88 pages • 2 hours read
Jeanne DuPrauThe People of Sparks
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2004A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Part 1, Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “Arrival”
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “What Torren Saw”
Torren is out begrudgingly running errands for his aunt, Dr. Crane, when he sees the bedraggled Emberites cresting a hill in the distance. The people of Sparks walk out to meet the Emberites. There are about 400 Emberites, greater than the 322 people native to Sparks. Mary, Ben, and Wilmer, the leaders of the town, are unsure about what to do; they fear resource scarcity. Eventually, they decide that they must at least attempt to help the Emberites, and they lead them toward the village of Sparks.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “Out from Below”
Told from Lina’s point of view, this chapter recounts how the Emberites made their way to Sparks. Lina and Doon recall leaving Ember, tossing a note into the abyss, and waiting. Once the other Emberites emerge, Mrs. Murdo tells Lina about what happed in Ember: The mayor and his cronies tried to escape in secret, but they drowned in the attempt. Mrs. Murdo told the rest of the Emberites about the exit, and several people died in the chaotic dash that ensued. Both Lina and Mrs. Murdo know that soon Ember’s generators will fail. Lina is disappointed that Sparks doesn’t match the huge, beautiful city that she has always dreamed of, but she feels hopeful, nonetheless.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary: “Through the Village”
Lina describes Sparks as the Emberites are led toward the central plaza. While Ember was carefully planned and constructed, Sparks is a hodgepodge of buildings interspersed with strange new plants and animals. Both Lina and Doon are curious; Lina asks questions while Doon quietly observes. Lina, her sickly infant sister Poppy, and their guardian Mrs. Murdo go to stay with Dr. Hester. Doon and the rest of the Emberites remain in the Plaza. As Lina walks toward Dr. Crane’s house, she’s struck by homesickness for a place she knows no longer exists.
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary: “The Doctor’s House”
Lina, Poppy, and Mrs. Murdo arrive at Dr. Hester’s house on the outskirts of town, where she lives with her nephew, Torren, and tends to the inhabitants of the village. Lina is again struck by the differences between Sparks and Ember. She is frightened by the fire that Dr. Crane lights in the hearth. Throughout the evening, the haggard Dr. Hester receives patients. She is the town’s only doctor and lacks resources. After dinner, Lina, Mrs. Murdo, and Poppy bed down in Torren and Caspar’s room. Torren is angry at this perceived imposition. Lina she stays up late worrying about the challenges this new world will bring.
“The First Town Meeting” Summary
This account of a meeting between the leaders of Sparks is told from a third person omniscient viewpoint. The Sparks leaders want to do the ethical thing to set them apart from the corrupt leaders of the past. They decide to let the Emberites stay in an ancient hotel outside of town for six months. The people of Sparks will teach the Emberites how to start a new town when they leave at the beginning of winter. However, all the leaders know from experience that the Emberites will never be able to learn enough to survive.
Part 1, Chapters 1-4 Analysis
This section of the novel introduces most of the primary characters as well as the setting of Sparks and the surrounding Empty Lands. Lina is curious and imaginative. Doon is more serious and observant, but both are fundamentally inquisitive about the world around them.
The Emberites are still in awe of the surface world. There are some hints as to the difficulties of life in the post-Disaster world; the preciousness of food and other resources is shown through the town leaders’ reluctance to welcome the Emberites in. The town’s only doctor, too, is overworked and lacks resources. Though the town leaders assume the Emberites will not be able to survive without their assistance, DuPrau’s introduction of difficulties and shortages in Sparks suggests that the Emberites might have something to offer their hosts later in the novel, establishing a more symbiotic relationship. This concept comes to fruition at the end of the novel when Lina lights a lightbulb, implying that the town will one day have electricity.
The theme of “us” versus “them” is also present from the very beginning of the novel. Upon his first sight of the Emberites cresting the hill, Torren thinks that “they were terrible-looking people. Their clothes were all wrong” (8). The people of Sparks mirror this doubt as to the origin and even humanity of the Emberites. This tension that runs through the whole novel begins here, with the people of Sparks’ justifiable mistrust of outsiders in their post-apocalyptic world.
Toward the end of this section, the symbol of fire first appears. In Ember, “there was never fire unless there was danger” (39) because it was unnecessary in a place with electricity. The people of Sparks, however, recognize fire as a necessary tool for their existence. Fire will come to represent the spread of anger, and Lina’s relationship to fire marks her character development throughout the novel. Initially, Lina is afraid of fire, but she faces that fear by the end of the novel to save her people and the people of Sparks.
Interestingly, though the people of Sparks refer to the Emberites as “cavepeople,” the Emberites had more developed technology than the people of Sparks. This detail speaks to the misunderstanding and prevalence of exclusivity between the two factions. Though each group has something to offer the other, their belief in their own superiority (as we can identify in the leaders’ belief the Emberites cannot survive without their assistance), keeps the groups from collaborating for the benefit of all.
