The People of Sparks

“Each one—Mary, Wilmer, and especially Ben—wished the unfortunate cave people would simply vanish.

But they weren’t going to vanish, and the leaders of Sparks knew that they must for the sake of their consciences do the right thing. They wanted to be wise, good leaders, unlike the leaders of the past, whose terrible mistakes had led to the Disaster. So they would be open-minded. They would be generous.”

The leaders of Sparks reflect on the past in this quote, hinting at the flaws of past societies that led to the post-apocalyptic world that they live in now. The novel references the idea of learning from the past is referenced several times, and DuPrau explores the difficulties of remembering these lessons through the eventual animosity between Ember and Sparks.

“He had never in his life felt so good. He felt as huge as the land around him and as clear and bright as the air. No laboring in dank tunnels here; no running through dark streets to escape pursuit. Now he was out in the open, free. And he was powerful, too, in a way he hadn’t been before. He had done something remarkable—saved his people from their dying city—and, along with Lina, he would be known for that deed all his life. He gazed around at this new world full of life and beauty, and he felt proud to have brought his people here.”

This quote speaks to the promise of the new world that the Emberites find themselves in as well as Doon’s enthusiasm for the new opportunities it will bring. The use of similes and clear, poignant language are emblematic of the style of the book.

“‘Well, yes,’ said the doctor in a weary voice. ‘That’s how it goes, doesn’t it? Someone pushes, someone pushes back. Pretty soon everything’s ruined.’

‘Everything?’ said Lina. ‘But can’t his shirt be washed?’

‘Oh, yes, of course,’ the doctor said. ‘I didn’t mean that. Never mind.’”

Here, Dr. Hester introduces Lina to the cyclical nature of revenge, which is a central theme in The People of Sparks. This quote references multiple situations in the novel, including the Disaster, and indicates that the people of Sparks and the Emberites are headed for a similar fate if they don’t make amends. Later, Maddy will more directly address the issue when she tells Lina how to face conflict with kindness.

“‘Right here, the truck broke down. When they opened the hood, a great spray of sparks shot up out of the engine. So they decided to settle in this spot, and they named it Sparks.’ The doctor stood up and looked around for her medicine bag. ‘It turned out to be a fitting name in another way,’ she said. ‘Sparks are a beginning. We are the beginning of something here, or trying to be, the way a spark is the beginning of a fire.’”

This quote explains the origin of the name “Sparks.” It references fire, one of the most important symbols in the novel, and begins to elucidate the metaphorical meaning of the town name. This quote also references the idea of new beginnings; a major theme.

“‘A war is when one bunch of people fights with another bunch, when both of them want the same thing. Like for instance if there’s some good land, and two groups of people want to live there.’

‘Why can’t they both live there?’

‘They don’t want to live there together,’ he said, as if this were a stupid question. ‘Also you could have a war because of revenge. Say one group of people does something bad to another group, like steal their chickens. Then the first group does something bad back in revenge. That could start a war. The two groups would try to kill each other, and the ones who killed the most would win.’”

Here, Torren is further explaining the concept of revenge to Lina. Again, his description of it can be applied to many different situations in the novel: the pre-Disaster world, the relationship between Sparks and Ember, and his own relationship with Lina. This double (or triple) meaning is common when characters discuss ideas of revenge and retribution in The People of Sparks.

“He’s right. Of course he’s right. But we’re right, too.”

The discontent of both the Emberites and the people of Sparks is beginning to come to the surface when Doon realizes that the complaints of both sides are valid. This is characteristic of Doon; he is thoughtful and always considers every side of a problem. It also addresses one of the central issues of the novel in that both Ember and Sparks have legitimate concerns, but they seem unwilling to discuss those concerns with each other.

“‘It was ending, the place where I came from. I wanted to be somewhere that was beginning.’

‘Our city was ending, too,’ said Lina. She looked up at the blue sky and thought about the sky in Ember: utter blackness, not a speck of light. No lights shone anywhere in Ember now. ‘There’s no one left in our city,’ she said.

‘Sparks is a place that’s beginning,’ said Maddy.”

Here, Maddy is telling Lina about the place that she came from, and the two characters are connecting over their shared origins. The quote returns to the idea of new beginnings and moving on from an unsalvageable past, even if that past holds some comfort.

