Ella Minnow Pea: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

The letter “Q” is now banned. Tassie writes to Georgeanne and Nash Towgate, the parents of Timmy, asking why they reported Mittie despite the fact that she’s never done anything to wrong their family and she has always tried to help Timmy as his teacher. Tassie notes that she believes latitude should be extended to those whose work requires them to speak for long periods of time.

Nash Towgate responds to Tassie, arguing that they believe that Nollop is demonstrating his will, that they did their “civic duty” in reporting Mittie, and that Tassie’s position is “blasphemous.” Nash says that they are glad the Council, whom he calls the “most sage among [them],” are divining the will of Nollop. He argues that without Nollop, the island would be a “shallow shell,” and the world would never have been given the “foxy-dog” sentence (which, he notes, they cherish but can no longer speak or write in its entirety).

Georgeanne Towgate adds a note to Nash’s letter, saying that she completely agrees with her husband. She says that many people have joined her in talk sessions and they believe that Nollop is “attempting to pry [them] away from [their] traditional heavipendence on linguistic orthodoxy.” She emphasizes that there is no ill will between her family and Tassie’s family. She also asks if Tassie and Mittie want to join her in a painting group.

Mittie writes to her sister Gwenette that without two letters, she now chooses to “overuuuse the twenty-four which remaaaain.” She says that she hasn’t been feeling like herself lately and that Tassie worries about her, although she shouldn’t.

A man named Nate Warren writes to Mittie from Savannah, Georgia. Nate explains that he is a master’s candidate in history and sociology at the University of Georgia and that he publishes an academic journal devoted to the island called Nollopiana. He writes that he was contacted by Willy Creevy to write about what is happening on Nollop.

Nate explains that he would like to come to Nollop to investigate this “odd, unprecedented political and social crisis.” He asks if he can pose as a friend of the family, particularly because Mittie and Tassie have remained in Council favor. He writes that he understands if they have reservations but he hopes that they might feel that the actions of the Council should be made known to the public.

Mittie discusses Nate’s letter with Tassie and she writes back that they would like to welcome Nate to their home if his visa to Nollop is approved. Tassie then writes to Ella, explaining her excitement that Nate is coming to write an article about what is happening on the island and how the prospect of his arrival has brightened Mittie’s spirits.

Ella writes back to Tassie, glad to hear of the development with Nate. Ella then tells her of another incident in Nollopton: all six members of the Rasmussen family marched into an open session of the High Island Council wearing cartoon masks and making loud duck sounds, which are obviously forbidden. The head of the household, Charles, explained that the family was fond of “Q” and they wanted to protest its removal by quacking.

Charles continued to explain that he wanted the family—including his nine year-old twin daughters—to be flogged in front of as many people as possible, and if this did not produce an outcry, they wanted to leave the island as quickly as possible. And so Ella, Gwenette, and Amos watched the horrifying sight of the Rasmussen children being beaten, and yet no one did anything.

Ella tells Tassie that she, Amos, and Gwenette plan to hold a secret meeting to begin a “nascent underground movement” to restore the alphabet. Ella closes with a final note: that that morning, a man was found trying to replace a newly fallen tile—“J.” Ella explains that the man was arrested and he is being held without bond for trying to circumvent this “all-holy decree from the great and omniscient Nollop.”

Nate writes to Mittie, letting her know that his visa has been approved and that he will arrive in 10 days. He also informs her that chemists in Georgia have obtained smuggled chips from the fallen tiles: their assessment is that the glue holding the tiles has calcified and that within months, all of the tiles will become similarly loosened. They doubt that within a year, there will be a single tile left. Nate says that he would like to reach the Council member who might be most open to reading the chemists’ report to make a case for a reversal of these “apocalyptic directives.”

Two days later, Tassie writes to Ella about Nate’s findings on the glue, explaining that his analyses “prove beyond doubt and wanton denial that the tiles are falling for the simple reason that they can no longer hold themselves to the bandiford.” She notes that “Nollop is not God,” and that they have to make their “decisions and judgments based on science and fact.” She asks Ella to advise her on which Council member will be most open to reading Nate’s report—positing that she thinks it would be Rederick Lyttle.

A directive from the Office of High Council is sent out to clarify the reasons for their edicts. They write that “Nollop was a man of words. We are a people of words. All that we are, we owe to Nollop. His will be done.” The Council writes that they have been complacent in their language usage, and that the fallen tiles are a challenge to that complacency. They write that “there is no room for alternative interpretation,” which would be heresy. They conclude by saying that “Heretics will be punished,” like Nollop’s stenographer, who was dismissed because she believed that she could create a better pangram than Nollop’s.

The Council adds three more points: that those who obey Nollop’s commandments shouldn’t fear punishment; that there are no accidents or misspoken words, only a lack of rigor in following Nollop’s directive; and that the severity of punishment is irrelevant, given the fact that punishment can be avoided altogether.

The Council returns to the point of Nollop’s secretary, who couldn’t fulfill Nollop’s challenge of coming up a sentence that contained all 26 letters of the alphabet but that measured 35 letters or less. The Council argues that she was not able to create such a pangram because “it simply cannot be done,” and that “this is what has given Nollop his preeminence. Omnipotent. Omniscient. Omniglorious.” They conclude that they honor Nollop’s wishes “by removing ‘J’ with jubilation.”