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Chapter 13
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Ella Minnow Pea, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Totalitarianism, Complacency, and Resistance
Freedom of Speech
Betrayal vs. Solidarity
Blind Faith, Reason, and Logic
Summary
Analysis
Ella writes to Nate with two days left in Enterprise Thirty-two asking him to get word to Gwenette and Amos that she is well and that she is determined to outlast the tyranny. Ella says she will either learn how to speak using numbers or she will learn sign language. She says she misses them all and that she is re-reading old letters for company. Additionally, Ella says that she will no longer write letters because it’s too fatiguing to try to get her point across with so few letters to work with. The Council issues another statute that “G” will be outlawed that night at midnight.
While Ella’s final letter displays her determination and her struggle to resist, it is clear that the burden of resistance is taking a toll on her. Like others before her, the lack of speech has made it entirely impossible for her to communicate, and it is doubtful that many people are communicating with the outside world on Nollop. Thus, without that communication, it is as if the society does not exist because no one knows what is happening there.
Themes
