88 pages • 2 hours read
Jeanne DuPrauThe People of Sparks
Jeanne DuPrauFiction | 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.
Symbols & Motifs
Fire
Fire is one of the most prominent symbols in The People of Sparks. It appears most notably in the names of the towns, as well as through Lina’s fear of fire and through the climax of the novel.
Both of the major place names in this novel are derived from fire. Embers are the remains of a fire and aptly reflect the nature of the City of Ember; Ember was a place that “was ending” (184). The embers of a fire are very hot, but ultimately finite. Conversely, sparks are often the start of a fire. Sparks is a young village that has just begun to thrive. Dr. Hester tells Lina that “[s]parks are a beginning. We are the beginning of something here, or trying to be, the way a spark is the beginning of a fire” (72). As Lina points out, sparks can sometimes be dangerous. This, too, parallels the town of Sparks. The fierce protectiveness of the townspeople almost culminates in disaster. However, when managed responsibly, this passion can be a productive powerful force instead.
The symbol of fire is also relevant in that many of the Emberites, Lina included, are terrified of fire. It was a purely dangerous force in Ember, and they are unused to it being controlled and used as it is in Sparks. The people of Sparks often ridicule this fear, and it serves to drive yet another wedge between the two populations; when Torren realizes that Lina fears fire, he points it out in a “a low, scornful voice” (39). The Emberites’ fear of fire is most important at the climax of the novel, when they collectively face their fears and join the fire line to help the people of Sparks. The fact that they must face their fears to help makes this eventual alliance even more impactful.
Fire, as seen in the climax of the novel, represents a destructive natural force with ultimately human origins. The fire begins when Sparks’ Weapon explodes: a purely human mistake. However, the fire quickly spreads out of control. This reflects the nature of violence. Though individual acts of violence have a human origin, violence of this sort often accelerates of its own accord. The fact that the Emberites and the people of Sparks must band together to put out the fire is also meaningful; the only way to put an end to out-of-control violence and rhetoric is through purposefully putting aside personal issues and banding together on a human level.
Scavenged Objects
The objects scavenged by roamers play an important role both in the story as a whole and as various symbols. They reveal the realities of life in the post-Disaster world, reveal something about the character of the people who bring them back, and act as individual symbols.
In the post-Disaster world, people need only useful items. This is shown the first time that Lina encounters a roamer in Sparks; the roamer brings back ornate jewelry, but “only a few people seemed interested in them, and they bid hardly anything” (96). The people in the post-Disaster world have no time for frivolities. The way that the people of Sparks use some of the now-obsolete items that the roamers bring back also showcase the ingenuity that is required of them in the post-apocalyptic setting; one woman buys water faucets because they will “make good candle holders” (96). In this way, the objects that roamers bring back serve to further develop the world that DuPrau has created.
The objects brought back by roamers also reveal the character of the people who scavenged them. This is most obvious in Caspar, who Dr. Hester says, “has a knack for finding the wrong things” (146). Caspar’s illogicality and self-importance come to fruition with his quest for the city and the treasure. Caspar and his finds contrast sharply with Lina and hers. Lina brings back things that are interesting and still turn out to be useful; both the magnifying glass and magnet that she gives Doon prove to be helpful tools. Additionally, she only brings back things to give away, not to sell. The characteristics of the things that she finds mirror the characteristics of the one who found them; though she is idealistic and imaginative, Lina is still logical and caring.
Finally, many of the objects that the roamers bring back serve as individual symbols. The “extinct” things that Caspar has brought back for Torren help to paint a picture of the pre-Disaster world; the airplane, tank, motorcycle, flashlight, remote, and elephant that Torren treasures all reveal a part of the pre-Disaster world that has been lost and eventually misconstrued by the survivors of the Disaster (122-23). The lightbulbs that Caspar brings back at the end of the novel are one of the few things of his that end up being useful, and even this is because of the magnet that Lina found. The lightbulb itself serves as a symbol of the hope that the Emberites carry for the future of the post-Disaster world.
Red Fruits and Vegetables
Another symbol that appears in The People of Sparks is that of red fruits and vegetables. Torren destroys two crates full of tomatoes, and Tick eats all of the berries that Doon scavenges. Both events are stand-ins for human violence or forewarnings of such.
In a fit of frustration, Torren throws two crates full of tomatoes at a shed in the fields. When he has finished venting his rage, the “the window of the shed [had] splintered, the wall was a bleeding mess, and a long mound of broken red flesh lay on the ground” (166). The language that DuPrau uses here clearly connects the ruined tomatoes with physical violence. The destruction of the tomatoes also serves as a forewarning of more violence to come; “[i]t was as if those smashed tomatoes had brought all the quietly rumbling resentments out into the open” (197). This is not the only time that red fruits and vegetables forewarn of violence.
Tick approaches Doon while he is out foraging berries. While there, he lectures Doon about the unfairness and greediness of the people of Sparks while eating all of the berries himself. When he leaves, Doon notices that his hands are “streaked” with “what looked like blood” but turned out to be “only berry juice, passed to his hand from Tick’s” (156). This small incident is foreshadowing of Tick’s true character that has yet to emerge; if he would have had his way, Tick would have literally and metaphorically had the blood of both Emberites and people of Sparks on his hands. Here the berries symbolize impending violence.
Additionally, the use of fruits and vegetables to denote human violence serves to underscore the importance of food to this community. The disagreement between the people of Sparks and the Emberites initially begins as dissatisfaction over food rationing before ballooning into something more. In the post-Disaster world of scarcity and struggle, food waste is essentially human violence.
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