What are the chief elder's inner desires?

The text of the book does not give readers specific, textual evidence to answer this question with. We don't get an inside look into the thoughts of any of the elders because the narrative point of view is focused on Jonas. The point of view is third person, but it is very limited; therefore, we know what Jonas thinks about and feels, but we do not know about other characters. We have to make an educated guess as to what the motivations and inner desires are of other characters. I do not believe that the chief elder's main motivation is to stay in a position of power. To me, that feels too selfish, and Jonas's society is built on the concept of having negative emotions removed and encouraging altruism. This is why the kids have to wear the jackets with the buttons in the back. I truly believe that the main concern of the chief elder is to maintain a peaceful society in which each person does the job that they are supposed to do as well as they can. I think the chief concern is the clinical execution of the plan and maintenance of the parts that work the plan. That's a cold and emotionless way of running a society, but that fits the Sameness. If hate, anger, and sadness are totally gone, a person can't actually know what love and happiness feels like. They have nothing to compare it to, so the chief elder is essentially concerned with the efficiency of the society.

The Chief Elder is an enigmatic authority figure throughout the novel, who serves as the spokesperson for the Committee of Elders. She is first mentioned in Chapter 7, where she addresses the community during the Ceremony of Twelve. Given the fact that Jonas lives in an authoritarian society with strict rules, which is controlled by the Committee of Elders, one can assume that the Chief Elder's main concern is maintaining her position of authority while preserving a safe, comfortable, structured society. In Jonas's society, the Committee of Elders is responsible for making all of the community's important decisions. They decide which citizens will get married, how many children are born each year, what the children will be named, what couple raises the children, and also what specific occupations each citizen will be assigned. Given the fact that the Chief Elder has such a tremendous influence on the community, one could infer that her primary inherent desire is to maintain her authoritative role in society. While this suggestion is simply speculation, one can argue that humans inherently enjoy authority and many authoritarian politicians' primary concern is staying in power.