“You turned a crazy old guy into an enemy in less than two minutes. You did it. You’ve done it over and over, I’ve seen you: you approach people like an enemy and bam!, they turn into one, whether they were to begin with or not… If you ask me, making friends is a better defense than making enemies.”

Maddy reprimands Caspar for his antagonistic treatment of a starving roamer and the consequences that this treatment brought upon the group. This quote addresses the idea that the way that someone is treated will affect the way that they act, and, like many other observations throughout the novel, can be applied to multiple situations. The unfriendly treatment of the Emberites by the people of Sparks eventually leads to the Emberites beginning to behave in the way that the people of Sparks always assumed they would: complaining, stealing, and vandalizing.

. “‘It was the wars,’ said Maddy. ‘They must have been . . .’ She shook her head. ‘They must have been terrible,’ she said.

‘What were they about?’ Lina asked.

Maddy shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’”

Here, Maddy and Lina are reflecting on the city. It is so thoroughly destroyed that even stoic Maddy is troubled by it. The fact that none of them remember what the wars were about also serves to underscore the meaninglessness of violence and revenge, a reoccurring theme in the novel.

“‘Were the people in those old days extremely evil?’ Lina asked.

‘No more than anyone,’ Maddy said.

‘But then why did the wars happen? To wreck your whole city—almost your whole world—it seems like something only evil people would do.’

‘No, not evil, at least not at first. Just angry and scared.’”

This quote introduces the idea that fear and anger are two sides of the same coin, and that fear can very easily turn into uncontrolled anger. Again, this conversation can be applied to both the pre-Disaster world and the relationship between Sparks and Ember; the people of Sparks fear the hardships that taking in the Emberites will necessitate, but instead of addressing it, they get angry with the Emberites instead. This idea also speaks to the theme of the cyclical nature of violence and revenge.

“Fury spread among the Emberites like a fire.”

This quote draws a connection between human anger and the important symbol of fire. Like fire, anger can quickly spread out of control seemingly of its own accord and can have massively destructive consequences.

“People didn’t make life, so they can’t destroy it. Even if we were to wipe out every bit of life in the world, we can’t touch the place life comes from. Whatever made plants and animals and people spring up in the first place will always be there, and life will spring up again.”

This quote from Maddy speaks to the idea of hope that is at the core of the novel. The people of Ember have lost almost everything in fleeing from their city, but the ultimate message of The People of Sparks is one of hope and renewal even in the face of hardship.

“‘There’s buried treasure in the ancient city.

Remember, remember from times of old.

What’s hidden will come to light again.

It’s far more precious than diamonds and gold….’

‘Remember the city, the city remember,

Where treasure is hidden under the ground.

The city, the city, always remember,

That’s where the treasure will be found.’”

These are two versions of the ancient songs about treasure hidden in the city that inspired Caspar’s quest. When Lina hears them from a roamer, she realizes that the people of Ember are the treasure. This discovery allows Lina to bring a very real message of purpose and belonging back to the other Emberites in Sparks.

“If there’s a war, it will be everywhere.”

Here, Dr. Hester points out the realities of war to an overly excited Torren. Her resignation in this scene suggests her knowledge of past violence. This quote speaks to the self-replicating, pervasive nature of violence and war.

“[W]hen she awoke, she could feel immediately that something in the air had changed. A wind had arisen, a warm, gusty wind that bent the brown grasses and rattled in the leaves of the trees. The blue of the sky had faded to a hazy gray, and the heat seemed more fiery than ever. She felt something unsettling in the air, a warning, like the first traces of fever when an illness is coming on.”

This quote suggests the symbolism of the changing seasons in The People of Sparks. The summer heat is peaking, and with it, so is the conflict between Ember and Sparks.

“They shouted to each other—Look, the cavepeople are coming! They’re coming into town! Other windows flew open, and doors, and people stepped out into the streets, unsure whether to be angry or afraid.”

This quote illustrates the treatment of the Emberites by the people of Sparks and the misunderstandings that exist between them; the people of Sparks refer to the Emberites as “cavepeople,” a derogatory name derived from their seemingly willful misunderstanding of what Ember was like. Additionally, this quote returns to the idea of fear and anger as two sides of the same coin.

