Notable Moment: The City of Ember

The moment when Lina bought colored pencils stuck out to me. The main thing that I found interesting about her buying the colored pencils was the two colors she chose. Out of all the colors, Lena picked blue and green. Immediately green and blue reminded me of grass and the sky. To me this was pretty obvious forshadowing that Lina’s dreams about another colorful world were real. The main reason why this moment in particular impacted me was because this is when I first thought they might be living in an underground city. When I thought about Lina and the city that she dreamed about which she described to be “somewhat like Ember, except that its buildings were lighter and taller and had more windows” and then the moment when she buys a green and blue colored pencils it clicked in my head that the reason Ember is so dark is that it is underground.

Throughout this book color, or lack there of, played an important part in the story. From something as little as Lina’s drawings to the importance of light to keep their city going, color seemed to be a minor theme. Out of everything that the city had already ran out of, I think it was foreshadowing that blue and green pencils, the colors of sky, water and grass, were still available for Lina to buy.