What did the author trying to tell us?
To me, the main idea of the story was about Good vs. Evil. The conflict of the city of ember is person VS. enviroment. Ember's blackouts are getting longer and in Ember there is no such thing as a movable light. The people of Ember are afraid that one day the lights will go out and they will never come back on. The protaganists are Doon and Lina because they are the heros. They are the heros because they are the ones who find the way out. The antaginist might be Ember itself because the lights are going out. Or the Mayor because he is keeping the food all to himself when his people need it the most. The auther is optimistic because Doon and Lina find a way out of Ember.