The+City+of+Ember

Reference: DuPrau, J. (2003). //The city of Ember//. New York, NY: Yearling.

Summary: //The city of Ember// is a young adolescent novel written about a city, Ember, that was lit only by electric lights that ran courtesy of a generator; when the lights went out, no matter the time of day, the city was pitch black. The Builders created the city, but only expected the citizens to inhabit it for 200 years. After that time, the mayor was supposed to be able to access directions on how everyone could leave the city. However, the box with “The Instructions” inside was lost. The city was struggling since it was developed to only last 200 years; supplies started to run low and the citizens were petrified that the lights would go out and never come back on. The two main characters of the story were Lina and Doon, two twelve year old children. They only seem to be acquaintances at first, but then Lena finds remnants of “The Instructions”, which seem to mention Doon’s place of work. Doon is the only person to express interest in Lina’s find, and the two set out to find the egress, or way out, of the city. Lina and Doon end up leaving the city and finding the way out, but not in the grand way that they had planned to save the city. In their rush to escape, they realize that they forgot to tell everyone else how to get to the egress. They quickly realize though that Ember is underground and they drop a note down to the city in hopes that fellow citizens will join them in their new world.

Critique: I believe this novel was an accurate portrayal of young adolescents. There are several examples that come to mind from the book that describe characteristics of young adolescents. Lena, for example, is forced to be the woman of the house. She takes care of her little sister and is responsible for taking care of her grandmother, as well. Lena seems to do a good job in this role, but in one scene, when she is buying colored pencils for herself, she shows evidence of her youth. Lena takes money that she has earned and decides to buy colored pencils for herself instead of getting her grandmother a new coat. She also becomes so fascinated with the pencils when she is looking at them, that she forgets about her little sister and loses her. To me, this scene depicts her as an irresponsible, selfish child. Even though she acts mature through most of the story, her age and phase in life shine through. Also after Lena’s grandmother dies, Lena is content to live with the neighbor, where she enjoys being taken care of by a motherly figure. She seems to be struggling with the balance between youth and adult, which many young adolescents struggle with.

Lena and Doon also are both inquisitive, which is a characteristic of young adolescents. Even though they are told that there is no outside world, they both question this. They start sneaking into places they shouldn’t, but their belief that there is some place better forces them to test boundaries. Lena believes in a bright city that she sees in her dreams, but believes is real. Doon wants to be the savior for the city and rescue everyone.

Doon, from the beginning, questioned the mayor; he questioned the mayor’s authority and ability to aid the city in finding a solution to its problems. Doon turned out to be correct in his assessment of the mayor, finding the mayor with a surplus of items instead of sharing with the citizens. Doon also seems to have anger issues. He finds himself getting extremely angry in a few situations, and doesn’t seem to know why it is happening. This is typical of the young adolescent since their hormones are constantly changing during this stage. Doon at least starts to realize that even though he might not understand why he gets so angry, he must learn to control it.

Using the novel in the classroom:

Language Arts:
 * Have the students compare and contrast themselves to the characters in the story
 * Have the students write about what they would do if they were Lena and Doon: would they look for a way out and why
 * Have the students finish the story, what happens after Lena and Doon get to the new world: what do they do, what is it like
 * How would you be most affected if we lost electricity today, tell me about it

Mathematics: Science: Social Studies:
 * At one point Doon estimates how far underground he is, you could use this to study distance and/or estimation
 * If you had x amount of food for 3 people, how much would each person get, how long would it last
 * Lena's job is messenger: you could take the map of the city and figure distances from point A to point B
 * Pythagorean Theorem
 * You could use the map to introduce coordinates
 * You could study electricity: how it works, how it was invented
 * The city was underground; you could involve the layers of the Earth or different types of rocks and sediments
 * Study light: are there different kinds, would plants still grow
 * Define citizenship and have them describe what it means to them to be a good citizen
 * Study the roles of government: was Ember a democracy, did the citizens have a say in what took place
 * Study inventions: what one invention in history would have helped Ember the most
 * Is being a messenger a real job, what would be equivalent to it