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Chapter 3
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
“J” joins “Q” and “Z” on the list of banned letters. Amos receives a letter from a man in North Carolina to order some of his “moonshine vessels.” The man notes that he does not want to violate the island’s statutes in his writings. That same day, Tassie leaves a note for Mittie on their fridge saying that she worries about her mother, but assuring her that they can all “make do without this new letter.”
This series of exchanges emphasizes how people are simply continuing their complacency in the face of the Council’s laws, even though their speech is limited (as evidenced by the use of “vessels” instead of “jugs” here). The Council is so fear-inspiring that even people who do not live on the island comply with them, demonstrating the wide reach of their totalitarian regime.
Themes
The next day, Mittie writes her friend Agnes, thanking her for the cookies she baked for Mittie. Agnes responds saying she is glad to do so; she is baking all the time because when she bakes, she does not have to speak.
A man named Rory Cummels, who owns a local market in Nollopville, writes a letter to Mittie apologizing for his odd behavior the day before when he rang up her food several times over. He notes that his wife left him and she took his daughters to the United States. He says that he refused to go because his life, home, and a swath of property that he owns, are all in Nollop.
Rory’s ex-wife and daughters are not the only ones who are leaving Nollop. Both due to the banishments and due to people wanting to avoid oppression, Ella has implied that many people are exiting Nollop (both voluntarily and involuntarily). In this way, society itself disintegrates under lack of free speech, as people are forced to leave Nollop altogether if they want to live freely and express themselves.
Themes
Rory writes that his brother Clay believes that the fallen tiles represent Nollop’s way of encouraging citizens to use the letters on the tiles more, not less. Additionally, he reports that a customer just came in to report that the letter “D” has just fallen. He closes, “God save this doomsaken little island!” Mittie responds, confirming the news about “D.” She also asks if they meet for coffee because she wants to hear more of his brother’s movement. Rory accepts the invitation.
Clay’s assertion that Nevin Nollop actually wants citizens to use the letters more and not less reiterates that the Council’s actions are simply based on their own interpretation. Clay does not contradict Nollop’s supremacy but he instead questions the Council’s belief in the reason for the tiles’ falling. Their refusal to listen to this idea again demonstrates the futility of debating their individual points.
Themes
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Ella sends a letter to Tassie, writing that her family’s first underground meeting was a success, as many people attended—so many that they had to turn people away and agree to meet in smaller numbers. She confirms Tassie’s suspicion that Mr. Lyttle is the likeliest person on the Council to listen to the chemist’s report.
Ella and her family are finally providing the citizens of Nollop with some kind of resistance. Yet even though they were able to gather a large group, they seemingly made no resolutions and offered no plans to stop the Council, highlighting their continued slowness on trying to rebel. Additionally, the fact that they’ll need to meet in smaller numbers means any potential resistance will be fractioned, which likely means it won’t be as effective in toppling the Council’s regime.
Themes
Ella also writes how much they will miss “D” as of midnight that evening. She notes that the word “God” will be outlawed and that there will be much difficulty in expressing the past tense. She writes, “In taking ‘ed’ away (Goodbye, Ed!), the most useful tool to express the past tense in the English language, we are being robbed of great chunks of our very history.”
Ella shows how language not only represents strings of letters and words, but how meaning and the substance of a society can be lost when some words are lost. Without “D,” it is more difficult to express religious sentiments without being able to mention “God.” History is threatened as well, as Ella notes, since the suffix “-ed” will prevent people from referencing anything that’s happened in the past tense. Thus, the Nollopians’ past is threatened—as well as its future.
Themes
Just before “D” is banned, the Council sends out a note advising Nollopians on how to express days of the week without “D.” They suggest these substitutes: Monty, Toes, Wetty, Thurby, Fribs, Satto-gatto, and Sunshine.
The days of the week serve as another example of how the substance of the language is being completely disrupted, as no longer is it a matter of substituting “tired” with “sleepy,” for example—instead, the edicts are eradicating conventions and reducing the language to gibberish. In this way, English isn’t merely being altered—it’s being gradually destroyed.
Themes
