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.