Ella Minnow Pea

Product Information

A curiously compelling . . . satire of human foibles, and a light-stepping commentary on censorship and totalitarianism.”— The Philadelphia Inquirer

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn | Waterstones

At the center of Nollopton, capital of Nollop, sits a large monument to Mr. Nollop. Thirty-five tiles are attached at the top, each bearing a letter to spell out his remarkable sentence. But one day, one of these tiles—the one with letter Z—falls off the monument and shatters on the ground. The High Island Council, Nollop's governing body, takes this as a sign from Nollop that the letter Z should be outlawed in both speech and writing. This seems somewhat manageable, apart from a great many books now being illegal to own. But then another tile falls, and another… Ella Minnow Pea is a tale related entirely in the letters the characters send to one another (hence: an epistolary novel). I am so fearful, Ella, as to where this all may lead. A silly little letter, to be sure, but I believe its theft represents something quite large and oh so frighteningly ominous. For it stands to rob us of the freedom to communicate without any manner of fetter or harness.We slowly conclude that without language, without culture -- the two are inextricably bound -- existence itself is at stake. And we forget that the novel is only playful. Soon we see that a void, a blankness, awaits us." - Irving Malin, Review of Contemporary Fiction A cenotaph of Nollop’s sentence stands over the town square — one day the letter ‘z’ falls off. Other letters soon follow — fall off —and soon they become outlawed and the town folks were afraid to speak up. Mark Dunn is the author of more than 25 full-length plays, including Belles, Five Tellers Dancing in the Rain and Armistice Day. He has been the recipient of several national awards, including the 1997 Nesburn Prize and the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild/July Harris Playwriting Award. He is currently playwright-in-residence with the New Jersey Repertory Company and the Community Theatre League in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Originally from Memphis, he now lives in Greenwich Village with his wife, Mary. Ella Minnow Pea is his first novel. [Info on file, in printout from Mostlyfiction.com] Told mainly through the letters sent between Ella and her cousin Tassie, we experience the loss of the letters first hand. By the end of the novel one not only needs to read between the lines, but also between the letters! It is a real challenge but that’s what makes this book so fantastic. As readers we’re not watching these characters struggle with the ludicrous laws, we are struggling alongside them.

Ella Minnow Pea Summary and Study Guide | SuperSummary

Following D’s departure, what alternate names does the Council give the days of the week? [70] At what point do these names, too, become inoperative, and what takes their place? [[115, 127, 130] For 100 years, a cenotaph honoring Nollop's remarkable vulpine-canine sentence has stood in the center of town. Then, one day, the Z tile falls to the ground and shatters.However, since the punishment for using illegal letters does not apply to children aged seven years or younger, the members of Enterprise 32 take advantage of this, and have the children write pangrams for them.

Ella Minnow Pea - IMDb Ella Minnow Pea - IMDb

One of the main themes of the story is totalitarianism, in that the government attempts to control every aspect of written communication among the citizens, even sexual relations. Once the laws begin to be passed, the people of Nollop are scared even to attempt to rebel against the council for fear of the harsh penalties. This theme is brought to the forefront in the first letter of the novel. Ella writes to Tassie saying that "in the end, our assessments and opinions counted for (and continue to count for) precious little, and we have kept our public speculation to a minimum for fear of government reprisal". [2] Ella Minnow Pea focuses on this theme when considering, "We slowly conclude that without language, without culture— the two are inextricably bound— existence is at stake". [3] Freedom of speech [ edit ] In a letter to Nate, Tassie writes, “We are our own cavalry. The only cavalry there is. Whose horses seem in permanent hobble status.”? [123] What does she mean by this? One can't get around the wordplay -- it's central to the novel -- but it seems almost a shame to focus on it, because the book is so much more than merely a clever game. And the ruling five-man Council decide this is a message from Nollop himself, that henceforth he wants the islanders to do without the letter Zed.

A superstitious lot, the Nollop Council decide that the fallen letters can no longer be used, and so the characters’ missives become increasingly constrained as they have to avoid certain vowels and consonants. Their writing grows exponentially avant-garde and hilarious as they resort to circumlocutions, phonetic spellings, and not-quite-right synonyms – as is the case with Christian Bök’s poetry collection of univocal lipograms, Eunoia, extreme creativity often arises out of a tough linguistic stricture.Before long only L, M, N, O, and P can be used – which, handily, still allows for an approximation of the title character’s name, but offers very few other coherent language options. Soon, libraries are shuttered and textbooks confiscated, lest no one read the offending letter. But for the most part, the people survive. There are a few problems; some islanders have more trouble adapting than others. In addition to coining words, Mark Dunn invents a number of phrases intended to serve as euphemisms or to express an idea without the use of a banned letter. Define the following phrases and discuss their probable derivations: