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Chapter 3
Themes
and Colors
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.
Active
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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.
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