The Viewpoint of a Preschooler

Authors Note: This piece is about how the change in viewpoint in the novel The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau would change the main characters, setting, and the plot.

Just imagine, having to live with your old and forgetting grandmother in a place where there is danger around every corner. Think about how the only other person that cares about you is out working most of the time and you rarely get to see her. Lastly, I want you to think about living in a place with very little varieties of food and very little place to sleep and play. This is what the story The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau would be like if it was through the point of view of Poppy instead of Lina and Doon. Once again, if the point of view of the story was changed, there would be a different set of main characters, an alternate setting, and a way different plot line that the story would follow.

First off, the main characters would dramatically change in the book The City of Ember, if the story was in the first person of Poppy. The adventures with Doon and Lina would have never happened and they would be a lot less of importance. Instead of Doon and Lina, it would be Granny and Mrs.Murdo because they were the two people who spent the most time with her. These two characters were also the people who took care of her and did things like feed her.

Furthermore, the supreme point of setting would be alternated as well. There wouldn’t be a lot of worry in the eerie city of blackness and streetlamps. The environment would probably be the warm and inviting place of either Granny’s or Mrs. Murdo’s house. This is, because the only times Poppy was ‘outdoors’ in the story, was when Lina lost her and during the major celebration of the Singing. Therefore, she spent all of her other time inside the houses of her family and those who were close to her.

In the same way, the structure of the plot would be adjusted as well. Instead of all of the adventures that happened with Doon and Lina, it would basically be the same characterless and stale thing every day. Wake up, eat, play, nap, eat, play, dinner. There wouldn’t be a plot at all because there wouldn’t be a rising or falling action, climax, and resolution. Although, the plots would have met up during the falling action of the The City of Ember. This was when Lina took Poppy from Mrs. Murdo in the streetlamp lit streets, but there wouldn’t be anything to resolve because the baby sister of Lina and Poppy had no idea what was happening when Lina took her anyways.

In the novel The City of Ember, the main characters, setting, and plot line would have changed greatly if it were written in the viewpoint of Poppy, instead of Lina. There would be no adventures, no mysteries, and most importantly, no purpose for reading the book. With her and Mrs. Murdo's in her apartment, she wouldn't have done anything noteworthy but chew the Instructions of Egress.