Then the door behind her burst open, and a huge guard with a bushy black beard was suddenly running toward her. "Halt!" he shouted, though she wasn't going anywhere. He grabbed her by the arm. "What are you doing here?"
"I was just curious," said Lina, in her most innocent voice. "I wanted to see the city from the roof." She read the guard's name badge. It said, "Redge Stabmark, Chief Guard."
"Curiosity leads to trouble," said Redge Stabmark. He peered down a the crowd. "You have caused a commotion."
pg. 37
This scene is important to the story for a couple of reasons. First is that it foreshadows a lot! It foreshadows that there is going to be some curiosity from Lina that will get her into trouble. It is very obvious to the reader that Lina is the kind of girl who will push her limits in order to satisfy her curiosity. This will later help her discover the way out of Ember but it will also lead to her getting into trouble with the government.
The reader also first glimpses the corruption of the government. Redge Stabmark makes it clear that the government does not like people looking into things that question their leadership. When Lina tries to tell the mayor about her secret note, she is surprised that the mayor will not listen to her. Lina's naive faith in the government gets her into trouble. It was frustrating to me that Lina thought the mayor and the guards were on her side when it was clear from this scene early on in the book that they were not to be trusted. This is illustrated again later when Doon and Lina discover the secret store room in the pipe works. But they still try and have faith in the government. And then Lina and Doon try and tell the mayor about the way out of Ember, Lina is chased around the city and almost arrested.
This scene set the attitude of the government for the rest of the book for me. It was at this moment that I knew that the government was going to be no help and that Lina and Doon would have to do everything on their own.
No comments:
Post a Comment