A post-apocalyptic book club selection (which is technically not post-apocalyptic, but we are flexible like that). The book is epistolary, meaning structured as letters written between characters. This is a horrible idea, has always been a horrible idea, and never leads to an actual book, except here. Although the characters in this book write clever, emotive letters, they're still letters, the pedantic telling of events by one person to one other person. The result is that the characters have no life or liveliness, the events are described rather than experienced, and the reader forever has the feeling of reading long-ago letters from people she doesn't know, which is exactly the case. The citizens are noteworthy due to their relative isolation of a century from America, after settling with their leader Nollop. In fact, those who live "stateside" can find these citizens "difficult to understand". As a reader we are privy to correspondence between its people, in the form of letters, technology and telephones unavailable to them. Anyway, this sentence is on Nollop’s statue and when a letter falls off, the island council decree that it is a sign from Nollop that that letter cannot be used in speech or writing. We are expected to believe that a culture that was built on reverence for the written word destroys all its libraries overnight because one letter fell off a statue (what sort of important statue has letters glued on, rather than carved?). The punishments are harsh for individuals too – exile for a third offence. Of course, gradually other letters fall off, and they are banned too, hampering communication and creating a culture of fear. Why does Ella maintain that the loss of the letter ‘D’ robs islanders “of great chunks of our very history?” [69]

Ella Minnow Pea Character Analysis - LitCharts Ella Minnow Pea Character Analysis - LitCharts

The best way to enjoy Ella Minnow Pea is to read it closely, paying attention to its themes, patterns and linguistic tropes. Discuss the novel’s value as a means of teaching the art of critical reading. How would you apply the methods you used to read Ella Minnow Pea to approach other texts? Cleverness is the hook with this little fable—those delighting in wordplay will be duly rewarded by seeing language stretched to its limits. The plot is conveyed through mail or notes sent between various characters. The book is "progressively lipogrammatic"—as the story proceeds, more and more letters of the alphabet are excluded from the characters' writing. As letters disappear, the novel becomes more and more phonetically or creatively spelled, and requires more effort to interpret. The farce in Ella Minnow Pea is comparable to George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Indeed both books take similar themes, for example utopia Vs. dystopia, or being a good citizen Vs. being a moral person. These are questions still very much relevant today, particularly the plight of Nollop citizens. Do they stay in their homes, where they were born and raised, despite the absurdity of the laws and the threat to their lives? Or should they leave friends and family behind for safety?

READERS GUIDE

And yes, I did intentionally use all the letters of the alphabet in the first sentence. It is, admittedly, harder than it seems. Determinator: Ella refuses to leave Nollop or give up on Enterprise 32, even after her friends and family have all left (or died). She even continues to write to herself when just five letters remain, and she resolves to learn sign language if necessary. How does Ella think the edict will change life on the island? [7] How do Tassie’s predictions differ from hers? [9-10] Which of them turns out to be right? Purple Prose: Toward the beginning of the book, when the characters' vocabularies are unmarred. Justified, as Nollopians consider language the highest form of art. I read this brilliant 2001-published novel at a time when a judge in Texas is deciding whether the whole country will be prohibited from taking an FDA-approved pill that, for 20 years, has been used in early abortions and to help women with horrific decisions to make. I read it as another Texan is suing for wrongful death three women who helped his ex-wife get an abortion. Simultaneously in Florida, the government has declared war on books that somebody merely decides (without having read them) are not right for children or people of any age. I’m writing as authoritarian lie-based declarations are threatening to demolish our democracy. This was perfect timing.

Ella Minnow Pea Reader’s Guide - Penguin Random House Ella Minnow Pea Reader’s Guide - Penguin Random House

The islanders live a peaceful lifestyle rich with arts, culture and diversity, until one day, when the "Z" tile falls from the monument. Taking this as an omen, the town leaders forbid the use of the fallen letter in all communications, and residents must comply or risk being banished from the island. Cult of Personality: The High Island Council tries to establish one centered around Nevin Nollop. Given the rapid deterioration of the island's social structure and widespread hostility toward the Council at that point, they don't get much support. Actually, OuLiPo only brings to fiction principles of organization that have been present in poetry since the appearance of the sonnet and the villanelle. And as many poets have noted, placing voluntary restrictions on how one writes may paradoxically liberate what one writes. In the words of Queneau, “the Oulipian writer is always inspired” [Harris, ibid.] Mark Dunn's Ella Minnow Pea uses this familiar pangram -- a sentence that uses all the letters of the alphabet -- as the basis of an engaging parable on censorship, authoritarianism, and our need to communicate in even the most challenging situations. Here's another random thought on unfettered free-speech. One foundational linch-pin in the pro-free speech platform is that truth will win out over lies. But, as with most ideas, this turns out to be more theory than fact. So, how does one deal with the fact that lies have a surprisingly tenacious ability to stay alive, especially in this age of the internet: "27 Percent of Surgeons Still Think Obamacare Has Death Panels".Mark teaches creative writing and leads playwriting seminars around the country, in addition to serving as Vice President of the non-profit PULA (People United for Libraries in Africa), which he founded with his wife, Mary, in 2002.