presumably as a favor in exchange for keeping Lizzie’s secret. She shares Looper’s self-serving rationale that these things will all be gone soon enough, so the lucky few might as well enjoy themselves. Lina pauses to consider this before remembering the unpleasant feeling she had when she coveted the colored pencils, a feeling that distracted her so much that she lost track of her own sister.

‘That’s the solution he keeps telling us about. It’s a solution for him, not the rest of us. He gets everything he needs, and we get the leftovers! He doesn’t care about the city. All he cares about is his fat stomach!’

In Chapter 12 Doon discovers that the mysterious room in the Pipeworks is not a way out of Ember, it is a well-stocked storeroom where the mayor hoards light bulbs and gorges himself on a larger variety of food than anyone else has and in larger amounts than he needs. Doon is shaking with anger at the injustice of it even before Lina tells him what she knows about Looper’s role in the scheme. For Doon the mayor’s corruption is terrible, but the fact that there is a network to abet it is even worse. Unfortunately it does not occur to either Doon or Lina that the guards they plan to share the mayor’s secret with might well be just as corrupt as he is. If Looper is able to buy Lina’s loyalty with some compliments and a few canned goods, the mayor is surely able to appeal to the greed of his guards to secure theirs. 

‘There is so much darkness in Ember, Lina. It’s not just outside, it’s inside us, too. Everyone has some darkness inside. It’s like a hungry creature. It wants and wants and wants with a terrible power. And the more you give it, the bigger and hungrier it gets.’

In Chapter 13 Lina tells Clary about the Instructions and about the mayor’s greedy stockpiling scheme. Given her propensity for plants it is unclear how Clary knows so very much about human nature, but she also says that she knew the mayor when he was merely foolish, but not wicked. Her allegory about the hungry creature is apt given that Lina knows firsthand the awful feeling she had when she left her own greed about the colored pencils unchecked. Because Lina is an empathetic person she briefly feels sorry for the mayor when she considers how awful he must feel to never be satisfied, and that this urge must drown out any other thoughts. 

The Importance of Family and Community

‘It hasn’t worked right since…’ Clary hesitated and glanced sideways at Lina. ‘For a long time.’

In Chapter 4 Lina delivers a message to Clary at the greenhouses where her father used to work. As soon as she enters she is overcome by emotion, and recalls the many happy hours she spent there with him. Lina has just told Clary how Granny and Poppy are doing, and Clary talks about a problem with the sprinkler system. She hesitates because she is about to say “since your father died,” and Lina understands this. 

Clary’s knowledge of and concern for Lina’s family illustrate that she is not just a former coworker of her father’s, she is invested in Lina. Clary does not take the place of Lina’s father just as Mrs. Murdo does not take the place of Granny, but like Mrs. Murdo she provides a comfortable space for Lina away from the busyness so that she can sort out her thoughts.

‘Well,’ said Mrs. Murdo briskly. ‘It’s just common sense. You need a place, I have one. You go on now, and I’ll see you this evening.’

In Chapter 11 Granny has just died, and Mrs. Murdo offers Lina and Poppy a home as matter-of-factly as if she is lending them a potato. Her relationship with them before Lina asked her to start looking in on Granny was unclear, but either it was warm enough or the bonds between neighbors in Ember are strong enough that Lina doesn’t hesitate to ask for a favor, and Mrs. Murdo doesn’t hesitate to agree.

Lina also does not hesitate to agree to Mrs. Murdo’s offer, and when she does she gets more than a roof over her head. Mrs. Murdo’s presence allows her to go to work without worrying about Poppy, and to enjoy meals that she doesn’t have to cook herself. When Mrs. Murdo takes care of Lina’s basic needs, it allows Lina to focus on the mental task of deciphering the Instructions.

‘But I can’t just leave,’ said Lina. ‘How could I leave Poppy? And not even say goodbye to her? Not know where I’m going, or if I’m ever coming back? How could you go without saying goodbye to your father?’

In Chapter 15 Lina and Doon are hiding from the guards in their old classroom, and Doon suggests that they leave Ember that day. Lina is aghast at the notion of leaving Poppy, and can’t fathom how Doon could leave his father. Doon is not being cold-hearted, however; he is simply confident enough in their plan that he sincerely believes that everyone in Ember, including his father, will follow them shortly and that Poppy is safer with Mrs. Murdo in the meantime. Ever since Doon learned of the dangers facing his community he fought to find a solution, and now his community has grown to include Lina. If it were not for her input and ideas, it is likely that Doon would never have had a plan at all.

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