Trust Your True Friends

Authors Note: This following piece is a formal five paragraph essay discussing the main themes within the book The City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau.

When getting in the ages of twelve or thirteen, it's hard to know who your friends are because everyone is changing. Figuring out who will be there when you need help, who will defend you, and who will believe you with whatever you say.Finding out your true friends and not being able to trust everyone are the main themes within the novel The City of Ember for various reasons.

To start, a while after the graduating class had gotten their jobs, Lina bumped into one of her good friends from school. As Lina and her old friend Lizzie were talking, Lizzie acted strange, as though she didn’t want to speak to Lina.Since Lizzie works as a stocks-person, she has permission to go where all the substances are that all citizens have a limited amount to. As it turned out,Lizzie and her boyfriend were stealing food and light bulbs for not only themselves, but the mayor as well.


Next, in any given situation everyone should be able to trust their leader and believe they would do their best to help their people.Unfortunately, the mayor of Ember is the exact opposite. He is not trustworthy,which many people do not know. He has stock workers deliver whatever he needs for him without limited amounts. Also, he doesn’t care about the shortages on light bulbs and food. The discussion between Doon and the Mayor at the end of page 12 through page 13 shows that the Mayor doesn't care about the blackouts or shortages and is too afraid to admit that tragedies are happening to his city.

Unlike Mayor Cole, Lizzie, and her boyfriend, Doon Harrow is a true, loyal friend. He is always there for Lina when she is in need to talk to someone, and believes her for whatever she has to say even if it might seem completely insane. Lina discovered the mayor (someone who seems so devoted to his city)was stealing many things that are limited to the other citizens, and Doon didn't question her or tell her to prove it because he knew she would never lie to him. 

In conclusion; the theme in this novel is shown throughout several ways. Lizzie not being who Lina thought she was, the mayor not being trust Doon, and Doon being the one who was the most dependable out of all.

Mayor Busted for Stealing: True or Myth?

Authors Note: This is a creative piece based off of the book “The City of Ember”, by Jeanne DuPrau. I wrote as if I were the journalist of Ember writing for “The Ember Times”.

The word throughout the streets of Ember is out about the mayor's steeling of supplies that have been running low for years. As many of you, the citizens of Ember know, we have been in a shortage of many things for an extended amount of time now. We have been limited to taking a certain amount on everything now-a-days, so Mayor Cole stealing will only make life in the future worse for us.

The Ember Times interviewed the chief guard for the city, as he was the one who was confronted about the theft. "Nothing has ever gone on like this for the many years I have been working as a guard",says the chief guard. "They came up to me and told me they needed to speak in private, because of an important matter. Next they discussed how there was storeroom in Tunnel 351 on the south end of the pipeworks, stocked with food that hadn't been sold in years and millions of light bulbs being delivered to the mayor. The young girl had talked to a friend, who admitted everything about her boy friend stealing things for the mayor, himself, and for herself as well." These are shocking words, but could definitely be true as well.

As Mayor Cole was confronted about this complaint, he denied every part of it. Signs were put up all around Ember with Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow's names on them, wanted for false accusations. The question that is being asked by everyone is: is it true? While the next few weeks pass, guards will investigate more about the Mayor's theft,discovering if it's true, or a myth.

The Little Things are the Ones that Make the Biggest Difference

Authors Note: This short response is a Text Structure Conflict/Resolution on the book “The City of Ember”.

In the underground city, every year comes a day where the 12 year olds are given a job. The mayor comes to class with a bucket filled with scraps of paper with a different job written on each one. Doon Harrow is pleading to get a job underground near the generators so he can try to help save the city from darkness because they are using only light bulbs for light. Lina, on the other hand, is hoping to get anything but the underground jobs. One of her first picks would be to get the messenger, running throughout Ember, getting to see every inch of the city. As it turns out, they each get the total opposite, so they decide to switch after class. Getting their last choices is one of the main conflicts of the book because Doon is trying to save the city and he can’t do anything if he’s not near the generator.

“Doon reached into the bag and took out the last scrap of paper. He paused a minute, pressing it tightly in his hand. Unfolding the paper, Doon read: “Messenger”. He scowled, crumpled the paper and dashed it to the floor”. This line from the book shows that Doon will not be able to fix Ember’s light issues.

