Ella Minnow Pea

Title: Ella Minnow Pea
Author: Mark Dunn
Genre: satire, humorous fiction, book club

The events of Ella Minnow Pea take place on the fictional tiny island nation of Nollop (located off of South Carolina). Due to their semi-isolation, Nollopians take great pride in educating their citizens and expounding their feelings and thoughts vociferously through the written word. Nollop was founded by Nevin Nollop, who the citizens hold in high regard. He is respected (and worshiped) so much within this island nation that he is the subject of a statue decorated with tiles that spell out “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” When the letter “z” tile falls off the Nollop statue, the island council interprets this mini tragedy as a sign from beyond the grave: Nollop’s grave. The city council believes Nollop’s ghost wants the use of the letter z banished from all written and verbal communication on the island.

Losing the letter z isn’t difficult but communication becomes hampered when D,O, and K, and a lot of other letters fall from the statue. To keep the banishment of these letters from all communications, severe punishment is enforced for using forbidden letters: public humiliation/punishment via stocks or public lashing, banishment, and even death! Of course, such sudden authoritarian rules changes the idyllic and peaceful nature of the island. Neighbors turn against neighbors, the library is closed, the newspaper is shut down, food becomes scarce and is rationed due to the declining economy, some island citizens immigrate to the United States to start over, teachers resign since they can’t teach effectively (can’t speak and teach about past tense without the letter D), and an underground postal service is created to circumvent the state-sanctioned surveillance. Since communication is hampered, letters between friends and family become shorter, certain words are substituted for others (for example: school becomes “learny-place”), and some people resort to pointing in an effort not to accidentally use a forbidden letter.

The book is told through letters between various characters. At the beginning of the book, the letters are very verbose, almost reminiscent of the educated writing styles of the 19^th century. As the events in the novel progress, the letters become shorter as writing is hampered and people self-police the words they use. While this is a satire on authoritarianism, the book does spotlight the dangers of censorship, unneeded government surveillance, and the importance of the freedom to communicate.