Ella Minnow Pea (2001)

Ella Minnow Pea is a 2001 novel by Mark Dunn. The full title of the hardcover version is Ella Minnow Pea: a progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable, while the paperback version is titled Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters or Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel without Letters.

Plot summary

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 novel is set on the fictitious island of Nollop, off the coast of South Carolina, which is home to Nevin Nollop, the supposed creator of the well-known pangram, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." This sentence is preserved on a memorial statue to its creator on the island and is taken very seriously by the government of the island. Throughout the book, tiles containing the letters fall from the inscription beneath the statue, and as each one does, the island's government bans the contained letter's use from written or spoken communication. A penalty system is enforced for using the forbidden characters, with public censure for a first offence, lashing or stocks (violator's choice) upon a second offence and banishment from the island nation upon the third. By the end of the novel, most of the island's inhabitants have either been banished or have left of their own accord.

The island's high council becomes more and more nonsensical as time progresses and the alphabet diminishes, promoting Nollop to a divine status. Uncompromising in their enforcement of Nollop's "divine will", they offer only one hope to the frustrated islanders: to disprove Nollop's omniscience by finding a pangram of 32 letters (in contrast to Nollop's 35). With this goal in mind "Enterprise 32" is started, a project involving many of the novel's main characters. With but five characters left (L, M, N, O, and P), the elusive phrase is eventually discovered by Ella in one of her father's earlier letters: "Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs," which has only 32 letters. The council accepts this and restores the right to all 26 letters to the populace.

Characters

Ella Minnow Pea

Ella Minnow Pea is the 18-year-old protagonist of the novel. Her name is a play on words as it sounds like the pronunciation of the letters "LMNOP", fitting with the content of the novel. She is a strong and intelligent young woman who uses her determination and persistence to survive the hardship placed on the island of Nollop by the high council. Towards the end of the novel, she is the only one in her family left on the island and is in charge of Enterprise 32. She eventually runs across a sentence in her father's farewell letter that will save the citizens of Nollop from the oppression they are experiencing, and allow her family to return to the island.

Gwenette Minnow Pea

Gwenette is Ella's mother and Mittie Purcy's sister. She is a very strong woman who instills the qualities of determination and hope in her daughter. Eventually, she, along with the others in her family, becomes banished to the States after her third offence.

Amos Minnow Pea

Amos is Ella's father. He makes liquor jugs and other ceramic vessels for a living, and he is a recovering alcoholic. The insanity of the forbidden letter laws become too much later in the story, and he returns to his old ways of excessive drinking. He also commits a third offence and is banished. His farewell letter to Ella and his wife contains the sentence that eventually frees Nollop from the rules and regulations concerning the use of restricted letters.

Mittie Purcy

Mittie is Ella's aunt. She is a teacher at the local elementary school. Because of her career, she finds the laws passed by the council quite difficult to follow and obey. This, in turn, creates serious problems for her. She commits her first offence while explaining to her students that 12 eggs are equal to a dozen. The laws and restrictions put on the use of language on the island create a sense of depression in her life. She, along with her daughter and Nate Warren, travels to the States to escape her daughter's death sentence.

Tassie Purcy

Tassie is Ella's cousin and best friend, being only a few months older. She falls in love with Nate Warren, the writer and scholar, and gets into serious trouble with the council for sending them death threats because of their new legislation. Her threats, though admirable, create much trouble for her. Nate eventually returns to the island after his banishment to rescue her from her punishment due to her rebellion of the council's laws. Her temperament is rather hot-headed, and she is quick to see the negatives of a situation.

Nathaniel Warren

Nathaniel Warren is a researcher who lives in Georgia and travels to Nollop when he hears about the government rulings against taboo letters. He is willing to pose as "an old family friend" of the Purcys and use his knowledge and resources to help the people of Nollop find a logical solution to the "forbidden letter fiasco." He brings to Mr. Lyttle, a council member, that the tiles falling is a result of the adhesive breaking down of the fixative holding them in place. Unfortunately, this report doesn't affect the decisions of the council, although it brings about the sentence challenge. He is later discovered to be the scholarly writer he really is and is sent back to the States. He falls in love with Tassie Purcy.