By Lina’s emotions, Doon could tell she was upset from the job she got which was pipeworkers. Since the pipeworkers work under ground near the generator, he decided to ask her to switch jobs. Lina was filled with joy after Doon’s arrangement to exchange jobs. As a line from the book “Happiness sprang into her”, and their conflict was solved.

Become a Better Person

Authors Note: This response is a Text Structure Cause/Effect based off of the story “Thank You, Ma’am”.

As Mrs. Luella Jones was on her way home from the grocery store on a casual night, she was attacked by a young teenage boy trying to steal money out of her pocketbook. Because the strap of the purse broke loose, the boy landed right on his back with his sticking up in the air. She looked down at him, took him by the ear, and dragged him back to her house. She let him clean his face, provided him food for him, and talked to him as if he was her own son. After he left Mrs. Luella's house that night, he learned a lesson that no one had ever taught him before: you don't need to commit crimes and give up on life if you don't have money or loving parents. The climax in the story "Thank You, Ma'am" is when Mrs. Luella Jones takes Roger home just after he tried stealing money from her because it affects the entire story beyond that point.

Before the climax occurred, Roger planned on stealing money from an elderly lady on the street. As his plan failed, he found himself on the lying on the ground, hit by the woman's purse. If he never had attempted to steal Mrs. Jones’s pocketbook, he would most likely have never learned his lesson from her to be a better person.

“It was about eleven o’clock at night, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse” is a line from the story that specifically describes what happened before the main event or climax. Moments later the climax occurred: Mrs. Jones taking Roger home with her, making sure he'll remember her once she's through with him.

Rather than Mrs. Jones calling the police and take the young boy to jail, she takes him home, lets him wash the filth off of his face, and feeds him. After he learned his lesson, he wanted to gain the woman’s trust back, and wanting her to know that he is extremely ashamed of his actions earlier that night. If Mrs. Jones just would have called the cops on him, he would have never learned his valuable lesson from Mrs. Jones, and would most likely have kept on committing crimes.

Help the City from Darkness

Authors Note: This short response is a text analyzing off of a quote from the book "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau.

Before the underground city was full of people, the builders of Ember predicted that within two hundred years, the citizens will be completely out of light bulbs to light the city. Therefore, they made a list of instructions on how to get above to the surface of earth. The builders placed the note in a box and set the box to open two hundred years later,  having every mayor pass it down to the next until the time comes and the box opens. As the years went by, it is now nearing two hundred years later and it is time for the graduating class to pick their jobs. Doon Harrow wants any job but messenger. One of his first pick would be working as a Pipe worker down undergrounds. Lina on the other hand would love to be a messenger. She loves running around town and working where everyone else is. Since they each get their least favorite picks, they switch jobs.

Doon believes that Ember will run out of light bulbs. Within a matter of time, they will live in complete darkness. Because of this, he wants to try to fix this issue and try to save Ember from a world of darkness. That's the main reason why he wants pipe worker so bad. "I have to find something important down there, something that's going to help. I have to . I just have to.", is a line said by Doon that shows that he is going to try to help Ember and fix their issue of running out of light bulbs.

This quote is important because first of all, it gets the readers thinking about what's going to happen. It has them questioning whether or not Doon will find a way to save the city from darkness, and if he will, how he will do it. Second, it kind of sets the story and explains what events will be happening. As it most likely did to every reader, this quote stood out to me the most because it got me thinking and questioning what will happen and wanting me to read more.

What if the setting was changed?

Authors Note: This two paragraph speech is discussing the setting of The City of Ember, how it would be different, and how it would effect the character.

In the novel Cityof Ember, the setting is very different from the world we live in today. In this city, there is no sunlight. They live off of light bulbs for light, so if they run out of light bulbs, they will live in complete darkness. Having no sunlight definitely effects how the story was written because it would be a completely different storyline if for instance there was light coming from the sun.

Having sunlight would effect the characters because for example: Doon is a boy who believes there is a world that is full of bright light and wants to find something that will lead the people living in Ember to it. He also believes that Ember will run out of light bulbs within a matter of time. “The lights go out all the time! There’s shortages of everything”, is a quote said by Doon to the Mayor of Ember, which tells the readers Doon's beliefs about the light bulb situation. If there were light coming from the sun, Doon wouldn't be fighting the Mayor about shortages on everything because their problems would most likely be fixed.