“Lina stayed where she was. She felt as if she were being gripped by two huge hands. One pulled her backward, away from the fire, back toward the streets of the town, through which she could run to safety. The other pulled her forward into danger, urging her to do what she suddenly knew was right. It was the good thing. It was what she’d been waiting for. But she didn’t want to do it. I can’t, she thought. I don’t want to. I’m too afraid. Someone else will do it. Not me, not me. I can’t.”

This quote speaks to an important idea related to the theme of revenge: that doing the “right thing” in order to stop the cycle of revenge is often extremely difficult. In this case, Lina had to fight both her feelings toward the people of Sparks and her fear of fire, tying this quote even more strongly to the central themes and symbols of the book and making the scene all the more impactful.

“Then for a few moments, people just stood and stared at each other. All of them had smoke-darkened faces and ash-dusted hair and damp, grimy clothes. The people of Ember were just as grubby as the people of Sparks; everyone looked more or less the same.”

Here, the distinctions between the Emberites and the people of Sparks have been all but erased. Physically, they all look the same after fighting the fire. Additionally, their interests have truly overlapped for the first time since the beginning of the novel, and the ideological differences between them have therefore been erased for the moment as well. This quote explicates the idea that purposefully banding together for a greater cause can help to negate animosity between two groups.

“‘I saw you,’ he said. ‘You pulled Torren in from the tree.’

Doon nodded.

‘I knew you were that kind of person,’ Kenny said. Bits of ash sprinkled his blond hair, as if someone had shaken pepper on his head.

‘What kind?’ said Doon.

‘The brave kind,’ Kenny said. ‘The good kind. Not like that other boy.’

‘What other boy?’ Kenny leaned back against the trunk of the tree and stretched out his legs. ‘The one who was yelling for people to fight. That one with the pale eyes.’

‘Tick,’ said Doon.

‘Yes. I knew he wasn’t a good one, ever since I saw him in the woods that day.’”

This conversation between Kenny and Doon returns to the idea of different “kinds” of people, a core component of the “us versus them” dichotomy. Here, Kenny explicates the only real different kinds of people that he sees: people who are “brave” and “good,” and people who are not. This childlike perspective contrasts with the arbitrary distinctions that the people of Sparks and the Emberites have drawn, and in doing so, shows just how arbitrary those distinctions are.

“We were afraid, let us say it right out. We were afraid that you would ruin everything for us. We were almost on the edge of prosperity. We feared that you would push us back into deprivation… So we tried to get rid of the problem instead of solving it.”

In this quote, Mary once again draws a connection between fear and anger. This town meeting is the first time that Sparks and Ember have talked openly about both practical matters and about their feelings, and therefore is integral to the conclusion of the novel.

“‘We should take note,’ she said, ‘of how easy it is to bring out the worst in us. The actions of a few troubled individuals fanned resentments into violence. Only an accident kept us from murdering each other.’”

The language in this quote once again ties anger to the symbol of fire. By using the word “fanned,” DuPrau creates a connection between the spread of fire and the spread of anger, underscoring the similar destructive potential of each force.

“A rustle swept through the crowd. Both Doon and Lina felt a pang of sorrow. To call themselves people of Sparks meant leaving behind the last trace of their old home—its name. The villagers, too, felt a pang; for them it was a pang of fear. These were their people now? Could they really live peacefully together?

But the sorrow and the fear lasted only a few seconds. Everyone was tired of sorrow and fear. Whatever lay ahead, they thought, would probably be better. They were willing to try it.”

This quote, from just after the announcement that the Emberites and the people of Sparks would be joining together under one name, emphasizes the need for community and belonging. It also returns to the idea of new beginnings and progress in the wake of hardship.

“‘I am too happy,’ said Torren crossly. He sat down on the bench that Ben had just left and pulled the hunk of bread from his pocket. A few little birds were hopping nearby. Absently, Torren tossed them some crumbs. He seemed to be thinking. ‘I like it here,’ he said to Lina, and he looked up at her with his eyes all round, as if he had only just discovered this himself.”

Here, Torren first realizes that he enjoys his life with Dr. Hester. This shows his development as a character; he has learned to do some amount of self-reflection. In another subtle nod to his development, he is tossing breadcrumbs to the birds in the courtyard, rather than throwing things at them as he did in Lina’s first conversation with him. This quote also emphasizes the idea of finding a home and a place to belong.